Deaf? Eye ulcer.

I am really happy that he’s feeling so much better. We did a great walk this morning on the mountain. Tons of dogs, lots that he knows. He was full of energy and trotting along. And with his booties, his paws were fine, no limping.

But I still feel really depressed by his lack of hearing. Looking back over the past few months, I think we just thought he’d forgotten our verbal cues. Or that he just didn’t want to do what we wanted him to do (he can be stubborn when he really wants to go somewhere). But perhaps he was just going deaf? I feel so bad about not being more careful about keeping his ears healthy. They’ve always been problematic, but perhaps I just didn’t try hard enough to get them right. He’s always disliked having his ears cleaned, so I didn’t force him. Perhaps they were just really sore. 😢 I really can’t bear the thought that he will never respond to “go say hallo!”—when I’d say that, he’d instantly wag his tail and go say hallo to whoever was there. 😢
 
I appreciate how upsetting this is for you but honestly , it wont alter your relationship with Snowie at all . Having a deaf dog myself , I know how much they watch our faces and react to our expressions . Nelly still comes bounding into the sitting room every morning , stands in front of me for my greeting, tail wagging when I speak to her and smile . I talk to her all the time despite her not hearing me , but she is observant , as Snowie will become more observant , clever souls these dogs are xxx
 
You could start to use hand signals along side your voice commands. Hubby has a stutter so he was quite keen to add hand signals when we trained Homer as a puppy. Homer only responds to a hand signal for “down”. They do pick up a lot from our movements. Do you think with the new drops it might improve a bit To be able to help transition to hand movement?

Both Homer and Hubby have very selective hearing.
 
Thank you @kateincornwall it’s very reassuring and comforting hearing about your and Nellie’s relationship. Yesterday I was on the floor with Snowie and said to him “give kisses”, and he lent forward and licked me and wagged his tail. I was so excited, he could hear! But my husband said he’s probably just responding to my expression and body language. He suggested as you have that our relationship will remain the same; we can still communicate.

@JES72 thankfully we have always used hand signals. I guess it just came naturally. I am hopeful the ear meds are helping things. At least in the one ear—he tends to look to the right (good ear) if I’m calling him from behind. It’s so difficult to know what he’s responding to, though.
 
The vet called and said the laboratory results indicate no cancer, so that is a relief. They’re still culturing the bacteria to be able to identify the exact bacteria to target. The vet reckons that if Snowie is already so improved, that the current antibiotics might be the right one anyway.

He said he needs to be castrated asap, so we’ll discuss that with him when we next see him. He’s away for 10 days from Thursday, so I guess on his return we’ll discuss surgical or chemical castration. @MellowYellow which one do you think is better based on your experience with your dogs? Since Snowie has been feeling so much better, his begging for food has gone back to normal as has his scavenging on walks, so the surgical castration might mean weight gain (vet is afraid of that). Currently his weight is good (around 35 kg).

This morning on our walk he was chasing another dog around a tidal pool on the sea wall. That dog was clearly on heat. I asked the owner and he was very chilled and just said she was very young. Snowie’s behavior clearly indicated she was on heat, so I will be much relieved, actually, when he is castrated. Hopefully it will stop him wanting to mount on-heat dogs (I have to be so vigilant). It was rather scary watching him on the sea wall; if he’d fallen in, he might’ve got hurt on the rocks. I managed to quickly catch him and get him off there! The younger dog was far more nimble.

I also read that the prostate gland enlarges around dogs on heat!! Just what we need right now!!
 
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He said he needs to be castrated asap, so we’ll discuss that with him when we next see him. He’s away for 10 days from Thursday, so I guess on his return we’ll discuss surgical or chemical castration. @MellowYellow which one do you think is better based on your experience with your dogs? Since Snowie has been feeling so much better, his begging for food has gone back to normal as has his scavenging on walks, so the surgical castration might mean weight gain (vet is afraid of that). Currently his weight is good (around 35 kg).
When you say chemical castration, do you mean actual castration via a chemical implant? Or a temporary damping down of his hormones via a chip? I found the chip good, but have also been very pleased with the results of Merlin's castration. He is a little hungrier, but we are vigilant and he has not put on any weight so far.
 
Perhaps I’m not using the terminology correctly? I mean by hormone tablets. In humans, the drug is Finasteride. I don’t know if it’s the same drug for dogs, but it’s the same action. The vet said it still allows testosterone production and does not affect weight.
 
Snowie has regained his hearing! It feels like a miracle. We were very aggressive with the ear treatment (antibiotic and antifungal drops plus cleaning, and we didn’t give in when Snowie didn’t want the treatment; we just held him tight and one administered treats while the other squirted the meds into the ears), and it apparently worked! I am so happy every single time Snowie hears me. And it has made such a difference to his enjoyment going out because so many people talk to him, and he had been ignoring them up till now. I guess he couldn’t hear them. Yesterday at the market he was so sociable, interacting with so many kids and people saying hallo to him.
 
Fantastic news. I bet you're chatting away with him.
We do talk to him a lot! 😁 But when he couldn’t hear us, it made me so sad. Now, every time he looks up when I say his name, or if he thumps his tail when I start talking to him from behind him, I then tell him how happy I am that he can hear me!

I really thought his hearing was gone forever. The vet told us it probably wouldn’t come back, that this was the best it would be. But my friend who is an audiologist said that swollen ear canals and wax buildup can affect hearing, and he probably just needed cleaning and treatment and time to unblock it all.
 
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