TWO ruptured eardrums, please read

[tazi]

I am very scared and sad writing this.
A week and a half ago, Tobie started seeming a little shaky and would be clumsier then normal and he is very rambuctious and very clumsy. By Sunday a week ago he was losing his balance, and I was really worried. At one point, and only one time, he laid down on the floor and whimppered and tried to put his paw in his left ear. I took him to the vet Monday, and he had no sign of infection in his ears, but his left eardrum was ruptured. My vet told me this was very strange, and unless Tobie had an infection of the inner ear, he could have a brain tumor or a problem with the brain stem. He put Tobie on an antibiotic and said if he was not better in a week that he should see a specialist, and probably be on the antibiotic for at least two weeks. By Wednesday of this past week he was doing better. Then Sunday morning he seemed worse. When I took him out, when he went to go potty he fell over and flipped over twice. It scared me to death. I took him right away to the emergency vet, and now his right eardrum is also ruptured. She refilled the antibiotic and said if he wasn't better by this morning to call the vet for an appointment to the specialist. He wasn't any better, so I called the specialist and the earliest they can see him is next Monday. He eats and drinks about half of his normal intake, and I am happy that he is eating at all. What I need to know is, has anyone heard of this, and as hard as it may be please tell me what this might be. I already feel that I may be losing him, and I love him with all my heart and I don't think I can go through this.

 

[Thomas Liggin]

You can get through this, and you must for Tobie's sake as well as your own. We all seem to anticipate the worst at times like these. Be hopeful. While it all seems very ominous it could be vertigo. I don't know if dogs get it, but I did.

A few months ago after dining out on a Friday evening with my wife, I woke about 1 in the morning. The whole room was spinning. I knew it wasn't, but that didn't stop me from feeling as though I were going to be thrown out of the bed. In fact, I lay spread eagle on the bed, so stong was the sensation. I got up to go to the bathroom and had to walk, using the wall to keep from falling. I was extremely dizzy and weak.

I wasn't nauseated, but was in a quandry as to what was happening. I managed to get back to the bed and fall asleep for a couple of hours, and then woke to the same sensations. I made my way to the spare room and fell onto the bed. I turned on the tv for a distraction and managed to fall asleep again, not knowing if I'd wake up.

I did and it was daylight. I felt a little better and tried to stand. As soon as I did, I got dizzy and lightheaded, and once again had to lie down.

I told my wife what was happening. She is a nurse and took my blood pressure and temp and all seemed normal. I did not feel sick. But was still woozy and extremely weary.

We decided I needed to be seen so we called 911 for the ambulance. We were that concerned. They hooked me up to all sorts of monitors and everything was normal.

When I got to the hospital they once again went through all the preliminaries, hooking me up to monitors for blood pressure, pulse, and who knows what else. They eventually hooked me up for an ekg. Everything was normal. Bloodwork was normal. Other than the symptoms, there was nothing the tests revealed to give a clue.

The doc checked me to see if I'd had a stroke. No, it wasn't that.
More bloodwork for different tests. Still normal.

But the dizzyness and weakness, or extreme tiredness remained. The doc said since the most likely and critical possibilities had been ruled out his best diagnosis was vertigo, which could be caused by an infection of the inner ear.

They gave me some pills for the vertigo and an antibiotic. About an hour later at 10 A.M. I felt a little better. The doc checked me again, had me stand while he asked questions as he eyeballed me up and down for any abnormality.

He felt it wasn't anything that posed an immediate threat to my well being and sent me home with prescriptions for the vertigo pills and antibiotics.

We got home around 11 AM. I still felt weak, but was able to get into the house where I lay on the couch. The dizziness was getting better, but I still felt washed out. I fell asleep on the couch and awoke about 2 in the afternoon.

It was as though nothing had happened. I felt fine. No dizziness, no lightheaded feeling and my energy was back to normal.

I can tell you I was quite concerned at the outset. I thought I was having a stroke or heart attack or some type of seizure and even wondered if it could be a brain tumor. I was scared.

About 14 hours after it started it disappeared. They are still not sure what caused it, but vertigo remains the most likely culprit.

So keep your chin up and don't worry needlessly. They are suspicious of the same thing my docs were.

Here's hoping Tobie has the same good outcome I did.


Regards, Tom Liggin

 

[Trish727]

I have never heard of anything like this but I will say a prayer for both of you and keep us informed. Boxers slurps to your furby!


