Severe Ear Infection or meds?

Did you get bloodwork done?

On the first visit to the Vet, they did do blood work.  They checked for Liver and Kidney falure/problems.  I dont think they did blood work on the second visit, they must have seen something to make them think it was a Severe Ear Infection.   Max has had some ear issues, which require us to clean with a solution, but usually his ears stink when they are really bad, but they dont smell much now.

My dog has been on Cephalixen, and an anti-fungal for yeast.

It will take a while for your dog to recover, and I wouldn't expect immediate results.

What are you feeding the dog?

Cephalexyn isn't a typical med for an ear infection and that's an emormous dose of it.  typically you have to do a deep culture and sensitivity test to culture for a bacterial infection (ear infections are one of three things - yeast, bacteria or yeast+bacteria together) -- I'm truly surprised at the use of cephalexyn.
 
Ceph is hard to take - it will make them have diarreha and such.  Without knowing what the other meds are it's tough to figure.
 
Lethargy is a BAD symptom.  I'm not going to tell you to wait -- I'm going to tell you to get the dog to a different vet Tuesday.
 
However do one thing first -- go lift his lip and see how pink his gums are.  Then press on the gum with the tip of your finger pretty hard.  It will turn white and then should snap back immediately to nice and pink.  IF his gums are very very pale or if the 'refill' time is several seconds-- get to a vet NOW ... I mean TONIGHT as in an emergency vet.
 
Painkillers may only kill a particular 'type' of pain and I doubt they've got this really figured out.  Nothing you have said fills me with confidence and honestly I think you're right to be concerned. 
 
Bloodwork is not going to show an ear infection.  Getting an ear *culture* would but not bloodwork.  They may have seen pain when they palpated the ear and that could have said something.
 
But a yeast ear infection will make ears 'stink' ... a bacterial ear infection has a smell but it's a different smell and no where near the stink of yeast.  But again -- ceph is not a typical drug for an ear infection.  Baytrill, Cipro .. yes.  But not usually cephalexyn.  There may be other things you haven't said here.
 
The other thing to do TONIGHT is take his temperature.  No dogs don't like that.  But a normal temp is 100 - 102.5 or 103.  But a high temp like 104-105 (particularly when the dog is already on big antibiotics) is a big deal.  A temp like 105-higher is a major medical emergency (again -- worth driving hours to an emergency vet if you need to).
 
Without knowing what anti-fungal the dog is on (and that could account for the cephalexyn, particularly if they think it is staph ... it's just an odd drug without more info) -- nor knowing what 'painkiller' the dog is on, it's impossible to say.
 
If the painkillers were doing 'good' the dog would feel at least marginally better.  Anti-fungals are very difficult to take -- they wreck havoc with the liver and kidneys -- that alone could probably account for the leaking.  But he's struggling to get up and that would worry me.
 
You don't say how old the dog is -- could this be arthritis?  Would that be what they're giving pain meds for?  Some pain meds, like Dera maxx and Rimadyl are VERY hard on liver and kidneys.  It seems  a heavy load with little results -- I'd get a second opinion and FAST.

I havent had time to run through your whole email but here are the other 2 meds.     1 each twice a day. KETONCONALZOLE 200MG and RIMADYL 100MG.  We have been feeding him Eukanuba for large dogs.  He is about 6 years old.

Mark

ps.  As soon as my wife wakes up we will be checking him out...based on your email.   

Thanks to everyone who has replied, I am so happy this forum is setup and you all are on it.

To be honest, if this were my dog, I would head for another vet, or the emergency vet.  A six year old dog is not old, except if it is a giant breed, and the problems you describe are significant.  A dog that has a severe ear infection may be grouchy, and may be really out of sorts, but he can usually rise from the floor without much of a struggle.  None of this makes really good sense to me, and your dog is on a combination of drugs that can damage liver or kidneys, which can make it hard for him to rise, and contribute to incontinence.  

Max Update:   
    We took him to our Vet and they did more blood work and suggested that we bring him to MSU.   So, we ran him there and they did even more blood work (all of which came back normal) and now are going to sedate him to check his ears and do some more x-rays.  We dropped him off and are waiting for a call......

