So it turns out Luna's ear problem was more complicated than I first realized. I did think it was a little odd that she wasn't scratching, because that's usually what clues me in that her ears need cleaning. This is why I first suspected a bug. I was also surprised that, though they were dirty, they weren't very dirty. After I cleaned them, her head remained a little tilted. I thought this was odd, but put it off to her ear having some cleaning fluid in it. I also thought it odd that she didn't shake the fluid out, but not so odd as to cause concern. This is, after all, the same dog who has lengthy conversations with one of her hind feet.
So the next morning, her ear was folded and obviously painful. On examination, I found a hematoma. I called the vet and got her in at 8:30 this morning.
:caution: discussion of messy veterinary procedure follows (good outcome)
:caution:
I'm VERY proud of Luna. Because she is 10 years old, I opted not to do surgery which would have required anesthesia. Instead we put in a cannula. This required a small incision in the skin of the ear with a scalpel with no local and no sedative. Luna was an absolute star! She has, in the past, tossed a fit at having an invasive procedure. I was able to restrain her then, but I had to physically restrain her because a verbal restraint was not enough. So this time I had her in a bear hug and wedged in the corner of the room, ready for the worst. She barely flinched and gave just a tiny yelp. There was a good amount of blood from the drainage and three of us humans were splattered. Tom inserted the cannula and glued it in place. Then apologized to her, which she took gracefully. We managed to get home with the cannula still in place, so the odds are pretty good it will stay in until we are done with it.
END of discussion of veterinary procedure....
Now the most pitiful part. I want to save her ear set (the shape and carriage of her ears). Her ear itself is in no danger, but will probably be scarred and might be crumpled for life. Luna is a prick eared dog with a gorgeous ear set and I want to save it if I can. Toward that end, I have stuffed both ears with rolls of gauze, wrapped and taped them together, as if she was a puppy with soft ear tips. I'm not using actual tape, because, fortunately, she is a trained dog, so vet wrap seems good enough. She's lying patiently beside me, looking pitiful, and rather like this:
http://www.virtue.to/articles/images/1400s_Sibyl.jpgOnly her veil is vet wrap instead of jeweled netting. She says she would prefer the jeweled netting. I may have to get a bedazzler before this is all over (Luna is my vain dog).
The vet gives her 50/50 odds of keeping her natural ear set. I'm trying to increase her chances with my bandaging efforts. He's kind of doubtful it will help, as is her breeder. But both agreed it won't hurt her.
And in the time it took me to type this out and find a representative photo, she has fallen sound asleep and is snoring peacefully beside me. Double cone head hat and all. It's probably the worst bandaging job I've ever done, but then, I'm not in the habit of taping ears to train them in the first place. And I wouldn't have if she had been born this way. It's just that she's looked one way for 10 years and it is so disconcerting to glance at her and see what looks like a completely different dog to me. I admit it will probably be cute even if it does come out floppy or crumpled. But I'm still going to try to save the original look of her ear.
Topic: Luna sends this reminder about ear health (Read 239 times)