[Dailydrool] Tramadol and pseudomonas

[Pamela McQuade]

Adm.JED & his slave Lea:
Adm., please tell your slave that this pseudomonas stuff is serious 
business. If she deals with it quickly and thoroughly, your ear should 
be fine, but if she fails to do that, there could a very serious 
problems on the horizon. I recommend that she use the Cipro immediately.

Our Alexis, who has been ATB for many years, came to us with a serious 
pseudomonas infection in both ears. Eventually it became so bad that I 
believe one eardrum was punctured. She had to have a total ear canal 
ablation, which left her essentially without hearing in that ear. It is 
a nasty surgery to have to have done and is very painful for the hound. 
Basically, they take out the whole inner part of the ear to stop the 
infection. BPET kept her other ear from going this route, but only 
because I used it constantly. It did not clear up the infection, only 
kept it at bay for the rest of her life (about a year and a half).

But if the slave follows the vet's directions, you will not have to go 
through all this. This is why I tell people to treat their dogs 
immediately for ear infections. Do everything you can, slave, not to 
skip doses of the medication, since that can build up resistance to the 
drug, and since a limited number of drugs work on pseudomonas, you don't 
have endless options. WIth Holly, we went through a lot of drugs, and 
each failed to work. I believe that by the time we got her, the 
infection had such a strong hold that nothing could oust it.

Yes, use the Cipro. If there was ever a time to use it, it is now. JED 
should not be on it for long, if the drug will work for this infection. 
If it does not work, you need to keep going back to your vet or even see 
a specialist. This is not something to dally with. Be persistent about 
the cleaning regimen and the medication. Do not linger if the medication 
does not seem to be clearing things up. Another drug may do the job, but 
you don't want to let pseudomonas become more deeply entrenched.

Letting people on the Drool know about ear infections is one of my 
missions. I do not want other dogs to go through what my sweet-as-pie 
Alexis did.

Also be aware that ear infections are also often a sign of allergies. If 
the admiral's allergy (assuming he has one) is dealt with by a change of 
food, this may help. Bassets are allergy prone, and ear infections are 
one way this shows up. Wish I had known that when we had our sweet peach 
Alexis.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets