Ear Infections in Shih Tzus

Question
Hello Dr. Gotthelf,

I am writing you today about my dog, Maxwell. He is a 4.5 year old Shih Tzu. On and off for the past year, he's had this ear infection that has been getting progressively worse. For roughly the past six months, his eyes have been twitching and sometimes even his head when he shakes it(say to shake off some dirt or something)- it sort of looks like he is seizing, but it only lasts for about a minute. I was told that Shih Tzus are prone to ear infections because their ears hang down, which doesn't allow much air through.

Yesterday I took him to a local vet and she said that, on Monday (12/27), she wants to give him a sedative in order to look deep down into the ear to see if there is any nerve damage or damage to the eardrum. In the meantime, she said to steer away from the antibiotic ear drops another vet gave me.

My question is could you give me some information about this? Have you heard of something similar in other Shih Tzus? I am very desperate for information and am extremely worried for my little friend. We, my family and I, try to clean out his ears the best we can, but it is very difficult, as you can imagine, dogs do not like their ears touched - especially if they are infected.

Please, if you have any information that can help me, I would be so grateful. I am running out of sources for information.

Thank you, and have a great holiday!

Sincerely,

Melissa Amoroso

Answer
Melissa;

You have finally found a smart vet.  The dog's ear canal is like a boot with the eardrum at the toe.  So in order to properly examine an ear it is often necessary to sedate or anesthetize a dog to manke the bend with the otoscope to get all the way into the ear canal.  If there is a problem deep, then it can be treated with the dog under sedation much easier.

Most dogs including Shih Tzus that have ear problems usually have skin allergies.