# I don't want ear surgery, so what can I do?



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

back to bubba....

it occurs to me that there is a wax plug way down deep into his ear canal.

doing nothing will result in hearing loss.

allowing the vet to flush ears under anaesthetic might get the 'plug' loose.

is there another way?

his ear canal is so narrow that the ear drum cannot be seen.

he does not seem to be in pain, in that he does not shake his head or rub his head on the ground...he does the pug head tilt, but that's pug stuff...and is not exaggerrated....

we use an ear wash now...and we clean his ears weekly. one ear has no brown gunk. but this ear does.

is there a way for me to homeopathically do this without putting this poor boy under yet again?

and, is it possible that his ear hurts enough that the sound coming from the water grates is what scared him?

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/dog-training/4006-afraid-water-run-off-grates-street.html


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

magicre said:


> he does not seem to be in pain, in that he does not shake his head or rub his head on the ground...he does the pug head tilt, but that's pug stuff...and is not exaggerrated....


If I weren't seeing some symptoms of pain or the ear bothering him, I certainly wouldn't put him under just to get ears "clean".



> and, is it possible that his ear hurts enough that the sound coming from the water grates is what scared him?


I would be very surprised.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

To me it comes down to these questions: 

Do you mind if your dog someday has hearing loss in that ear? 

If he does loose the ability to hear in that ear, will that bother you and will it affect his daily life much? 

And if it does bother you, is it enough to put him under now to prevent him from losing his hearing in that ear?

ETA: I would say based on experience if the waxy plug isn't coming out with just flushing and cleaning on a regular basis, it's not going anywhere on it's own. And nothing is coming to mind as far as holistic remedies...


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

this dog has had nothing but issues since birth.

cabled to a crate in a garage. ok. that's done with.

afraid of bravo tv commercials...has a very well developed startle reflex

shakes his head, but no more often than my corgi whose ears are fine.

doesn't rub his head on the ground.

no, i don't want to put him under.

what do you two think of this product:

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/produ...39AF55-5917-4B9D-AAEE-0B11AAF1F609&click=6875

and i guess that's that.

thanks. both of you.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I don't have experience using it but the reviews on it suggest to me that it's a good product to use. I would give it a shot!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Did you try the vinegar mix ear wash? Sometimes we have to do whats best for our dogs whether we think it is the right choice or not. I'm definitely going through that dilemma right now. Good Luck with Bubba hope things turn out.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

If you don't mind me asking Re, what are the reasons why you don't want him put under?


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> Did you try the vinegar mix ear wash? Sometimes we have to do whats best for our dogs whether we think it is the right choice or not. I'm definitely going through that dilemma right now. Good Luck with Bubba hope things turn out.


yeah, we have....his one ear cleared up beautifully by just switching to raw...

but this ear....it's a defect....byb dog, ya know....and the ear canal is just soooooo narrow....

this piece of what looks to be ear wax is so deep into the canal that it can't be reached, unless we can break it loose and flush it out....which is why they want to put him under and try various flushings....

i don't like that idea so much...

what was used on me as a child, believe it or not was a heated oil drop....and it worked....they don't much use it anymore....but i think what's old is now new again medically, at least....

docs are finding out that we old country docs weren't so stupid after all....and treatments from back in the day are becoming popular again..

at any rate...one thing that interested me was this one and also plain almond oil....heated....

so i think i'm going to try this halo product, because it has oil of clove in it...which is a natural remedy for toothaches...


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I remember as a child I used to get swimmers ear almost every summer cause I lived in the pool, they used to flush out my ear I think with something hot/warm, it didn't hurt.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Don't want to alarm you, but have to give you a word of caution. My friends pug who is 12yo, had an ear infection a couple of months ago which the vet thought wasn't clearing up because a plug of wax was preventing the medication getting to source of the problem. Eventually, after trying many different treatments and after much debate, they put him under to find the plug was actually a tumour. Luckily non malignant. But, it resulted in him getting his inner ear removed and the ear sewn up.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

MollyWoppy said:


> Don't want to alarm you, but have to give you a word of caution. My friends pug who is 12yo, had an ear infection a couple of months ago which the vet thought wasn't clearing up because a plug of wax was preventing the medication getting to source of the problem. Eventually, after trying many different treatments and after much debate, they put him under to find the plug was actually a tumour. Luckily non malignant. But, it resulted in him getting his inner ear removed and the ear sewn up.


This is actually a good point. Since the doc can't see down the canal they assume it's a waxy plug...but probably don't know for sure.


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