It all began with an ear infection. No matter how much gunky, funky ear wax I scooped out, it just wouldn't clear up on its own. So I took my dog Stella to the vet, who swabbed her ear, took a culture, and eyeballed it under a microscope. He found yeast and bacteria and all kinds of groovy things like that. Then he gave me some pills to give to Stella and said "come back in a week." I did. He looked at her ear again and said, "It looks a lot better," and I said, "I know." But then he said, "It's still not totally better, though." That's when he gave me a tube of MALOTIC, pictured above. He squirted it into Stella's ear and said, "Do this three times a day."
I followed his advice and, over the course of a few days, Stella's ear infection totally healed. On the 3rd or 4th day, though, it gradually became somewhat apparent, then painfully obvious, that Stella was no longer responding to my - or anybody's - auditory cues. Not only that, she wasn't greeting me at the door when I came home. She wasn't even responding to the phrase "Do you want a treat?" with the usual bright eyed conniption fit. That's when I realized that some bad juju had gone down.
I called the vet. "Hey, I know this is a weird question, but is there any chance that the MALOTIC is making my dog deaf?" He replied, "It's an extremely rare side effect, and in most cases the hearing comes back in a few weeks - but, yes, it is possible. You should stop giving her the Malotic." Relieved but freaked out, I went online and googled MALOTIC. I got a bunch of results that included more than a couple poorly written music reviews wherein the critic had misspelled 'melodic.' But I also found what I suspected: blog after blog and thread after thread about how MALOTIC had robbed a beloved pet of his hearing. Apparently it mostly happens with geriatric dogs. But guess what - Stella's a geriatric dog.
If you happen to be a dog owner, be forewarned that this shit could make your dog deaf as a doornail. We're still sort of hoping and praying that Stella's hearing is gonna come back, but there's no guarantee that it will. It's already been 2 weeks and, though we think we've seen some minimal improvement, even that can't be substantiated. Stella, who is a cool and laid back individual, now hates going to the vet. I can't blame her.
But anyway, all those trips to the vet for Stella's ear got the vets to poking and prodding - which is when they found the lumps. Those lumps are now at centerstage of this whole drama. It is thus that within the space of a couple of weeks I went from hoping that Stella's ear infection would clear on up to praying that my deaf dog doesn't have cancer. Unbelievable.
7 comments:
Did the dogs hearing ever come back? That stuff never worked for my dog either, instead I used a natural product that really did work.
It did, mostly. But then, within a few months, dwindled back down again. My dog's getting old. That's all there is to it. But I'm certain that Malotic permanently and markedly decreased her hearing. I wouldn't ever recommend it to any dog owner. I'm glad you found a nat'l product that worked, Sam.
Oh my g-d! I'm so glad that you posted this. Recently my dog was put on Malotic and she is not hearing a single thing now. She used to go crazy at the sound of someone coming in the house and now she can't hear me call her name when I'm right next to her. We went back to the vet and asked if the drops caused this and she said "absolutely not." Thank goodness I am listening to my gut feeling. Hopefully her hearing will come back. :(
I can't believe that we are all having this same experience - a simple ear infection 2 weeks ago and now our sweet wonderful 11 year old Bichon Frise is deaf due to MalOtic. Although the ear infection was in one ear, the vet told us to put the drops in both ears as a precaution. We thought nothing of it - simple ear drops. After a few days we noticed that she was not responding as usual, and now she is deaf.
WHAT CAN WE DO to make sure that this medication is either taken off the market or at least, Vets provide us with the proper warnings?
Man, so sorry to hear about your dogs, guys. Hopefully, their hearing will return completely or at least partially, as my dog's did (because of Malotic, she lived the last couple years of her life with a remarkable hearing deficit). If you press them about their role in robbing your pet of his/her hearing, your vet will tell you, essentially, "caveat emptor." This medication is dangerous and contraindicated for older (and some younger) dogs. My advice? (1) Write letters to Vedco, the manufacturer of Malotic, asking that they be more transparent & direct about the very real threat (documented by more than one study) their drug poses to dogs. (2) Explain to your vet that they have played a significant role in robbing your animal companion of his/her vital sense of hearing. (3) Get a new vet who practices holistically. It's what I did. I only wish I had done it sooner.
It is now 2012 and that poison is still on the market!!!
My 11 yr old Husky had an ear infection. The vet prescribed Malotic and after using for 3 days he can't hear a thing.
It's heartbreaking to know that we did this to him. I am having him seeing Monday by a holistic vet and sure hope she can do a miracle.
Is there the possibility of doing a class action lawsuit to Vedco. How can they continue to sell this poison?
This is all so familiar. Simple ear infection before Christmas and now my dog can't even get excited when asked to go for a walk. Just stares blankly with his ears pinned back (I assume he is trying to hear). Has anyone found anything that improves the chances of regaining any of the hearing?
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