Blaise vets diagnose rare ear abnormality in Dalmatian puppy

Blaise Veterinary Referral Hospital has successfully treated a Dalmatian puppy suffering with a rare congenital ear abnormality.

A team at IVC Evidensia’s new Birmingham hospital diagnosed congenital aural atresia in Nova, its first referral patient when it opened the end of last year, which had faced persistent problems from the congenital ear abnormality.

She suffered regular infections and an abscess, seldom reported in veterinary literature, and surgeon Lara Dempsey, head of soft tissue surgery, removed the external ear canal and opened up the middle ear.

‘Extremely rare’

Dr Dempsey, a European and RCVS specialist in small animal surgery, said: “Nova was initially taken to the primary vets after the owner noticed a lot of waxy discharge from the puppy’s left ear.

“When they couldn’t see that the ear canal was continuous and there was a blind-ending pouch, they referred her to us for further investigation.

“Nova’s case was extremely rare. The ear canal was divided into two compartments by a septum and was severely narrowed at the level of this septum.”

Chronic infections

Dr Dempsey continued: “Nova would have had chronic recurrent infections and could potentially develop para-aural abscessation where an infection ruptures through the ear canal to the surrounding soft tissue.

“We carried out a total ear canal ablation and lateral bulla osteotomy, which involved removing the external ear canal and making a window in the bulla.

“The canal and bulla were full of wax and debris, which was removed and flushed out.

“The surgery took under two hours, everything went well and fortunately there were no complications. Nova should now have an improved quality of life without the distress of having persistent infections.”