My dog has gone completely deaf...
 

Sorry for long post...but I'm really scared/frustrated at this point...need to vent

So my 12 year old Bichon has been starting to get a little hard of hearing as of late (can't hear people coming home, etc), but can still hear you when you talk to him. So last week my mom brought him to the vet to see if there was some earwax buildup. Unfortunately the regular vet is not there any more, and there was a replacement vet. The new vet took a look in his ears and said there was a buildup of earwax and offered to syringe it out for my dog. He took my dog to the back, and after 15 minutes came out and told my mom that the dog was resisting and he would need to use a sedative. My mom told him that my dog cannot have certain sedatives (as indicated in the chart by previous vet), to which the vet replied "yes yes, I know which ones he can't have". After another 15-20 minutes, he comes out with my dog and says that he flushed out the ears and he's fine now.

So my mom takes my dog back to the car where he is still sedated and sleeps in the car. When she gets home, she notices something is wrong as my dog cannot stand and is acting very strange. She calls up the vet, and he explains it's completely normal and will clear up in an hour. 4 hours later, he still can't stand, so my mom calls the vet again and asks him which sedative he used. Turns out he used acepromazine, which is one of the sedatives my dog can't have. When my mom tells him this is one of the drugs listed in his chart that he can't have, the vet tells her he only used a small dose and it's okay and if we want, we can bring him back to the vet (they were closing in 15 minutes and they are located in Delta, no way my mom would get there in time). We end up talking to my breeder who suggests we monitor his heart rate, which turned out to be 40 bpm which is significant bradycardia, and once the drug eventually cleared he should be okay. Luckily, after 24 hours, he recovers from this. For those 24 hours, he was like mush. Couldn't walk, we had to feed him a liquid diet with a syringe as he wouldn't eat/drink, and had little muscle tone. This mistake already pissed me off, as it was potentially fatal and the vet didn't take any responsibility for it and tried to tell us it was okay (my breeder lost one of her dogs when another vet mistakenly used this sedative)

So on Friday I went to pick up my dog to take him up to Whistler for the weekend. When I get to the house, he doesn't hear me open the front door, which is normal. I see him on top of the stairs, usually when I start climbing the stairs, he hears me. But as I climb the stairs and call his name, I get no response. Even when I'm right next to him, I get no response. Only when I walk in front of him, he sees me and acts a little startled before coming to greet me. When we finally get up to Whistler (he slept on the way up), that's when I realize he can't hear me at all. Usually when I tell him we're going for a walk, he gets all riled up and will start barking like crazy. But now, when I tell him we're going for a walk, he just looks at me with a blank expression. I try getting him to do tricks with verbal commands and he just looks at me. If I use hand signals, he will do the tricks. When he is resting on the couch, and I yell his name, he doesn't even respond. If I talk right into his ear, it appears he can hear something, but still can't make out what I'm saying (e.g. when I tell him we're going for a walk right into his ear, he perks up a bit as if he hears something, but can't make out what I'm saying). He has gone completely deaf...I talked to my breeder again and she says it's unusual for a dog to have sudden hearing loss, she's hoping that the vet just sucks and instead of flushing out his ear wax, just made it worse...but both ears...? We have an appointment with another vet later this week to get him checked out, and hopefully it's just the earwax plugging up both ears...but I'm so scared he has gone completely deaf...my poor dog is so insecure right now since he can't hear anything, he is constantly following us around.


Thanks for reading, I just had to vent my anger/frustation and hopefully some of you will have some advice too? :okay:

Can you sue the vet?

I wish I could give advice better than this, but it seems entirely possible that the complete hearing lose is just a progression of the existing issue not something caused by the unfortunate instance with the vet.

There's nothing more difficult than watching an animal you love start showing their age..

It's not a progression of the existing issue, because as of Thursday morning when my mom brought him to the vet, he could still hear. Like I said, he couldn't hear some things as well(such as garage door opening), but he could still hear when you talk to him (he responded to all commands). Now he hears NOTHING. If you stand right behind him and talk to him, he can't hear you. I can even lift up his ear and talk right into it, and he still can't hear me. As for suing, it will be too expensive to sue. My uncle's dog died when another vet overdosed him on anesthetics, and when he talked to a lawyer about suing, the lawyer recommended against it, saying it would be extremely cost-prohibitive to sue a vet. Anyways, I'm hoping for some good news when my mom brings him to the new vet...

