When I was in practice I was sometimes presented with dogs which had gone deaf …
A badly infected dog’s ear.
When I was in practice I was sometimes presented with dogs which had gone deaf, this is never an easy situation as a positive cure is often unlikely, however on the plus side these dogs often live normal lives. To my mind there are three main reasons why dogs go deaf:
1. Acquired deafness – perhaps through a disease or a drug.
2. Congenital deafness. – inherited deafness which can occur in certain breeds.
3. Deafness of senility – a common situation in older dogs.
Acquired deafness: This is a rare situation but probably underdiagnosed. Possible causes could be a blow to the head say following a road traffic accident or repeated exposure to loud noises such as could occur with gun dogs. It can also happen as a rare side effect to various medications, drugs which have been implicated are prednisolone, aspirin, erythromycin, vincristine which is a chemotherapy drug. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, just a few examples and as I have said this is a very rare side effect. This form of deafness can also be the result of infections of the inner, middle or outer ear, again most ear infections will resolve and not leave lasting damage of any sort. It is unlikely that any benefit will follow treatment but worth a try in this form.
Congenital deafness: This is associated with an autosomal dominant or recessive gene, certain dog breeds commonly affected, examples would be the Dalmatian, Border Collie, Great Dane, and English Setter. There is some connection with a white or merle coat colour and blue irises. Again there is at present no treatment. I wonder sometimes why people breed dogs like Dalmatians when they know there is a high chance of some of the puppies being deaf?
Deafness of Senility: This is the common form deafness, a vet will normally pick it up during a routine examination when he questions the owners. When you examine the ears with the otoscope all looks well but the dog is twelve or thirteen years of age and the owner tells you that it now cannot hear high frequency sounds such as whistles but it can respond to low rumbling noises. This situation is progressive and there is no possible treatment. I have personal experience of this one, I used to have two collie cross mongrels when I lived in the UK and I used to walk them in a large park close to where I lived before I went to work in the morning. As time passed they of course got older and one morning I whistled and Jennie did not come back as she normally would have done and after that she was noticeably deaf and some six months later the same thing happened to Meg. As a vet I would have thought that this form of deafness would have been slowly progressive but as a dog owner I have to tell you that both dogs seemed to get deaf overnight. Again there is no conventional treatment for this condition …….
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