Poor Ginger

Just a quick note, baby puppy had to go to the vet today. Last Friday we noticed she was scratching at her ears. So we looked in them and they were NASTY!! So we bathed her, making sure to get her ears wet. Then we poured a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water into them. It helped clean them out, but not enough. And they smelled bad. We have been keeping a close eye on her- and it has not gotten any better. So we made a vet appt for today. Mac and I took Ginger in to see Dr. Jerud (first name- yes spelled right). He is awesome and loves Ginger and his job- it's very obvious. Anyway...he took a look. He says, "well it doesn't look too comfortable to be Ginger right now." Turns out, our puppy has allergies, just like people get. From pollen and all that good stuff we are right in the middle of in farm country. Her inner ears were all filled with yuck, and swollen so much, the inner canal was barely recognizable. The outer ear (still inside but not down in the canal) was covered with red spots and some scabs. Turns out this is a form of a yeast infection. So he says he will give her a shot of anti-inflamatory to start helping her ears immediately. Then he says he is going to give us 2 rx's. One is an earwash that we will use 2 x day for 1 week. And the other is a cream to put in her ears 30 mins after washing them 2 x day for 7 days. Then we will have to use this stuff 1 time a week for the rest of her life to prevent flare ups. And when/if she gets this again, then we will have to do the strict regiment again. Labs are notorious for bad ears; especially chocolate ones for some reason. This is also very heritable; Dutch (daddy) too has bad ears and always has. So, yay for us. We got a free dog, but she is costing us serious money! We have had a few emergency visits to the vet, the routine care, and then today. Wayne told me he thought today's visit would be about $80. I told him that was too much. Nope, not enough! It was $115.81. But what was I going to say? NO? The poor girl needed all that he gave her. He said if we did not bring her in this would have gotten worse. In 3-5 months she would have gone deaf from all the fluid filling up in her ears. And then what's worse, it would have began to destroy the structure of the brain and eating away at it! Yuck! Glad we spent the money today. We just want a happy, healthy puppy! She is a good girl- even if she thinks she is human! We love her sooo much!