Jorah had a vet appointment last Wednesday to get after what I assumed was an ear infection. The good and bad news is that my diagnosis was correct and there was nothing more serious underlying his endless scratching and head shakes. I haven’t entirely ruled out it all being self-inflicted because he may have been tired of staying home while the cats got to take all the field trips.

Winston was perennially bothered by ear infections – just one of the many fun bits of life with a bulldog. Maggie was, fortunately, not prone to them. It had been a while since the last time I had to go through a treatment regimen. I was expecting to come home with drops that would require me to wrestle Jorah to the ground twice a day to administer. I was decidedly happy to learn that the state of the art in treatment has progressed since I was treating Winston. 

Instead of a two week course of drops, the vet applied a single, long-lasting medication and called for a recheck in two weeks if needed. Assuming it works, I’m prepared to call this a brilliant evolution in veterinary medicine.

We also came home with a short course of prednisone. Honestly, I’d forgotten about the joys of prednisone. Most of the side effects have been minimal – except for the one where Jorah drinks water like he’s determined to drain the well. What goes in, of course, must come out. The amount of time we’re spending just hanging out in the yard is a lot more like having a puppy back in the house than I’m comfortable with.

Fortunately, we’re already well into the course of treatment where he’s being weaned off the prednisone. I really hope this is a one off and not the herald of something that’s going to be a regular feature. Maybe by the time the weekend rolls around the household will be back into its regular rhythm… because this temporary new one kind of sucks.