One of the most frustrating ailments to afflict pets in their geriatric years is deafness. While humans can have high-tech hearing aids manufactured and even cochlear implants applied, pets are not yet offered such technological niceties.
Despite the advances we now take for granted in human medicine, treating hearing loss is astoundingly complex and, in pets, is hampered not only by the cost of such treatments and the vagaries of their application (would most pets tolerate something in their ears?) but by the ability to accurately test and re-test for auditory acuity.
For that reason, most vets accept that geriatric deafness is a degenerative neurologic disorder that’s genetically predetermined, unavoidable and irreversible—at least for now. But that doesn’t mean that hearing loss isn’t amenable to treatments that might actually help animals live comfortable lives in spite of their deafness.
To that end here’s a checklist of issues to consider and tips to try in the event your pet should start to lose her hearing:
1-Is it deafness or selective hearing?
That may sound cold but it’s not unusual for owners to interpret other maladies as deafness. Arthritic pets, for example, will ignore auditory cues they once rallied for. If it’s harder to get up and they know you’re coming in anyway they’ll be less likely to charge the door upon your arrival.
Similarly, the common signs of dementia (AKA, cognitive dysfunction) can have a thing or two to do with it. Sleep/wake cycle and other cognitive disturbances can disorganize internal recognition patterns so that auditory cues miss their mark.
And how about a lifetime of chronic external ear infections? The more severe manifestations of this skin disease can have tremendous effects on the middle ear and even on the workings of the inner ear, where the hearing apparatus lives. Ten years’ worth of unattended wax can muffle sounds, too.
2-Time to call the vet
As soon as you notice signs of hearing loss, take your pet to the vet for a full physical examination, including a neurologic exam and thorough ear canal visualization (the latter is easier said than done and may require sedation). Complete bloodwork is also recommended as a few infectious and metabolic diseases can manifest in ways that simulate deafness.
CT scans and MRIs of the brain would be nice but most vets won’t float the possibility of a brain tumor or any other intervention-worthy nervous system disorder until other neurological symptoms arrive alongside the hearing loss (unless it comes on very suddenly).
3-Don’t give up
If geriatric deafness is the likely diagnosis, don’t despair. Remember, treating deafness directly may not be possible, but treating the symptoms that accompany it is.
4-Ask for help…early in the process
Don’t know what to do now? You’re not alone. The thing to know is that the earlier you ask for help the better off he’ll be for having been granted the time necessary to adapt to this life change in a positive and communicative way.
5-Enlist the help of your vet, a high-quality trainer and/or a veterinary behaviorist
The ways in which professionals can help you are seemingly endless. While vets can give you tips (establish a solid routine, train to follow hand signals, use visual or motion cues such as flashing lights or thumping on the floor to signal important events, consider using high-pitched dog whistles which can sometimes still be heard, etc.), trainers and behaviorists can help you put these into practice.
6-Don’t discount the influence of other geriatric factors
Hearing loss is tough—especially because of the issues I mentioned in #1. It’s just so hard to know how much other geriatric issues influence the changes you’re seeing. Keeping an open mind to the way arthritis, dementia, blindness and other geriatric maladies can contribute to the signs of deafness is essential. Addressing all the problems in a holistic manner is crucial to attaining the highest level of comfort possible for your pet.
7-Accept the positives so you can enjoy your deaf pets
At the risk of coming off as callous, let me just suggest that deafness in pets is not always 100% unwelcome. Sad as you may find the aging process, every stage of life has its positives. Perhaps she’s not as easily riled by the mail carrier. Maybe the thunderstorms bother him less. The physiologic changes of aging clearly have an evolutionary purpose. Perhaps it’s not all bad…right?
