Otite externa em pequenos animais - revisão de literatura

Abstract

Otitis externa is an inflammation of the ear canal vertically, horizontally or both. This type of ear infections can progress to middle or inner, as its location and commitment of the organs of the ear. The ear is divided into outer, middle and inner interconnected. The outer ear includes the pinna (ear), the ear canal also called the external auditory canal and eardrum, the latter a thin membrane that separates the outer ear from the middle. The middle ear is a chamber in which are located three ossicles (malleus, incus and stapes) interconnected with each other and serve as connection means to the inner ear. In this chamber, said ossicles are located, there is a channel connecting the middle ear with the pharynx, called the Eustachian tube. The inner ear is the most specialized and therefore also more delicate and important of the entire hearing, where there are so called semicircular canals, the cochlea and the acoustic nerve, the latter linking directly to the whole brain. This disease is one of the most common and frustrating clinics in small animals The aim of this paper is to present the different forms of involvement of this disease, and to describe the clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment of this disease.