a cautionary tale..............

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On December 19, Wilbur shook his head too many times.

On December 20, he was still shaking his head, and even went after his left ear with his hind foot, a few times.  I looked in his ears, and saw some dark waxy stuff (not a huge amount, but some).  I cleaned the parts of his ears that are easy to see with dry q-tips.

On December 21, he was still shaking his head.  I brought him in to the vet.  (Their computers were down, that day.)  Wilbur’s ears were examined and an angry red patch of skin was noted, where his right ear meets the top of his skull.

I was told “His ears are fine.  You have one itchy dog.”  I said he had been flea-biting the fronts of his front legs....

This came on very suddenly.  I've been wracking my brain to come up with a reason that he is suddenly so itchy, and haven't been able to come up with a change in his environment.  He's at the end of a bag of food, we haven't given him any tastes of people food new to him, we haven't changed any cleaning products, we haven't had the carpets shampooed, we haven't used new products on our hands (which petted him)...............  The weather did get colder, coincidentally, and the furnace is on more, so the house is drier...... That doesn't seem like enough to cause this, but I'm at a loss to come up with any other change..................

Anyway.

Wilbur has intractable congestion issues (head, and, sometimes, chest), and takes Claritin every day for that.  I was told he could take Claritin twice a day (or Benadryl four times a day).  (Anti-histamines, to make him not be so itchy.)

He was given ear drops, and I was sent home with the drops.

I wondered why he got ear drops, if “his ears were fine,” but I didn’t ask………..

I knew there were ear drops that damage hearing, but I told myself “Surely he wouldn’t be given that sort of drops!”  Again, I didn’t ask………………………..

On December 23, we noticed a severe lessening of his hearing.   We stopped the drops.  We read online, and discovered the drops he was given are generic Otomax, which is known to damage hearing.  We also read that he should have his ears flushed.  He would HATE that, and we decided not to subject him to that trauma.  I was far too upset and angry to call the hospital…….

Since then, I have asked myself thousands of times WHY I did not speak up about those damned drops.  My feeble answer is that I was too “polite” (given the extra aggravation for hospital staff, because of the computers being down), and too trusting………….







I am miserable about having allowed this to happen to my dog.

HOW can I have let him down like this?

All I had to do was STAND UP, and SPEAK UP.  Instead I negligently and stupidly let him be deafened.

He is puzzled that no one is speaking to him any more.  He clings, I think because otherwise people disappear without warning.

I am an extremely unhappy person.

I am baffled as to why he had drops at all, given that there was nothing wrong with his ears.

I am horrified that he was given drops that are known to damage hearing, given that there was nothing wrong with his ears.

I don’t know why the use of this drug was not discussed with me, so I had a chance to say “NO.”  I have never, ever, been the type of client to ask for unnecessary treatment……………

I am not sure how much punishment is due to someone who lets this happen to their dog, but I am not there yet.

I have liked to think of myself as trustworthy and dependable, but that is clearly not the truth.  The truth is that through “politeness” and “trust,” I have let my dog be given drops that have left him with very little useful hearing.

I am chagrinned and appalled that I allowed this to happen without challenge.

He depends on me, and I have let him down in a huge and horrible way.

We read online that his hearing may be better, after his body clears the gentamycin from his cochleas (which can take weeks).  I surely hope this is true, and that he’s one of the lucky ones whose hearing returns.

Otherwise I don’t see how I’m going to forgive myself for this……………………………



The moral of the story?

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.

Stand up!  Speak up!

BE the trustworthy person your dog depends on.

Forget "politeness."  Even someone you like and have always trusted may be about to make a totally unnecessary mistake.

STAND UP.

SPEAK UP.






Sigh...........................................


One of my friends has a sign on her office wall:  "If I can't be a good example, at least let me be a horrible warning."

I suppose few people actually set out to be a horrible warning...  I certainly never expected to be one ... but there it is.

I am a horrible warning.  Learn from my bad behavior.................................




Note greasy hair around ear from abominable drops.......

Sigh..................

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