Do/did you have a deaf pet? Tell us how you deal/dealt with it…
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I have a cat 2+ year old cat, Milo, who we suspect is deaf. We also have his brother who responds to auditory signals and knows his name, whereas the other one, Milo, doesn't seem to have learned his name. I have tried calling his name at different pitches and "meowing" at as high a pitch as I'm able, but none of that seems to work - or at least not consistently. Sometimes he seems to hear bird cries outside - right now there is a bluejay complaining and he went to look out, seemingly, for it. Where my other 3 cats [including his brother and my 17 year old] keep their ears pointed more forward and swiveling around responding to different sounds, Milo's ears are usually more to the side.
He and his brother are very affectionate and beautiful, but if Milo were a child, I would try to seek a solution. Can you imagine what Milo's reaction would be, if he has never heard most sounds, to suddenly, say via a hearing aid, be able to hear?
Diana McCoy September 7th, 2008 09:38:00 AM
Diana: I've seen dogs whose vision resolves after cataract surgery become far more engaged and excited about things again. It's amazing to watch. Hearing might be startling at first, especially for a cat used to stone deafness, but I'd like to think his instincts would kick in and he'd enjoy the stimulation of bird sounds, for example. All this is absolutely hypothetical of course, but I'd love to see a "cure."
Dr. Patty Khuly September 7th, 2008 09:57:00 AM
All of my dogs have begun losing their hearing at around 11-12 years of age. The first three all had a certain amount of trouble with ear infections which, while kept under control, I thought might have contributed. However, my last dog has never had an ear infection in her life, but lost her hearing at about the same age as the others. All were Chinese Shar-Pei, so the breed may be a contributing factor due to the small ear canals (though none had the excessively small canals that are linked to small, curly ears).
Each adjusted pretty well, though they all became "clingier," making sure they kept an eye on me at all times since they could no longer hear where I was. They all knew hand signals, so communication was not a problem, other than when I needed to get their attention.
With my last dog, who has noise phobias, the deafness has indeed been a blessing. The last few years she has slept through Fourth of July fireworks, and many other sounds that used to bother her are no longer an issue because she cannot hear them.
My dog is almost 17 now. I lost her half-sister 3 1/2 years ago at age 16. I've lived with deaf dogs for so long now that it's going to be an adjustment when I have dogs who can hear again! I do continue to talk to my dogs, even though they can't hear me, as I feel it affects my body language and facial expressions.
Mary Straus September 7th, 2008 03:13:00 PM
Mary,
I always recommend talking to deaf dogs as it DOES affect our body language and facial expressions. Since that is the first language of dogs it helps keep them in the loop so to speak.
It can be really hard to tell if a cat is really deaf considering their independant nature. Some just aren't as easily motivated as dogs. Does he ever react to the sound of his food being served? You can teach cats hand signals. We did it with a cat for a science project. He learned to jump through a hoop on command. (with fake construction paper fire around it) You could maybe teach him to come when you wave a certain way at him. (if you want him to come when you call) Fee free to E-mail me for instructions if you are interested.
It would be interesting if they could make a hearing aid for pets. The tricky part is that they can't give us feedback on if something goes wrong.
Marie September 7th, 2008 05:27:00 PM
Rastus, my Australian Terrier, is around 14 years old now - had him since he was 7. He seems to be going deaf. Had him to a vet, who said "old age". after reading your page, am considering getting it checked out by another vet.
Being a terrier, he has always been selectively deaf - call him, but if he is busy sniffing a clump of grass, he ignores me, and then when done sniffing, bolts flat chat as if to say "see, I did hear you, but I was busy". But now I have to knock on his shed / kennel door because calling him doesnt work.
He is not totally deaf. He hears some things fine.
When teaching him tricks, I was using hand signals as well anyway, and from what I have heard (from an animal trainer who trains pets for tv ads), dogs respond better to hand signals than words anyway, deaf or not.
Robin September 7th, 2008 08:12:00 PM
Our kelpie/border collie/dingo mix (ex working sheep dog) began to go deaf when she was around 14 yo. At first I wondered about some sort of early dementia - she did a lot of seemingly meaningless barking at times and was always sort of in your way. It soon became clear that she was simply losing her hearing. The barking stopped as her deafness worsened. I think at the early stages of her hearing loss she'd been able to hear sounds but not identify them and thus the barking. The being in the way was her not hearing us behind her.
