Poor Janee ear infection
Good evening all. My mother and I are in some need of more experienced help concerning her poor Janee's ear. I'm posting this in her stead due to a technological discrepancy on her end. Any help is greatly appreciated!
"I got a female bully from a rescue a week ago. Her name is Janee. We think she's about 8 months old, maybe a little younger. Her first night here I noticed she was worrying at her ear, so I made an appointment at the vet and got her in the next afternoon. This was a "substitute" vet, as the regular one was on vacation. The lady vet walked in the room and said "the first thing you need to know about this breed is that they have awful allergies". I told her this is my 3rd EBT and that I'm aware they can have allergies.
She glanced in her ear, told me she had a horrible infection, didn't know if they could fix it, "here, give her these antibiotics and use this Mometamax in her ear". She actually told me BOTH ears were infected, so I was treating them both and I ran out of Mometamax (Really? There is no way I can sit and count 8 drops into her ear, so I just give it a good squeeze). When I called to ask for more, I was told the vet wanted to take a look, so I took Janee in yesterday afternoon. This was the regular vet this time. He looked in her ear, did a culture, came back and told me she's dealing with both a yeast and bacterial infection, gave me some Posatex for her ear and some Rimadyl tablets.
THEN he told me that this can rarely be treated and drew some pictures of a couple of surgeries they can do. First, they can go in and cut away the swollen tissue, go down into the ear canal and sew a flap with some of the good tissue. If that doesn't work they go all the way down and remove everything.
He said her ear is so swollen that it can't dry out further down. Her ear REALLY is swollen, I can't even see down into her ear canal. He did say that her left ear looks good and doesn't need to be treated anymore. That ear never did look like the one that's swollen and the one that's swollen doesn't look as bad as it did, but nowhere near what it should be.
Then I got the bottom line from him. He said he didn't want to leave me with no hope, but this doesn't really ever get better and even if it does, this will be something that will have to be taken care of for the rest of her life. And he actually said the following to me: "I certainly wouldn't fault you if you decided that you don't want to deal with this. Life is busy."
I think I just stared at him because I was so stunned. What did that mean? What I heard was that vet standing there telling me I should think about putting my dog down because of an ear infection. I took Janee, paid my $150 bill and left.
I don't like him. I didn't like the lady we saw at first and I didn't like him. I don't think they liked Janee. I'm not a vet and for all I know he might be right. I just wanted to bawl. Still do. In fact, I was having a break down on the phone with my son and he told me to post all of this here and maybe someone has dealt with something similar.
A little info about Janee: She's very sweet, but doesn't mind unless you have a treat in front of her. Then she minds as long as she feels like it. She spent ALOT of time by herself and she's younger than I thought she was. My other EBTs were puppies (8-10 weeks) when we got them, so while Janee has hit the ground running, I'm still working on getting my feet under me. I'll deal with outside obedience training if I have to, but right now I'm worried about her ear.
I switched her food to TOTW puppy and she's gained 3 lbs. in the week I've had her. She's 36.8 lbs. I also give her salmon oil with her dinner and I received the NuVet Plus supplements yesterday. The lady at NuVet recommended that I give Janee two a day until she's feeling better, so I plan to do that.
I would be so grateful if anyone has any advice for me regarding her ear. Thank you!"
Again thank you for any advice in advance!
Dan
"I got a female bully from a rescue a week ago. Her name is Janee. We think she's about 8 months old, maybe a little younger. Her first night here I noticed she was worrying at her ear, so I made an appointment at the vet and got her in the next afternoon. This was a "substitute" vet, as the regular one was on vacation. The lady vet walked in the room and said "the first thing you need to know about this breed is that they have awful allergies". I told her this is my 3rd EBT and that I'm aware they can have allergies.
She glanced in her ear, told me she had a horrible infection, didn't know if they could fix it, "here, give her these antibiotics and use this Mometamax in her ear". She actually told me BOTH ears were infected, so I was treating them both and I ran out of Mometamax (Really? There is no way I can sit and count 8 drops into her ear, so I just give it a good squeeze). When I called to ask for more, I was told the vet wanted to take a look, so I took Janee in yesterday afternoon. This was the regular vet this time. He looked in her ear, did a culture, came back and told me she's dealing with both a yeast and bacterial infection, gave me some Posatex for her ear and some Rimadyl tablets.