Trish

 

[tazi]

Thanks Tom and Trish!

Vertigo sounds like what Tobie has! I want to be optomistic, but I'm one of those people that things always turn out for the worse and not the better. I can only hope and pray that this time will be different. I just love him so much, as all of us boxer mom's and dad's love our boxers. They have a way of overwhelming your heart like almost no other pet can do.
I did search the bw site and the internet and have not come across any reference to another dog with two ruptured eardrums. One was bad enough...
He does seem just a little tiny bit better tonight, and he was certainly giving me the evil boxer doggie eye while I was holding on to him during his potty time...he likes to go under a bush out of sight but I'm afraid to let him go.
I've rigged up a sheet that I put under and around him like a sling to help him up and down my seven step concrete porch, and he doesn't like that either, but I'm only 5'2" and he weighs 70 pounds and I can't carry him down only help him!:p

 

[FlashyTitus]

I get vertigo myself and it makes me sick. All I can do it lay around until it goes away. I'm sure everything is fine. Don't get yourself all upset, even though its hard not to. I wish you both well.

 

[bryan829]

do you know if your dog has had any type of head injury? i suffer from chronic vertigo that comes and goes in spells from a head injury i had. i had one surgery in my left inner ear a year ago and about to to have another one. i've heard of dogs getting vertigo the same way humans do either from head injury or ear infection.
I know it has to be hard watching him suffer, i feel terrible for him cause i know what it feels like but hopefully the right doctor can find exactly whats causing it and rectify the problem. ask the vet if it is safe for your dog to take antivert, a low mg. dosage of valum, or something similar. thats what they have me on til the surgery and it helps calm it down.
hope everything works out!

 

[Chewy's Mom]

Here are some links you might want to check out...

http://www.bestfriends.org/members/health/canineears1.htm - discusses ruptured ear drums under the "Treatment" heading.

http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/earnosethroat/earn4456.html - this explains what exactly a ruptured ear drum is, likely causes, and treatments. This article is referring to human ears, but the concepts are the same.

Good luck. I hope Tobie is feeling better very soon!

Monique

 

[tazi]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes

Tobie is the same today, and since reading about vertigo it does seem to be what he has. When he is laying down his eyes look like the room is spinning around him. He is still eating and drinking OK, and I gave him some honey because he seems to have some nasal congestion, similar to a cold, which I guess could indicate that he does have an ear infection even tho his outer ear shows no sign of it.
As far as I know he hasn't had a head injury but he is very clumsy normally and tends to be looking in one direction and will suddenly turn his head in another direction and usually ends up hitting his head on something-usually right in the snout. Or he will be standing still and leap into the air and do a complete 360 and land on a piece of furniture. The worse time was when he was a puppy and he hit his head on the steel bumper of my sons car. It made a bonnnnggggggg sound and he had a knot on his head and a spot with no hair for about a week. But that was two years ago now.
This is why I crate him when I am at work. I am so overprotective of him its not funny. Of course right now I really miss all that clumsy puppy energy and sillyness. I know its all still in there but he is too sick to express it. I just get the occaisional evil doggie eye if I do something he doesn't like, and when he tried to turn around in his crate and ended up almost sitting on his own face he gave his butt the evil doggie eye. I had to laugh!! Anyway, thanks again for all the support, he really needs it right now and so do I!! On top of this I have the most horrible cold and I busted my thump pretty bad at work yesterday, so I'm a total basket case!!

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

My prayers and thoughts are with you and Tobie. I sure hope this can be worked out and he will be fine.

We're here for you and sending good vibes your way!

 

[tazi]

UPDATE

Today Tobias was much the same except he would not drink any water. I made him some supplemental puppy formula and he drank that. He eats fine, gobbles up his food the same as always except I have rice in it too which he seems to really like at the moment. Right now he is at the emergency vets because when we got home this evening after being away for several hours, he had a 4 inch round knot on the side of his neck behind and below his left ear. This is the same place I would be taking him on Monday to see a specialist, and so they are keeping him overnight and the specialsit will see him in the morning. The on duty vet looked deep in his right ear, and said she hesitated to say the word worm, but there were white stringy things in Tobie's ear canal. This would be the third vet in less than two weeks and they all say the same thing, that none of them have ever seen a case like this, and that boxers are prone to tumors and that I need to be prepared for that possibility. All I can say is I am not prepared.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and concern, I'll let you know what they find out.