Within a short while she learned not to rely on hearing and to use her eyes more and so stopped getting in the way - maybe we modified our behavior too once we realized what her problem was.
However, I believe the biggest factor involved in her and our total adjustment to her deafness was our other dog, a busy little rat terrier who was around 6 yo at the time. Mia took over acting as Biddy's ears. We would call Biddy and Mia would race off and fetch her for us. We only ever handed out treats and attention when both dogs were present which was no doubt the motivation for this. I guess they worked out a fairly sophisticated visual language so that Biddy always knew exactly what was going on and it meant that she didn't need to cling to us to avoid missing something important (food for instance!) and was free to mooch around and sunbathe and do other doggie things. Our dog had her own service dog!!
Biddy and the whole family, canine and human, lived very happily despite her being stone deaf for the last 2 1/2 years of her life - in fact we sort of forgot that she was deaf most of the time so little effect did it have day to day. Apart from her deafness, Biddy remained completely healthy (vet said her X-rays looked like those of a 2yo dog) until her sudden (4 days of illness) death from a previously unsuspected cancer at the age of 17.
Alison September 8th, 2008 12:10:00 AM
Marie: Thanks for the tip on speaking to deaf animals. I never heard anyone discuss this but it makes a lot of sense to me.
Dr. Patty Khuly September 8th, 2008 08:47:00 AM
My 12 yo Golden Retriever has become deafer over the last few months. He now doesn't respond to my call, though he does respond to hand signals, and watches our younger dog for cues. We've learned to stomp on the floor a little harder when approaching him (he likes to lay in doorways!) so he will get out of the way. One really great thing is that this summer he was not bothered by the thunderstorms that used to get him salivating and pacing. Now he sleeps through them.
sassy September 8th, 2008 08:12:00 PM
I had a ferret who was mostly deaf--she heard some low tones but not much. I agree with Marie that still talking to the pet is important, because it affects your body language. She knew when I was calling her, if she could see me. I also often held her against my neck or chest and talked softly to her. Perhaps this was me projecting, but I thought she liked feeling the vibrations of my voice. At any rate she didn't try to push away.
I was also able to get her attention by thumping lightly on the floor. Not sure if that would work well with dogs or cats, since ferrets as digging animals are attuned to vibrations under their feet.
regina September 9th, 2008 01:39:00 PM
Petey is my collie shep mix who will turn 13 in January. He is slowing down with arthritis and is also deaf. I always used hand signals with him when he was searching for his ball. I just thought it was cool that I could point and my dog would head in that direction. Now that he is deaf, the hand signals have come in handy. When I throw a ball, he can’t hear it bounce behind him but I can point to it. When I want him to come in, if I can get his attention, I make a waving motion and he comes in. If I can’t get his attention, I have to go get him. It’s sad but manageable. On the plus side, he doesn’t bark at every sound. When a car drives down the street, it’s quiet. I have a new pup, Lennie Briscoe. He is a Akita Rotti mix. He looks up to Pete for clues on how to act. Since Petey barely barks, neither does Lennie. Ahhhh peace and quiet…..
Betsy September 10th, 2008 11:44:00 AM
MY DASHOUND IS 14 YEARS OLD. HER HEARING HAS GRADULARY GOTTEN WORSE. SHE IS AN INSIDE COMPANION, AND HAS TRAVELED ALL OVER THE USA WITH US IN THE MOTORHOME. LATELY SHE HAS STARTED LAYING IN THE DOOR TO THE KITCHEN, ALOT. I THIS IS A NATURAL COURSE OF AGING, BUT I WONDER IF THE INCREASED HEARING LOSS?
ROY.R December 20th, 2008 05:45:06 PM
Some of you might assume the one on a straight-up salary might be easiest on your wallet: After all, she'd have no incentive to run up your bill. And you might be right. A vet on salary who holds no stake in the practice's profits tends to offer less (on average) than a practice owner or a vet who works exclusively on a percentage basis.
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