# a question of ears



## Wyzwmn (Apr 9, 2011)

I have a question....but to ask it I need to give you a little history

I've had dogs all my life...but always larger dogs...I bred Rotties and Dobs for years and then when I moved to an apt I became a Toy Poodle owner for a long time...when he died I went 3 long years without a dog in my life...

Pixie was a rescue at 5 mths...she and her brother and sister were abandoned in a duffle bag on the University Campus where I work. She's the runt, the only black and tan and had not been weaned, never had her nails cut, was lousy and was terrified of everything.

So here we are at 18 mths and she's happy and healthy...till a week ago. At which point a neighbour at my father's house gave her a beef flavoured Milk Bone dental chew from a bag he has for his dogs...I didn't stop him and in retrospect should have....but Pixie loved it...but she's never had anything like that before and she was all over it.

The following morning she had the runs like nothing I've seen in a long time...2 days later her left ear flopped over like a pup. The ear was all red and bothered so I checked it and she's scratched it to make it bleed...so I took her to the vet and we put her on an antihistamine for allergies. 

The antihistamine made her full on hyper...crazy, climbing the walls hyper. So I took her back to the vet and they gave her a cortisone shot to stop her from itching/scratching. I'm now bathing her once a week with an oatmeal bath and she's stopped scratching...however...both ears are now flying at half mast....and that was a week ago.

It's been my experience with larger dogs that their ears may flop when they are teething...but Pixie is well past that...

So I'm puzzled...which brings me to my question....have any of you ever had ears go down as an adult? and if so...do they ever go back up??

I miss her ears flyin high.


----------



## Amandarose531 (Aug 9, 2010)

Yes, it's common when they're under the weather in my experience. If it persists definitely ask your vet.


----------



## Wyzwmn (Apr 9, 2011)

oh thank you!

I like to hear the word "common" :blob5:

my vet is young and very enthusiastic because I use a "teaching vet hospital" that is close to my home...however it means that she also had never heard of ears flopping at almost 2 years....

if it persists I'll go back and talk to one of the teachers....she's such a little bit of a thing I find I have to work at not being paranoid about everything with her...so much so that I'm thinking of rescuing a 2nd chi just to keep me from obsessing LoL


----------



## Amandarose531 (Aug 9, 2010)

Mine was getting over a respiratory infection last week and had her ears down all week, i'm not saying rule it out, but just keep an eye on it until you speak with the teacher. If she's acting normal I don't think there is anything to worry about from my experience.


----------



## widogmom (Mar 23, 2011)

Dary, my Dobe, was a sickly pup (and a sickly adult, for that matter) and it was a constant battle for a year to get his ears to stand...which I lost. He was a sweet beautiful cropped-and-flopped. Yes, being physically ill or stressed can cause the ears to drop, but I don't know whether it is always permanent and how it might differ for a dog with natural rather than cropped ears. Part of the reason Dary's never stood is that the breeder's vet gave him a ridiculously long crop that his ear leathers couldn't support (it was "stylish" at the time).


----------



## Wyzwmn (Apr 9, 2011)

I'm happy to say that the ears have almost come back...depends apparently on how lazy she's feeling LoL


----------



## widogmom (Mar 23, 2011)

Glad to 'ear it!


----------

