TECA (total ear canal ablation)/Ablación del canal auditivo

TECA needs general anaesthesia

TECA, or Total Ear Canal Ablation, is a common surgical solution to chronic ear problems in most pets and some breeds. Shar pei's owners do know how stressful a dog with chronic otitis can become. 

Some breed of dogs are very prone to get this infections, due to their anatomy. The narrower the canal, the more likely to retain debris, yeasts and bacterias, the more difficult to treat with ear drops, and once we have a chronic infection, treating it is a challenge.

This month's case is a middle age, male shar pei whose owners agreed in surgically removing the "inner walls" of his ear canals. Thus, both the infective and inflammated tissue is removed, his ear canals are enlarged and further infections are more unlikely to sit again (read more).

Top reasons for canine visits

Typical ear drops 
in pet stores

External otitis

Basically, we can find three causes for ear infection or otitis in our dog: yeast, bacteria, and mites. It is essential to investigate which one is causing the infection in our pets for several reasons, and a cytology ear sample smear is a must.

On the one hand, most of the ear infections are not due to mites, and the only ear drops that can be bought over the counter are only effective against mites. Although using them while the problem is another kind of infection, will not harm our pet, not only it will not solve our problem but also will prolong it, wasting our time, our money, our pet's patience, and risking ending up with a more dangerous and complicated internal ear infection (read more).

Trombiculosis/harvest mites

TROMBICULOSIS

Trombiculosis is another very typical ear infection, due to a parasite, but not all over the year. In Spain, it used to appear in the end of summer or beginning of autumn. In warmer zones, like south of Spain, there can be seen as late as December, and sometimes in the spring. The most characteristic difference the owner notices is some small dots, normally within the ear, standing out of the skin and looking like orange powder. This new scratching problem is due to another type of mite. Another typical place it may be found is in paws, between fingers, or near the nails.

La trombiculosis es otra infección de oído muy típica, debida a un parásito, aunque no todo el año. Suele presentarse a finales del

verano, principios del otoño, pero en climas más cálidos, como en el sur de España, se puede ver hasta en diciembre, incluso en la primavera. La característica más diferencial que el dueño percibe es la de unos puntitos que sobresalen de la piel, en general dentro

Ear mites in cats/sarna en orejas de gato

OTODECTES CYNOSIS

Otodectes is a mite very common in ears problems both in dogs and cats. It is very painfull, that is why cats used to scratch their infected ears a lot. If not treated, the mites spread out of the ear to the eyelids, face, neck and then, the body. If the scratching keeps on or becomes very hard there is a high risk of provoking an otohaematoma (see OTOHAEMATOMA)

Otitis to death?

The owner whose dog had the worst ear infection I have ever seen wanted to put him to sleep, fed up with drops, gauzes, sanitary towels, liquids and fights with her pet. Certainly, touching his ears was so painful, so swollen and for so long that it took quite a few minutes just to get his ear up. Under sedation I could remove all the dirty and took some samples to check in the microscope. Everything but mites were found, being malassezia the main intruder.

La dueña del perro con la peor otitis que he visto jamás lo quería dormir, harta ya de gotas, gasas, toallitas, líquidos y luchas con su mascota. En efecto, tocar sus orejas era tan doloroso, estaban tan inflamadas que

Otohematoma/otohaematoma.

CASO 1

Os presento a Félix, el gato de una clienta alemana que llegó preocupada por una infección de oido muy peligrosa. No era tal infección, sino que se trata de un otohematoma, un acúmulo de sangre en el pabellón auricular debido a la rotura de un vaso o capilar sanguíneo. Aun siendo más frecuente en perros, no es imposible que ocurra en gatos, por peleas, golpes.

Here is Felix, the cat of a German client who was very concerned about this sudden, dangerous "infection" in his ear. It happened not to be an infection but an otohaematoma, an amount of blood within the pinna due to a broken vessel. Although it’s more common in dogs, they eventually occur in cats after fighting, accidents, etc.