Ear Problems

Some long-term friends call us to ask us if we could make the trip to a busy highway outside of town. An elderly male dog lives by the side of the road. They look after it but recently, they have seen some reasons for concern. 

The ear infection is visible immediately. One of the dog’s ears has been partly cut. Cropping (the removal of part of the external flap of a dog's ear) is an illegal practice in the Balkan countries that is based on centuries old traditions, superstitions and ignorant beliefs. It is traditionally performed on big working dogs. 

One of the main reasons for cropping is the belief that the lack of fleshy part of the ear gives a working dog a better chance against predators such as wolves because it doesn't allow them to bite and maim the dog's ear.

Oftentimes, once the dog gets old, it ends up on the street.

Our job is to get the elderly giant into our clinic for a thorough examination and treatment. His saviors are already discussing options to have the dog permanently settled in their shelter after.

We are troubled by our findings. It is a bad infection, and it’s chronic too.

Both ears are affected to the point where the ear canals have undergone the process of adhesion and cannot be cleaned up – that’s how narrow they have become.

Still, we do our best to cleanse them carefully with a syringe. 

If we weren’t concerned that our patient is quite old, we would suggest a more invasive procedure such as a complete removal of the ear canals. As it is, we’ll treat the dog with antibiotics and give detailed instructions to his future carers about how to keep things from getting worse.

A second patient with ear problems awaits. It’s a case of otohematoma or aural hematoma, a common trouble for long-eared dogs. It is a painful, swollen pocket of blood between the skin and the cartilage, with a few possible causes behind it such as ear infection, parasites or allergies, all of which resulting in intense scratching.

The only effective and lasting treatment is surgical removal of the accumulated blood.

Our patient is stable and we expect a full recovery, after a period of observation and protection.