THEN he told me that this can rarely be treated and drew some pictures of a couple of surgeries they can do. First, they can go in and cut away the swollen tissue, go down into the ear canal and sew a flap with some of the good tissue. If that doesn't work they go all the way down and remove everything.
He said her ear is so swollen that it can't dry out further down. Her ear REALLY is swollen, I can't even see down into her ear canal. He did say that her left ear looks good and doesn't need to be treated anymore. That ear never did look like the one that's swollen and the one that's swollen doesn't look as bad as it did, but nowhere near what it should be.
Then I got the bottom line from him. He said he didn't want to leave me with no hope, but this doesn't really ever get better and even if it does, this will be something that will have to be taken care of for the rest of her life. And he actually said the following to me: "I certainly wouldn't fault you if you decided that you don't want to deal with this. Life is busy."
I think I just stared at him because I was so stunned. What did that mean? What I heard was that vet standing there telling me I should think about putting my dog down because of an ear infection. I took Janee, paid my $150 bill and left.
I don't like him. I didn't like the lady we saw at first and I didn't like him. I don't think they liked Janee. I'm not a vet and for all I know he might be right. I just wanted to bawl. Still do. In fact, I was having a break down on the phone with my son and he told me to post all of this here and maybe someone has dealt with something similar.
A little info about Janee: She's very sweet, but doesn't mind unless you have a treat in front of her. Then she minds as long as she feels like it. She spent ALOT of time by herself and she's younger than I thought she was. My other EBTs were puppies (8-10 weeks) when we got them, so while Janee has hit the ground running, I'm still working on getting my feet under me. I'll deal with outside obedience training if I have to, but right now I'm worried about her ear.
I switched her food to TOTW puppy and she's gained 3 lbs. in the week I've had her. She's 36.8 lbs. I also give her salmon oil with her dinner and I received the NuVet Plus supplements yesterday. The lady at NuVet recommended that I give Janee two a day until she's feeling better, so I plan to do that.
I would be so grateful if anyone has any advice for me regarding her ear. Thank you!"
Again thank you for any advice in advance!
Dan
Dan Gleason
Leo's Dad
Comments
I know that might not be the help you were looking for, but it seems like a serious medical condition that needs professional treatment. Hope she's much better soon and you find a vet that is more understanding of the breed.
Sounds like you really need to get to another vet, and soon. Her infection sounds serious and needs thorough treatment. Poor little pup to have it swollen that much. Are you in an area that has multiple vets to choose from? Is there a vet medical school close by? I'm wondering if the medical school might be more open to all breeds and not have a bias. I got lucky that my vet has treated BTs for many years and has always treated my BTs with love. Are you willing to say where you are in case someone lives nearby and can recommend a vet?
So sorry that your rescue has gotten off to this start. Have you spoken to the rescue organization to see if they were aware of her ear and if she had been getting treatment somewhere for it prior to your adopting her?
It's difficult to imagine that a Bull Terrier at that age could have developed such a severe infection that requires surgery. Surely the original breeder had to have bathed and cleaned Janee at least until she was 8 weeks old and provided to a new owner. Even if that owner neglected the puppy for 12 weeks an infection of that magnitude would be difficult to form in such a short period of time.
Personally I have seen many Bull Terriers with ear infections. Those with bad infections are easily noticed by the constant shaking of the head as well as the smell. The only possible way this could go unnoticed is if the owner spent less than 30 seconds a day with their day. Otherwise they knew about it for a quite a while and ignored it.
Your Vet has lost all his compassion for animals that he once had when he desired to become a Vet. Unfortunately many Vets get this way after euthanizing hundreds of dogs most of which didn't warrant to be put down. Many Vets often dig hard for any excuse to either prescribe medications or conduct a surgery, many of which are unnecessary.
