jdd

Exactly! Its just awful, no one should have to go thru this and the only way to stop it is to know what exactly happened.

FreyaTheDobe

Well, that is one way to stop it happening again, or of course the more obvious way is not have them cropped in the first place.

As many have said already there is more to a doberman, or any other great dog for that matter, than its ears. What has happened is a shame but I'm sure he'll be a wonderful dog and you'll have many happy years together.

jdd

Its pretty hard to do much in the Conf. ring with uncropped ears. It can be done, but some judges won't even look twice. At this point in time, you gott do what you gotta do.

dobesrule

awww poor baby. im so sorry. im glad he has you and not someone who wouldn't keep him.

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Greetings,
Bella & Maverick
Memphis, TN

dobieluvrKLE

Okay, I finally have a little while to sit down and type this all out.

On 3/24 Baron has his ear crop. The pic in my gallery IS from the day of the crop - they looked good! By Wednesday of that same week, Baron started having fever and diarrhea. The vet said that it could be from the pain meds they had given me, so I stopped giving them to him - last dose Thursday morning. Diarrhea stopped within 24 hours of his last dose of pain meds. Also Thursday Baron managed to somehow get his ear post all mangled up and torn partially off. I took it down and did not repost the ears until Saturday afternoon because they were standing pretty good. I didn't wrap them in the typical tape thing that I normally do since it was only 5 days after the crop. Although, I probably could have because the ears were healing very nicely. I slathered on the neosporin and wrapped them loosely in gauze since they still were wounds with stitches. The gauze allowed the ears to 'breathe' but the edges weren't exposed so the kid and other dog couldn't rip the stitches out. (the 3 of them play pretty rough) Also on Saturday the fever and diarrhea started back up again. This was before I reposted the ears, btw. I took him to my regular vet on Monday because he was still sick. When I dropped him off I filled out a form that had check boxes for his symptoms and asked for additional info to be written below. I noted that he had just had an ear crop 1 week prior and asked that they make sure that the illness wasn't a reaction to the crop - maybe an infection? Anyway, they tried to charge me for a bunch of tests that i didn't authorize and they DID NOT check his ears. Their diagnosis was an "upset tummy". They gave me 2 meds and special food and sent me on my way. Tuesday was a blur - my busy day at work, I was sick, my 3 y/o was very sick, etc... Wednesday night I called my mom - I consider her an expert because she has had dobermans since she was a small kid - 40+ years. (btw, she saw the ears Saturday evening and thought that I had wrapped them good given the fact that they weren't quite ready for the full blown posting) She told me to take the ears down and check for signs of infection. I unwrapped them and sure enough they were infected. Thursday I took him to the emergency vet and they said that he had developed some kind of internal illness/infection that affected his ears because they were basically open wounds. Emergency vet said it was just one of those things that "happen" with surgeries. My dad has a masters in animal science (so basically almost a DVM) and he's also an RN so I talked to him and he reiterated that infections just happen sometimes with surgery - animals and people. Vet told me that the ears would definitely need to be cut again and possibly amputated. She sent me home with 3 meds and instructions to take him to a vet within 24-48 hours. I didn't want to take him back to the regular vet since they didn't check him out on that Monday. I took him back to the vet that did the crop on Saturday morning. Both he and the emergency vet said that if the ears had been checked on Monday the infection wouldn't have gotten to the point of possible amputation. Ear crop vet checked him out and sent us home until Tuesday. He said that the meds that emergency vet gave me were the only thing I could do at that point until we knew what the ears were going to do. When we went back Tuesday Baron's ears were the texture and appearance of beef jerky so vet said that all the dead area would have to come off. We went back on Thursday and Baron had his ears amputated. The infection probably couldn't have been prevented but the vet could have given him an antibiotic on Monday instead of tummy meds had she bothered to look at the ears.

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~KELI~

bryantjoe

Poor Dobe...It's too bad they cant talk. We went through the same thing except i was at a 2 week school on post and my wife had to deal with the whole thing herself. We got lucky though because the vet checked it and told her to massage his ears 3 times a day and game him the antibiotics and everything turned out great. Regardless of the ear situation im sure he'll be a great Dobe. i dont think we could have done anything any better or worse. It's just something that unfortunately happens.

DLS

Well it sounds like everyone involved with this pup is at fault in someway or another. Now this poor pup has to suffer for it.
I have said this a hundred times and I will say it again. If you decide to get a cropped puppy find someone knowledgable to help you with the tapings BEFORE you get your pup. And if you get your pup cropped and think there is a problem, do not wait, do something immediately.

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greenkouki

I think this whole situation is really unfortunate and I feel really sorry for you, your family, and especially Baron. I don't think anyone can really be totally responsible for what has happened, yet I also believe as the owner you are mostly responsible for your pet's post surgery aftercare and monitoring and I find it a shame you couldn't check on his ears more often. I'm not totally sure from what I've read that a malpractice suit is going to be fully possible in this situation. I would say just get him into the emergency room as soon as you can and hope that after this surgery there are no further complications. I hope poor Baron feels better soon!

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VaBtrfly

I have to agree here. I believe that *everyone* involved shares the blame for this unfortunate situation. My "personal" vet did not crop my dobes ears but, he checked them (the healing edges as well as the taping) at every visit just the same. For ears to become gangrenous to the point of amputation, "should" have been evident early on from the smell of rotting flesh alone. Trust me, this is not A SMELL that is likely to go un-noticed, especially given the timeline attributed. I hope that everything from this point forward goes well for Baron. As others have stated, this does not affect the fact that he is an otherwise healthy, happy doberkid. Best of luck to you and Baron.

dobermansrule

was it infection, or the taping too tight cutting off circulation in the ear? I thought it was pretty standard for pups to be put on antibiotics right after cropping to prevent infection. But anyway, sorry to hear this.