Update on Ursa...

[Black Labbies]

Posting this in the senior health section.

Ursa is doing much better since we finally figured out her main health problem. Poor girl, we were bad dog owners .

Yes, Ursa's eyesight is changing as she's getting older. She's now 12.7 years old. She has some arthritis, but not bad enough to stop her from playing soccer at the park daily. Overall, Ursa is a healthy senior girl. But we neglected to see that Ursa had a bad ear infection . We don't often have ear infection with our Labs, so that's my excuse, lol.

Ursa had been mopey for a while and having trouble going up and down the stairs, so we blamed it on her failing eyesight. Then one day I noticed she was holding her left ear funny - close to her head and face. Tried to look in her ear, but Ursa won't let me. Then paid closer attention to 'mother-hen' Loua, who would often lick Ursa's left ear. Made a vet app't and saw Dr. Tony, and yes, Ursa had a bad ear infection. They flushed out her ear and medicated it with Claro. 3 days later we noticed Ursa's left ear relax and hang normally again, and a few days after that, Ursa was going up and down the stairs on her own without being scared and needing our help. It was her ear infection throwing off her balance (making her dizzy), hence the fear of doing the stairs! Ursa has another vet visit with Dr. Tony for a recheck coming Wednesday, either for another treatment of Claro, or we're good to go....

We love Ursa soooo much and wish only the best for her.

[barry581]

Fighting ear infections can be so frustrating! Hopefully she'll stay clear of them going forward.

I've used this over the years with good results: https://www.cascaderetrievers.com/ti...le-ear-cleaner

[Black Labbies]

That's what we were using and thought it was helping Ursa. Found out from Dr. Tony that Ursa's infection was way down in her canal.

[Berna]

You are not bad parents, I'd probably think it's eyesight related too! It's tough when issues start as they get older, you never know if it's related to an old one or not. I am glad Ursa is on the mend!

[Snowshoe]

Poor girl. Good thing you did notice, you are a good doggy parent. And so is Loua.

[amyb]

You are not bad lab parents!!!

[SunDance]

Posting this in the senior health section.

Ursa is doing much better since we finally figured out her main health problem. Poor girl, we were bad dog owners .

Yes, Ursa's eyesight is changing as she's getting older. She's now 12.7 years old. She has some arthritis, but not bad enough to stop her from playing soccer at the park daily. Overall, Ursa is a healthy senior girl. But we neglected to see that Ursa had a bad ear infection . We don't often have ear infection with our Labs, so that's my excuse, lol.

Ursa had been mopey for a while and having trouble going up and down the stairs, so we blamed it on her failing eyesight. Then one day I noticed she was holding her left ear funny - close to her head and face. Tried to look in her ear, but Ursa won't let me. Then paid closer attention to 'mother-hen' Loua, who would often lick Ursa's left ear. Made a vet app't and saw Dr. Tony, and yes, Ursa had a bad ear infection. They flushed out her ear and medicated it with Claro. 3 days later we noticed Ursa's left ear relax and hang normally again, and a few days after that, Ursa was going up and down the stairs on her own without being scared and needing our help. It was her ear infection throwing off her balance (making her dizzy), hence the fear of doing the stairs! Ursa has another vet visit with Dr. Tony for a recheck coming Wednesday, either for another treatment of Claro, or we're good to go....

We love Ursa soooo much and wish only the best for her.

I couldn't help but think I failed Danny because I didn't KNOW things that weren't apparent. We do the best we can and you are definitely NOT a bad dog owner!

One thing...with Loua licking that ear. If she has a habit of doing that, it could have been the CAUSE of the infection. Constant moisture. We had to get Dan to stop licking Sunnie's ears because they were staying moist. She had flyaway ears, though, and so didn't harbor the moisture like true Lab ears do. She may or may not have developed an infection but our vet agreed with me that Dan should give up the habit. (I'm pretty sure Sunnie was relieved, to be honest.)

Glad to hear Ursa is on the rebound!

[Black Labbies]

Vet appointment update on Ursa's ear.

Dr. Tony is happy with how Ursa's ear looks inside. The Claro is still working at killing the infection, and he thinks that over 2 weeks she'll be all good.

Ursa is much happier and loves playing with her new Halloween stuffie toy I bought her, because she's such a good girl at the vet's.

Sundance: I talked with Dr. Tony about Loua licking Ursa's ear and he said Loua probably started licking Ursa's ear because of the funky smell, now that it doesn't smell, Loua has stopped.

[Jollymolly]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like she is heading in the right direction.

[SunDance]

Glad Loua stopped the licking.

As a preventative, after we had a lot of issues with my Hershey's ear, I put a drop of ear drying solution into all ears on days where it was super humid or actually raining/snowing. Hersh and subsequent dogs never had an infection after I started that.