Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Milo: Looking beautiful, but his health is still delicate

There have been some updates on Milo's blog, http://milothefostercollie.blogspot.com/

1 October 2013
Caught Milo in a ray of sunshine coming through a gap in the trees as the evening light began to fade.  Hate it that it is getting dark so early! Need to think about getting out the blinky collar lights.

26 September 2013

Milo hit a bit of a rough patch this week.

He had some yeast- like / dirt smell in his ear, so I used Otomax that I had on hand for about a week - standard stuff - in both ears. His chiropractor is the one who really noticed it.

Since then he's been difficult to wake, seems like he can't hear the normal goings on which would cause him to come to dinner or line up to go out the door with the other dogs. I'm a bit concerned as this seems to have had a sudden onset. The infection seemed to be located on the side where his original ear infection/abscess was.

The vet thinks that the Otomax (gentamicin) is the culprit for Milo's deafness. I found this info that I'd like to share with other dog (and cat) owners:

The use of OTOMAX® has been associated with deafness or partial hearing loss in a small number of sensitive dogs (eg, geriatric). The hearing deficit is usually temporary. If hearing or vestibular dysfunction is noted during the course of treatment, discontinue use of OTOMAX® immediately and flush the ear canal thoroughly with a non-ototoxic solution.
The vet did have Milo's ears flushed and called Merck (parent company of Otomax) to notify them of this side effect. He said he felt it was very important to have them to make an official report. Ryan said that in his 13 years of practice, Milo is the 3rd or 4th dog he's come across to have this condition. It is possible that his eardrum may have had a tiny perforation which allowed the gentamicin to seep through.

Milo had gentamicin in the form of Mometamax when he first arrived at Skyline to combat the terrible ear infection he had at that time with no problems. And... gentamicin is in other meds - not just Otomax and Mometamax. However, he will never have it again! Otomax is a very common med for ear infections and I've used it successfully in the other dogs - and cats!

So... we wait a few weeks and hope that Milo's hearing returns.
Just before the ear problem was discovered, foster mom got this video of Milo and the cat. I wonder if the cat could sense that Milo had pain in his head from the infection?
 
Milo seems to enjoy being groomed by the cat. Ramon (the cat) couldn't be more pleased with the opportunity.

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