Ear infection led to Skull Infection

by JDM
(Oakland, Ca)

We adopted a 3 yr old JRT from the pound about a year ago, she is now 4. About 4-5 months ago she started exhibiting audible sounds of pain w/ whimpering and scratching her ear constantly. Took her to the vet immediately, long story short they pulled 5 foxtail burrs out of her ear and said the eardrum was ruptured. The vet estimated that these burrs had been in her ear for well over a year, long past the time we had first adopted her. The dog also has never bee let to run in tall grass, outside not on a leash, etc. so we know this didnt' happen during the time we've had her.

Now flash forward 4-5 months after that first visit. Dog started exhibiting same behaviour so we took her in again. Vet said we should hit whatever it is with a heavy dose of antibiotics for 30 days. So we did......2-3 weeks into those 30 days the dog was not getting any better so we took her in just a few days ago. This time, they went into the ear, re-ruptured the eardrum and found infection behind the ear canal. They did a head xray and sent the xrays to a specialist.

The specialist says we need to get a CTscan and most likely following that will be head surgery. We gave the doctors a few days to talk about the diagnosis more, when we took her in today to check the ruptured ear drum was healing okay they told us the following. The dog will 95% need the head surgery, they will have to go in thru the skull to clear out the infection which they think is hidden in 1 or possibly more pockets. The estimate on the cost is roughly $5,000. US.

So.....anyone have a similiar experience?

Any know of rescue operations that take in animals whose owners cannot afford the medical attention they need?

Advice?