A Labrador retriever puppy called Rosie is making a sound recovery following surgery at Cave after being born with a rare ear condition.
A CT scan by our Dermatology department diagnosed atresia of the right ear canal, meaning she had no ear opening.
The operation, which was led by Malcolm Jack, Head of Surgery and a European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery, involved the intricate task of creating a new opening for the ear.
Malcolm said: “Rosie’s ear condition is rare and she was admitted to Cave to correct the lack of ear opening.
“A CT scan of her head was performed and showed the left ear to be fine but atresia of the ear canal in the right ear, which meant she had no ear opening.
“Her actual ear canal was relatively healthy, so surgery was performed to open up her ear by making an incision and stitching the skin inside the ear canal. Having a healthy ear canal allowed us to avoid a more invasive surgery which would have involved removing the entire ear canal.
“It’s not very often that we undertake such an operation, however, it went very well and Rosie has since returned to us for checks to make sure it is healing.
“She has a lovely nature and it was a delight to be able to help her and her owners.”
Grateful owner, Jim Searight from Cornwall, said: “We first realised there was a problem shortly after we brought her home and were cleaning her ears.
“We were concerned due to the potential invasiveness of the surgery but were reassured by Cave’s thoroughness. Rosie’s much better now and her hearing is also much improved.”
