Sudden deafness in 7 y/o cavalier

My cavalier is turning 7 on July 29 and seems to have suddenly gone deaf about a week ago. My mother noticed her ears looked gunky a couple of weeks ago and gave her zymox for a week until she noticed the deafness happening and stopped giving it in both ears. I understand meds can sometimes cause deafness but that people don't usually have trouble with the ingredients in zymox. We have also used zymox multiple times in the past with no issue. Deafness seems to be complete. Her left ear was more "gunky" than the right. My mom also noticed a couple of times when she pet her behind her ears she would whimper and shes also been rubbing her ears a lot on the floor.

Anyways, we took her to the vet today and when they did the exam they did an ear cytology. There wasnt much bacteria in there but a little bit of fungus/yeast. They looked with the otoscope and saw on the left side the ear drum was thickened and not clear it was more white and in the right side there was some fluid but said it may have been leftover zymox even though my mom stopped using it a week ago.

We asked about PSOM but she said it didnt seem like it...So the plan for now is the medication she gave us that is oral so as not to upset the ear further and hope that the hearing comes back and check in two weeks and hope it was from an ear infection. Luckily she doesnt seemed disturbed by being deaf at all. I'm just wondering if maybe this does sound like glue ear? Is this similar to SM in that most vets arent really that knowledgeable about it so I will really have to advocate on her behalf? The vet didnt mention glue ear until I did.... Is 7 y/o considered old enough where its just normal old age hearing loss?

I think your vet is taking the right steps. As you have guessed the vet is a bit misinformed -- PSOM is most of the time, not diagnosable just by looking -- it sometimes is severe enough to cause the eardrum to bulge but typically, it isn't. (and yes -- most vets don't know much about it, as with SM; but actually PSOM isn't very well understood anyway). An MRI is really needed to see if it is present. That said -- this breed commonly goes deaf. This can be due to PSOM but often isn't. You could try an MRI then myringotomy (ear flushing) as this sometimes will resolve the deafness but the procedure (under GA) usually has to be repeated more than once. I had the procedure done on my totally deaf cavalier and it didn't improve his hearing at all. Another cavalier I had who MRId clear for PSOM and SM at age 9 also was almost entirely deaf at age 6. ALL my cavaliers have hearing loss to some degree (all now over 9), most began to have signs by age 5-6.

So in short -- deafness/hearing loss unfortunately is pretty common in the breed (as shown in some research studies); it could be PSOM (as it is also very common -- more than half of cavaliers seem to have it) and a procedure might help or might do nothing at all. Most of the time what seems like sudden hearing loss is just us noticing gradual loss when it becomes really obvious ...as I have learned from my own experience with several dogs! Even when I know well what to look for it is easy to miss the signs for a long time. Dogs are very good at responding to other signals so might not appear to be deaf or hard of hearing at all, and it tends to be when a loud noises don't waken them that we owners finally notice. People often say 'oh but they can't be deaf, they can hear a packet of treats being opened!' but really dogs' sense of smell is so acute that most are certainly responding to the sudden smell. My totally deaf cavalier is actually the 'least deaf' of the group in overall behaviour! I retaught hand signals to commands and of course am very cautious about any of the hearing impaired dogs being off lead (except in safe circumstances) and our property is well fenced as well. They seem little bothered by it. The deafness isn't really an issue to me either. It helps to have deaf relatives and in-laws and know deaf people generally do not feel 'handicapped'' -- they have quite a rich and unique deaf culture, and there are of course, many ways to communicate! I think sound is likely one of the least important senses to dogs, too. Smell trumps everything of course!

Hope that helps give some ideas as where you might go next. I've had two neurologists advise they wouldn't do myringotomy (ear flushing) unless the dog is actually bothered with symptoms; but others might feel differently.

Sudden deafness in a cavalier at age 7 years should not be surprising. Apart from an infection, the two likely causes are (1) progressive deafness due to degeneration of the hearing nerve; and (2) PSOM. If you took your dog to a hearing specialist, he probably would try to diagnose the cause by first performing a BAER test and then performing an otic examination by manually using an otoscope. If that exam does not show that the top part of the ear drum is bulging (indicating PSOM), then the vet would recommend doing a computed tomography scan or a magnetic resonance imaging scan under anesthesia, trying to diagnose or eliminate PSOM.

I would not ignore the possibility of PSOM, because it can be progressive, meaning that the wad of mucus can keep enlarging, eventually causing the ear drum to burst.

There is a webpage which discusses all of this here: http://www.cavalierhealth.org/deafness.htm

Most vets know nothing about PSOM. My vet knew nothing about it and was grateful that I printed him the info from Cavalier Health so know the whole practice knows! I was the one who diagnosed Lucky with PSOM.

Lucky is mostly deaf, but PSOM is only a part of it. We have an MRI so we know he has PSOM in his right ear only, but based on BAER testing, he is actually more deaf in the left ear!

Our dermatologist is actually an expert in ears and PSOM. I'd look for a dermatologist in your area, and call to see if they could help you with BAER testing and diagnosis of the cause of your Cavalier's hearing issue.

Our Cavalier went 90-95% deaf a year ago, when she was 5 1/2 years old. I had her looked at by the vet and a neurologist (for something else) and was told they would be happy to CT $can her for PSOM. I did not do it because there were no other symptoms besides the deafness, and I did not want to spend the money. Had there been even one other PSOM symptom, I would have had the CT done.

We added more hand signals beyond the ones learned in basic obedience, and we've all adapted as best as possible. Our Cav is extremely healthy in all other aspects and we are grateful for that!

FYI - my dermatologist was able to look into Lucky's ear during the office visit with a video otoscope. Lucky had a very bulging ear drum so his PSOM was obvious. (we had gone to a neurologist before and he did nothing - dismissed it as a middle ear infection!). You really do have to be an advocate for your dog. If something doesn't sound right, get second opinion from another vet, or preferably a specialist

Thank you for the advice you guys it was extremely helpful! I'm surprised this can be normal as my 16 y/o Westie hears better than her now but I guess cavaliers are special haha. I dont currently live at home so I havent seen her since she started the antibiotics but my mom reports it seems like she has got some hearing back after being on them for almost a week, but only if its really high pitched talking. Whether thats true or not, or wishful thinking, who knows. I think I will suggest to my mom we check into glue ear since she has shown some discomfort and it cant be seen with upon visual examination. She is insured thankfully and maybe when we get to the specialist we will see what they think is even necessary. Maybe even by her check-up next week she'll have more hearing restored. If it becomes permanent I'm not worried at all as she doesnt seem to care and I trained her to both hand signals as well as vocal commands. We used to do agility and even though she could hear then I pretty much rarely said anything as she followed my body cues so well, so she's very adaptable! I already bought her a cute bandana that says "I'm not ignoring you! I'm deaf" If she ends up getting her hearing restored I can get the bandana that says "I'm not deaf. I'm ignoring you!"