I am sorry to hear about this horrible experience. My family's dog had a medical issue as well and we went to 2 different vets and both vets proved completely useless. We had wasted weeks of time that may or may not have saved his life. We eventually went to Vancouver Animal Emergency Clinic and they had proved to be extremely helpful and informative.

If you are within the area, I suggest giving them a call and arrange a visit. I do hope that your Bischon gets his hearing back.

i have 2 bichons too. great lil dogs! but i cant offer advice, just hope everything goes well for the lil guy.

Thanks for all the supporting comments. Just an update, took him to another vet yesterday. There is significant inflammation inside both my dog's ears. Don't know what the other vet did to cause all that inflammation... The new vet is hoping the hearing loss is due to the inflammation but can't be sure as she can't see into his ear due to the inflammation. Using some anti-inflammatory ear drops for now, she says to give it at least 1-2 weeks, and then followup. Despite all this, my dog is his usual cheerful self (fellow Bichon owners will know what I mean). *fingers crossed*

my bichon had a ear infetion / inflammation just about 10 days ago. After 8 days of drops, once every 12hours, seems like the redness, smell and dirty stuff has gone away. Im not sure how my dog got it, but the other one is ok. They go everywhere together and eat the same things. They are also fromt the same mom but different dad.

Good luck to yours!

Yep dogs are always cheerful even if they went deaf, blind or lose a limb. Amazing.

Hope it works out for you guys.

Any updates?

yeah looking for some updates

in for update as well, fingers crossed

This is important to remember: the only way your dog will know there's something wrong, is if you start treating him differently... and even then, he won't know WHAT'S wrong, only that there IS something wrong. That's probably the worst thing you could do for him, especially if the hearing loss is permanent and he needs to adjust to his new world.

Hope things turn out okay for the little guy!

document everything that has been done from the first step in the door at the vets office.

My dog is 14 and she lost all hearing (progressive not caused by malpractice from the vet). Really the only thing now is that she doesn't respond to verbal cues or commands, which is a godsend since she gets full nights (and to be honest all day) rest and sleep. It just sucks when you see your dog slowly lose their senses. At least she still has her sight and smell.

Thanks for the support guys. Bacterial cultures came back negative, but ears are still quite swollen. Vet thinks there was was some major physical trauma done. He *seems* to have re-gained a very small amount of hearing. He still can't hear 95% of things, but if you slam a door or something, his head perks up (two weeks ago, he would have no reaction whatsoever). Also, if you speak right into his ear, about 50% of the time, he will perk up as if he hears something (but obviously can't understand what you're saying). Vet has put him on anti-inflammatories and says to give it at least a month for the swelling to go down. She seems optimistic that he will regain most of his hearing, so fingers crossed!!!

Best of luck.

good luck!

It's heartwarming to read that somebody cares for the dogs health and sympathizes with the dog and how it can feel.
See so many poorly treated dogs, dogs that are left outside 24/7, and dogs just treated like they're simply a "pet" to own and not treated properly.

Props to you, hope everything goes well :D

Good to hear that there has been some good progress. I hope the dog will regain the hearing back.

Physical trauma sounds bad. This temporary vet who screwed up, screwed up big time.

Hey guys, quick update. I'm happy to report that my dog has regained most of his hearing. Occasionally if you approach him from behind, he can't hear you, but he can hear when you talk to him now (sometimes have to talk a little louder than normal). Thank you all for the kind words of support :)

thanks for the update :)

Can you give us the name of the vet you went to? That way it'll help keep other members from going there.

i hate it when doctors get on their high horse and act like they know everything. if he simply LISTENED to your mom then he wouldn't have made the mistake with the sedatives and your dog would have at least avoided some suffering. fucking prick.

Thanks guys! Here's a couple of pictures of my much-happier dog :)

http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0146.jpg


http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/IMG_0151.jpg