I think my dog is deaf . . .

morganafay

Does anyone know anything about Cavaliers going deaf early? My 6 year old Cavalier seems almost completely deaf. I was reading that they can start to go deaf young and be completely deaf by 3-5 years.

She used to respond to her name when she was younger, but now won't at all and doesn't even act like she hears me. If she's asleep then I can't wake her up with any loud noise at all. But if I lightly touch her she wakes up straight away. She doesn't respond to whistling either. We tried clapping behind her head and she responded, but maybe just saw the movement or felt us moving our hands. I think she has a tiny bit of hearing and could hear the clapping a bit, but not sure.

Is there any way for a vet to know if she's deaf, or is there no real way?

She does have a waxy ear at the moment, maybe slightly infected, which we're cleaning with drops (and if it doesn't get better is going to the vet soon), but the other ear is fine. And I've noticed her hearing has been bad over the past 2 years, so I don't think it's the ear . . .

I'm sure she doesn't really mind. She can still go offlead in the fields because she doesn't leave my side, even if she sees a rabbit/cat/bird or anything. But she's always on a lead on the road.

But, does deafness make them a bit nervous or something? She's always right by my side or with one of the other dogs, very clingy, and if the other dogs are running around she'll usually just sit there looking sad. Or maybe she is just lazy and likes attention

Is there anything we can do for her, or will it not really affect her at all?

mymo

I know someone had a deaf Dalmatian(born deaf), its common to the breed, theirs was the same and liked to stay close, they trained him with hand signals.
The biggest problem was he couldn't hear something coming, be it a car or kids or another dog, so they had to mind him really carefully.
Long eared dogs are prone to ear trouble, do you pluck the ear hair and keep it trimmed very short under the ear flap?
I would suggest going to the vet.

morganafay

I keep the ear hair trimmed but don't pluck it. She doesn't have much hair in the ear canal or anything. I thought ear plucking was only done in breeds like Bichons?

I'm definitely going to take her to the vet anyway, when I'm going for my puppy's next vaccination soon.

And I thought she knew commands like sit, etc. but she has just been following my hand signals too!

mymo

Not sure what breeds ear plucking is done in, just know both mine need to be done(Lhasa apso and Tibetan terrier), the kennels I go to do grooming and the lady showed me how. Not a huge amount of hair in either dogs ears but haven't had any probs since started doing it(one minor ear infection before that).

morganafay

I don't think she needs ear plucking really, but I'll see if I can pluck a bit. I've learnt how to do it for Bichons/shih-tzus/lhasas, but just never did it on a cav. I'll try though, see if I can get rid of a bit more hair

Though she is a baby and will probably cry a lot. She cries when I brush out a tangle in her fur

mymo

Yes the "oh poor me, you're killing me" wail, I find treats stop it pretty quick. My daughter used to hold the treat in front of dogs face while I combed out tangles, every so often, when she was quite, she got the treat.
Worked wonders;)

morganafay

I'll have to try that! I think giving out to her won't help now if she is deaf, so got to try bribery.

She does love being groomed, but if there's any little tangle then she doesn't . . .