Taylor
New member
So not too long ago I posted about cleaning Charlotte's ears. I didn't really trust anyone at Petco and I couldn't get her to let me bring ANYTHING (tissue, cottonball, etc) near her ears, so I decided I would take her to the vet, and then work on maintaining clean ears (slowly adjusting to get her to let me clean them)
So Tuesday morning we went to the vet, a vet-tech took her into an exam room (without me) and cleaned her ears. I asked how it went, she told me it was great. Didn't say anything about the condition of her ears, or suggestions on getting them done more/less often, or anything. I paid and went home.
The rest of the day Char kept shaking her head, and I assumed maybe she still had some of the cleaning liquid in her ears, and just let her go.
Wednesday I caught a funny smell and wasn't sure about it, but Wednesday night I knew it was definitely coming from her ears, and her ears smelled AWFUL.
Thursday she started rubbing her face on the carpet, scratching her ears, and she didn't sleep at all last night. So I called the vet.
They basically told me that it's not possible that she got an ear infection from having her ears cleaned. What about cross contamination? If someone forgot to clean the bottle? How would this just happen to show up after she had them cleaned?
I explained her symptoms and they told me someone had canceled an appointment tonight so I was able to get her in.
When I arrived they asked if I wanted to just have her tested for the infection, or if I wanted to see a vet. I said I feel that some sort of mistake was made because it seems like more than a coincidence that she developed a horrific ear infection just after they cleaned her ears, when previously they were fine. No discharge, no smell, no sensitivity, no scratching.
"I've been cleaning dogs ears for 10 years and no dog has ever gotten an ear infection from cleaning" Well how would you explain what happened? So I guess that meant I wanted to see a vet. So a tech came in, did the swab to test for an infection. The vet came in, checked her heart and felt her belly and told me she seemed healthy but as a bulldog owner I should already know that they are prone to skin,eye,ear,and breathing problems and that this was probably manifesting before the cleaning, and the tech probably "stirred it up"...In a joking manner she added "Yeah, some other vets love seeing English Bulldogs because they just see dollar signs, they always have something"...Charlotte has no allergies, her teeth/nose/breathing/skin/eyes look great and she's not had any ear problems until now.
I was given three different medicines for two weeks.
No one apologized or offered anything and I still feel that somehow this was a fault of theirs. I didn't trust the petstores so I paid extra to have the vet do it, and then she comes down with an infection and I ended up paying for a veterinarian appointment, ear infection test, and three antibiotics?
I also asked how often I should clean her ears on a normal basis and I was told once per day. Wouldn't that be more harm than good?? Everyday?
So after the rant, my questions:
I'm feeling really upset because I feel that my dog may have been mistreated (causing the infection) and then no one offered to correct the problem (without charging me an arm and a leg). I understand they couldn't give me free antibiotics or analysis tests, but was the charge for the vet visit merited?
Should I really be cleaning her ears daily? this just seems obsessive.
Would you switch vets? I really felt comfortable at our first visit (when I got Char) but now I wonder if I should consider going somewhere else.
Any other advice would be great too..I'm just not happy with this whole situation and wondering if I could have prevented it.
So Tuesday morning we went to the vet, a vet-tech took her into an exam room (without me) and cleaned her ears. I asked how it went, she told me it was great. Didn't say anything about the condition of her ears, or suggestions on getting them done more/less often, or anything. I paid and went home.
The rest of the day Char kept shaking her head, and I assumed maybe she still had some of the cleaning liquid in her ears, and just let her go.
Wednesday I caught a funny smell and wasn't sure about it, but Wednesday night I knew it was definitely coming from her ears, and her ears smelled AWFUL.
Thursday she started rubbing her face on the carpet, scratching her ears, and she didn't sleep at all last night. So I called the vet.
They basically told me that it's not possible that she got an ear infection from having her ears cleaned. What about cross contamination? If someone forgot to clean the bottle? How would this just happen to show up after she had them cleaned?
I explained her symptoms and they told me someone had canceled an appointment tonight so I was able to get her in.
When I arrived they asked if I wanted to just have her tested for the infection, or if I wanted to see a vet. I said I feel that some sort of mistake was made because it seems like more than a coincidence that she developed a horrific ear infection just after they cleaned her ears, when previously they were fine. No discharge, no smell, no sensitivity, no scratching.
"I've been cleaning dogs ears for 10 years and no dog has ever gotten an ear infection from cleaning" Well how would you explain what happened? So I guess that meant I wanted to see a vet. So a tech came in, did the swab to test for an infection. The vet came in, checked her heart and felt her belly and told me she seemed healthy but as a bulldog owner I should already know that they are prone to skin,eye,ear,and breathing problems and that this was probably manifesting before the cleaning, and the tech probably "stirred it up"...In a joking manner she added "Yeah, some other vets love seeing English Bulldogs because they just see dollar signs, they always have something"...Charlotte has no allergies, her teeth/nose/breathing/skin/eyes look great and she's not had any ear problems until now.
I was given three different medicines for two weeks.
No one apologized or offered anything and I still feel that somehow this was a fault of theirs. I didn't trust the petstores so I paid extra to have the vet do it, and then she comes down with an infection and I ended up paying for a veterinarian appointment, ear infection test, and three antibiotics?
I also asked how often I should clean her ears on a normal basis and I was told once per day. Wouldn't that be more harm than good?? Everyday?
So after the rant, my questions:
I'm feeling really upset because I feel that my dog may have been mistreated (causing the infection) and then no one offered to correct the problem (without charging me an arm and a leg). I understand they couldn't give me free antibiotics or analysis tests, but was the charge for the vet visit merited?
Should I really be cleaning her ears daily? this just seems obsessive.
Would you switch vets? I really felt comfortable at our first visit (when I got Char) but now I wonder if I should consider going somewhere else.
Any other advice would be great too..I'm just not happy with this whole situation and wondering if I could have prevented it.