Thoughts on Foofoo's deafness

[candyshandy]

Some of you may know that she had an ear polyp removed in January. Ever since then she is totally deaf. The hospital said that she had poor hearing before the op and this may be why she has lost her hearing. I had to stop giving her the ear drops as this may be causing the deafness ie. all the fluid.

It has now been 2 weeks since I stopped the drops and she is still deaf.:(

She is due back at the hospital next week and will have the camera in her ears and another hearing test.

I wasn't given any warning that she could lose her hearing before the op and the vet has indicated that she cannot think of any reason why she has subsequently lost it.

I have no evidence to back this up but I think they could have damaged her ears during the op. Is there anything I should be asking when I take her in next week?:?

Thanks

[yola]

Gosh, so sorry to hear Foofoo's deafness might be more serious than originally thought. I don't have enough knowledge of how the ear works to be able to offer any sensible response. However, does it seem to be affecting her quality of life? Do you know if she has completely lost all hearing? How hard of hearing was she before? There are SO many contributory factors it's difficult to know where to even begin :(

[angieh]

So sorry about Foofoo's deafness. How old is she? I think my old cat (21 years) may be going a bit deaf as I can creep up behind him (I'm not ever so good at creeping!) and he doesn't know I'm there till he can see me. However because of his age and the fact that he doesn't go out (so no need to worry about traffic) I'm not that worried. His sight is as good as ever.

Hope you manage to get some answers from the vet next week. Perhaps you should just come out and ask was it something that could have happened during the op?

[candyshandy]

She is absolutely fine in herself - well appears to be anyway. The one thing I have noticed is that she is a lot louder than she was and she was really loud before!! I now get woken up in the middle of the night to pick her up and put her into bed because she doesn't know where I am :(

I have always suspected that she didn't have great hearing before but she could hear me call her etc.

Foofoo was found as a stray (dumped I think :( ) so her estimated age is 10 so only middle aged ;)

I think I will just come out and ask about whether the op could have caused it - not that I'm expecting them to admit it but you never know...

I'm dropping her off next week in the morning before taking Fabes for his appointment at Uni of Liverpool hospital - will be picking her up and having a consult on my return. Will be doing one heck of driving that day and sitting around in vet waiting rooms - lovely way to spend a morning off work!

One other thing - last time I took her for a check up after the op they didn't charge me. The receptionist checked and came back looking a bit confused and said that it was right - nil charge. Another reason why I think its all a bit odd.....

[Elaine]

That does sound a bit odd CS, I'd probably start by asking more about why there was no charge.
I dont know anything about polyps or ear stuff tbh but i did find the following link which explains about polyps and the proceedure. It may help to be a little more informed.
http://www.fecava.org/files/ejcap/420.pdf

[yola]

That is strange, about the non-charging :? I think Angie's right, just raise it with them in a matter of fact way. I hope they don't try to cover up - after all, you will have signed a disclaimer before the op so it's not as if you can sue them. It would be good if you could get to the bottom of what's happened.

[candyshandy]

Yep - in no way am I thinking of the litigation route I would just like to know whats gone on really.

Thanks for the link Elaine will have a look now.

[tilly]

Whenever my cats have had an op the follow up appointment/s have been free. Not sure why they were but the vets were very good and I had no complaints. It might have been because we were there so much with the cats!. Or it might have been that I did work for them as a saturday help when I was younger but I don't think it was. I thhink it might have been there policy.
Anyway hope it get sorted out soon.
Sally

[yola]

So they didn't charge you for the op or for the follow up appointment? I thought it was for the whole operation! No - my vet doesn't charge for the follow ups either; it's all wrapped into the price you pay for the operation. Sorry, I misunderstood :oops:

[candyshandy]

The op was £500+ - perhaps the follow up was included but I've never come across that before.

[yola]

Balie's dental op that he's just had included a FOC follow up.

[Kay]

Follow up appointments should usually be included in with the original price.
One thought about the deafness. They could possible have damaged the tympanic bulla when they removed the polpys. Another thought is that Foofoo could have had the polyps for a long time, they usually occur in younger cats age between 1-4, and this alone could have caused damage and led to the deafness. Just a thought.

[candyshandy]

She has always had problems with her ears. When I first picked her up she was shaking her head and had ear mites but her ears were checked when she was first rescued and all was ok.

The vet did say seeing as I didn't know her history then she could have had an untreated ear infection which had caused all the damage.

I'll post a piccie of the internal camera photos.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/candiceh/scan0001.jpg

Left hand piccies are before and right hand after. The right ear is the one with the polyp and the left has black in it which apparently is ear disease.

[PoshPuss]

Sorry you have this dilemma CS. I'm sure the vets would not mind you asking about the op. in the least. Foofoo is your pet after all and you pay for the services they provide.
The follow up was probably free anyway so there's no cover up there. The pics indicate ear disease, this looks more threatening than the polyps. Did the vet show concern about this ?:(

[candyshandy]

I was alarmed about the black disease too but the vet didn't really seem that interested in it.

I'm seeing Fabes' vet at Uni of Liverpool next week and I'm going to ask her opinion (off the record of course!). She has dealt with ear polyps etc before. I'll be picking Foofoo up after I see her so will be able to ask the ear vet anything she mentions.

[candyshandy]

Well good news!

The hearing test showed that she has got limited hearing and isn't completely deaf. The left ear is the worst one but they are hoping that once the ear drum heals it will improve.

I asked about the ear disease and apparently the black wasn't black tissue but gloopy ear wax stuff - an indication of ear disease.

I spoke to Fabes' vet and she said she would be wanting to know if the ear disease was further down the ear and a CT scan would show this. Fabes' vet does this but not Foofoo's. I'm going to have a chat with my own vet and take her advice on whether it needs further investigation.

Anyway she has been discharged and is on a reduced dosage of the steroids for 3 weeks. If she shows any signs of discomfort going forward then I have to take her straight to my own vet and they will treat as normal.

She is still a bit spaced out and has sat my her food bowl since getting back this afternoon. I put some food on a saucer on top of some DVDs because she was struggling to eat and lower her head at the same time. Done the trick and she has eaten about half a pouch.:)

[Elaine]

Well that seems a little more encouraging with regards to her hearing. Will the steroids help to prevent any firther deterioration?

[Mags]

That's good news, I hope her hearing will improve given time..

[candyshandy]

They were being used as an anti inflammatory and so we have to wean her off them now. Apparently you can't just stop them - so no idea really Elaine. I'm a bit muddled tbh as I also took Fabes to his vet today and have whizzed around the North West all morning!! :)
I had to be careful I dropped the right cat at the right vet! ;)

[Elaine]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Now that would have left more than just you in a muddle:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Kay]

How is Foofoo at the mo?

[candyshandy]

She's fine thanks Kay - still no signs that her hearing has improved though.

She's eating like a cat possessed -must be those steroids!

The trouble is - the fluids they have packed her ears with is slowly coming out and is making her fur sticky and creating mats. I feel like I'm the scary woman with the dreaded comb!! ;)

[Kay]

Try putting some vaseline on the hair that is becoming sticky to protect it. Just an idea.

[candyshandy]

Thanks - I'll do that :)

[Kay]

Hope it works.