Rocky's rescue continues

Rocky came to us looking like this:

His ears were badly infected, his ear canals were fused shut, and the infection in his ears had created fistulas (drainage holes) on his face. In spite of his condition, and obvious pain, he was the sweetest dog. Because of the smell, no one wanted to get close enough to his face, but if you did, you were rewarded with gentle and thankful kisses. This dog knew he needed help and he was very cooperative with efforts to clean and care for his open wounds and infected ears.

Our vet closed the wounds, cleaned the ears as much as possible, and put him on a course of medication. He came around and got to where he looked pretty good. He is at least partially deaf because the ear canals are fused and that is a permanent condition. He can hear somewhat, however, although it may have be mostly responding to vibrations.

The vet had warned me that it was possible that the infection would return, and a few weeks ago it did, in the right ear and right side of his face. The antibiotics did not clear it up so yesterday we went back to the vet to discuss further options.

As a result, we are scheduled to go to the vet school at Virginia Tech next Wednesday for a surgical consultation and probable surgery the following day. This will involve removing the scar tissue in the ear canal, and possibly removing the ear canal entirely. I don't yet know if they will do both ears or just one, or what the effect will be on his hearing, if he has any at all even now. But I do know that we have to do something because he is not adoptable in his current condition and he won't be. And he's in pain, although he really doesn't show it as long as you don't touch his ears. Even then, his reaction is to yelp or struggle to get away, he doesn't make any attempt to bite. He's a great dog and deserves a chance for a life free of infection and pain, even if he does needs to learn sign language.