Due to the current condition of your Bull Terriers ears I would most definitely be providing her with some antibiotics for the infection as well as a medicated ear cleaner. I'm not too sure I'd be rushing into surgery without truly being convinced it's needed. If the antibiotics do their job it should bring the swelling down allowing the ear canal to open back up. Once this occurs the ears can be cleaned and treated appropriately.
A proper diet along with the NuVet supplement you're providing her will do wonders guaranteed.
I think it's due time that you find yourself a new Vet and one that has a passion for their job as well as the health and recovery of animal by means of proper and appropriate treatment. Your current Vet sounds like he'll have Janee scheduled soon for Spaying, Dew Claw Removal, Teeth Cleaning, and scheduled anal gland expressions.
Please keep us posted as to her progress. I wish I was there to help. I'm be examining those ears twice a day with a flashlight and scrubbing them at every opportunity. I just can't see a puppy that young requiring surgery for an ear infection.
I sure hope you get a second opinion from a different Vet.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
When I read that you had the NuVet and grizzly oil, I knew you are informed and doing the best by your new rescue. Like Steve said, those will work well. My vet is the same one that treated my first BT and he knows how much I love the breed, and his face lights up when he sees mine. That's what I want for you and your pup!
After her ears are clear, I've been having success with an ear cleaner for weekly maintenance. My vet gave me Nolvasan Otic (well, I paid for it, but he had it in the office) to use for cleaning his ears. I see it's available on Amazon and might even be at feed stores. He normally recommends a different one, but his ears had a lot of buildup prior to his rescue so we needed something a little stronger. It works great. I've gotten the least amount of resistance (and howling and yelping like I'm murdering him) if I have several sterile, pure cotton balls lightly saturated on a table next to me before I start. I don't have enough liquid for it to run down his ears, just lightly drip a few drops here and there. I gently massage slowly and I think he feels like I'm petting him. He went from bucking like a bronco and howling to lying down all soothed like he's at the spa, after only a few weeks. Granted, your dog's ears have to be extremely sensitive, but maybe she will feel better to have some itch relief while you're cleaning.
It is really, really sad that her ears are like this at such a young age. She's extremely lucky you have rescued her.
The vet sold me some Epi Otic the first time I was there,
then when I went back in Thursday the "regular" vet told me not to
use it because whatever gets down into her ear isn't able to dry out.
Steve, Janee's ear doesn't smell, but she does shake her
head sometimes. Would you really be scrubbing it? She actually will let me rub
around in it with a Kleenex, but I just use a dry one and I'm afraid to dig
around in it much because I thought maybe I could hurt her.
Exiled, a friend recommended an older vet who has a small,
very basic practice and he does treat farm animals. I had to smile when I saw
that you suggested that.
I'm not giving up on her and I'm going to find a vet who
gives a crap.
Thank you both so very much for your encouragement!
How is Janee doing now?
I'm having technical difficulties trying to post. One more time......
Janee's ear is great! The new vet is amazing and he likes her! He's not super familiar with the breed, but he's always telling me what a good dog she is and how she has a great personality. I guess it took a few weeks to get her ear all cleared up but it seems to be just fine. She hears out of it and everything. The new vet was not impressed with the other vet at all.
I started taking her to daycare a couple of weeks ago. She had to have a tryout to see how she did (without me there) and they said she did just fine, she is just "high energy". On her second day there I got a phone call about halfway through the day that she had hurt her foot. The lady told me they couldn't figure out where the blood on the floor was coming from, then they noticed that the light colored dogs all had blood spots on the tops of their heads. Then they knew who was bleeding.
It's actually a pretty nasty tear from the bottom of her toe up around her nail. So back to the vet we went. He put her on antibiotics and bandaged it, told me that probably wouldn't last without putting a cone on her. I put a cone on her for about an hour, but was afraid she was going to have a heart attack so I took it off. The bandaged lasted about halfway through the next day. I rebandaged it and that lasted even less time. The vet looked at it again, said it's healing, so just keep it clean and leave it be otherwise.
When it's well, I'm going to take her back to daycare for at least a day a week so that she stays socialized.
Thank all of you so much for your support. I really have been trying to post this for quite awhile.