Ear Cleaning leading to partial deafness??

[LillyBear]

So I took Henry to the vet last Weds to get his teeth shaved down, and the vet cleaned his ear also because she said it was all plugged up.. but since then (about a week ago) I have noticed that Henry is much less responsive to noise.. when I am talking to him he doesn’t respond unless I get in his face or talk very loud.. He used to startle at noise and run up to me when he heard me..

Do you think the vet ear cleaning has something to do with this?  Do you think she hurt him? (He was pretty upset and disheveled when we were done at the vets – and they did his stuff in the back where we weren’t allowed to go in to see so I have no idea if she did hurt him) Or could it possibly be an infection and now he has more build up?

I am pretty upset about this.. what do you think?

[Sarita]

I would take him back to the vet to have her recheck his ears. It’s difficult to say if that is the cause but I tell her your concerns and have her recheck the ears.

[babybunsmum]

oh dear… that would be upsetting for sure!  i haven’t any experience with ear problems but i think, in your shoes, i’d want to call my vet & ask this question.  it could be put rather innocently such as… "this was the first time i’ve had Henry’s ears cleaned before and i had a couple of questions… could you explain how they were cleaned… is this something i can do at home?"  or something to that effect, so they’re less inclined to feel defensive at the questions.  might get a more straight answer or better feel for the situation to decide whether or not this vet has your trust.  i wonder if cleaning could temporarily affect hearing?

i also wonder if Henry is still upset about the adventure and may need a little time to get back to normal behaviour-wise.  maybe he’s hearing but feeling wary to respond in the same manner?  anyways… i’m sure some one here has had ear cleaning experience & can offer better insight for you.  i hope Henry gets back to normal!

[poopy]

Look inside his ears with a flashlight (try several angles to make sure you can get good views of both canals). See if it there is anything suspect, like pus, fluid, blood, redness. I clean my rabbits ears quite deep inside regularly because she is a lop and gets waxy buildup. I think you would have to shove an q-tip pretty far down to do damage. In any case look for major red flags inside the ear and take him back to re-check those ears. Good luck!

[LillyBear]

^^ Thanks guys, I will give the vet a call on Monday or Tuesday and I will check his ears tonight.. I hope its nothing, and like babybunsmum said maybe he just doesn’t want to respond..

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh my, I would give that vet a call and say he doesn’t seem to be hearing very well now that his ear has been cleaned and could they schedule a follow-up appointment. It might be that he was deaf in that ear before and it might be why if it was plugged up he didn’t notice it.  Usually if something is wrong with the ear they shake their heads and scratch their ears.  Was he doing that before?

[BinkyBunny]

I had my vet show me how to clean Bailey’s ears. She said you do have to becareful not to go too deep as it can make some of the wax get dislodged and go in even deeper. If you look deeper inside the ear, you’ll see two holes/deeper canals in each ear. You should stay away from going into that.

I agree with everyone else that you should call the vet and let her know what’s going on. IF you don’t feel like this vet is trustworthy, then do you have another rabbit savvy vet you can see?

[poopy]

Did it look like there was anything suspect when you looked into the ears w/ a flashlight?

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