Mark

Good for you -- is that Michigan State?  They have the best endocrinology lab on the planet so since there is lethargy let's hope they run a thyroid panel (Jean Dodds, DVM set up their lab and it's an awedsome one and they still use her protocols).
 
Good place for that dog!!  Bless you for seeking immediate help!!  You've got my good thots and prayers!!

My golden retriever mix, Honey, was diagnosed with a deep ear infection shortly before Christmas.  Her ears looked clean, no smell, but one day she started shaking her head a lot and walking with her head tilted to the left.. I suspected an ear infection and took her in.  My vet gave her a shot, but i don't remember what it was, plus ear drops, Mometamax for 14 days.
 
A few years ago my golden girl, KayCee, got up to eat and dumped forward to the left and lay there with her head pulling to the left, her mouth kinda working. She tried to get up, but dumped forward again.  I was in a panic thinking she was having a seizure.  Anway, I got her to the vet and it was a deep inner ear infection and had caused a vertigo episode.  I do believe it was cipro she was on.  I have not had much experience with ear infections, but i do know Ceph was never given for ear infections.  It was prescribed for a couple of my goldens a couple of times when they got hotspots that got out of of hand a few years ago.
 
Anway, I certainly do wish you and your guy all the luck in the world.  In case you didn't notice, i am partial to goldens..  Will be watching for report.

Thanks to eveyone for all of your kind words.

I feel really bad, we had to put Max down on Monday.  I feel that I let Max and my familiy down, but the VETS at MSU were also stumped and the costs to research were just to high for my family.  They gave him a sentative to check/clean ears and it wasnt anything to do with them.   Blood work from my emergency visit and MSU all looked fine.  They did some thing with his front feet where they bent the foot back, which should make the dog snap the foot forward (like the hammer and knee thing the Doctors does to humans), but Max wouldnt snap back on his Right foot.  The VET said that this was something where he didnt know where his foot was.  They explaned that this was an issue with something with a Vertabrea.. all and all I didnt understand.   They suggested CT Scans and MRI scans at $1500-$2000 each , but couldnt come close to telling me anything positve.  I asked them, if they found something wrong with his spine with a scan, what could they do like Surgery?   They said, sometimes they do that but they also have this cage rest for 6 weeks and all kinds of other treatments.

All and all, I let my pet and family down because I couldnt afford to check every possible thing that could be wrong and I will have to live with that.

Again, thanks for the quick responses on my post and the positive notes.

Mark

I'm so sorry for your loss Mark,
We all could tell how much you loved your pet and were anxious to help him.  He was lucky to have you

Mark, I emailed you and I hope that wasn't out of line.  I don't think you did anyting but the absolute BEST thing for your dog.
 
In your first post when you told me this dog was not even wanting to be petted ... that told me this dog was extremely ill.  I doubt it was an injury to be recovered from ... I'm pretty sure it was terminal.  I don't think all the money in the world would have helped here.  I think you did the kindest thing possible.  To even subject a dog in THIS much pain to more testing ... probably not.
 
This dog wasn't responding to medicine.  When a dog doesn't get help from painkillers it TELLS you something.  He's not in pain now.  You are the brave one.  Please don't kick yourself.  this wasn't a 2 second thing -- you tried all you possibly could, but you weren't willing to let him live in suffering.  My heart breaks for you.  He was truly blessed to have someone like you guys love him.

I think you made the right decision. You went above and beyond to find out why your dog wasn't getting better by taking him to MSU. You did what was right for not only the dog, but also for your family. I have no doubt that you saved Max from a lot of pain and stressful vet visits by going to MSU, and even when the news wasn't good news, you did the right thing and let him go peacefully.

Just because it hurts doesn't mean it was the wrong decision. You didn't let Max down, you just let him go...

I agree with the others.  You did the best thing for your dog.  My first irish Setter got an infction in his spine and he couldn't get up or walk without us holding him up.  The vet we had then tried all kidns of drugs, but he just got worse and worse and the day came he laid there and threw up foam and couln't even lift his head out of.  I  let him go that day and have kicked myself ever since for hanging onto him so long.  It wasn't fair to him.  Actaully, I believe if you had held onto him that would have been unfair to him.  You did right.