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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Alfie's ears

Thanks to Jams and Aileni for their good wishes regarding Alfie's health. It looks like it's going to be a very long haul sorting out Alfie's ears. He has a severe infection in both ears, especially in the left one. It's a suspected yeast infection. I feel awful that I didn't spot it sooner. Then again, at least six different vets have examined Alfie since he was rescued from his original owner, and none of them spotted it either. It was the nasty stink that started coming from them last week that made me realise something was wrong.

I've been given drops and a big pouch of saline solution to flush his ears out with, but he flips into devil dog mode if I go anywhere near his ears, so I haven't been able to administer either yet. I intend buying a muzzle tomorrow. As much as I want to help Alfie, I won't put up with being bitten. I tried lifting up one of his ears with the handle of a wooden spoon earlier, and he gave it a good chomping. He looks very ashamed of himself when he tries to bite, so I dread to think how sore his ears are. He'll probably struggle like a maniac, and shriek as if I'm killing him, but I'm determined to get that medication into his ears somehow.

The vet also took swabs from his ears, and has sent them off to a veterinary pathology lab to determine exactly what type of infection he has. Hopefully, he'll get the best treatment for whatever it is, once the nasty germs are identified. I'm taking him back to the vet on Friday, so hopefully, the test results will be back by then.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor old fellow - poor you too. Tris, our old cat was almost died 18 months ago with a ear infection.

Dragonstar said...

Poor Alfie! I've been a non-existent visitor recently, so I hadn't read your previous post. He's normally such a sweet-natured dog that behaving like this must mean he's in pain. I do hope things improve very quickly.

Siani said...

Thanks, both. Although his ears are in a bad way, there's a little bit of good news. Alfie has been almost totally deaf since I've known him. He normally only hears very loud noises. But since Tuesday, if I call his name in a loud-ish, high-pitched voice, he immediately looks towards me. He can't seem to hear my normal tone, though. So hopefully, once this ear infection is sorted, he may have some improvement in his hearing, although it's probably permanently damaged. Here's hoping ...

 
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