“Otitis media” means infection/inflammation inside the bony middle ear (the bulla).

 

In dogs it often follows months of outer-ear (canal) disease that finally breaches the eardrum;

 

In cats it’s commonly linked to inflammatory polyps growing from the middle ear or nasopharynx.

 

When the bulla is gummed up with infected tissue, debris, or a polyp, medicine alone often can’t clear it.

 

Surgical options include myringotomy with video-otoscopic bulla lavage, ventral bulla osteotomy (VBO), or—in end-stage canal disease—total ear canal ablation with lateral bulla osteotomy (TECA-LBO).

 

Overall, modern series report good resolution rates, with predictable, usually temporary complications (like Horner’s syndrome in cats after VBO).

 

In the absence of treatment, long-standing infection can lead to permanent neurological deficits or even death (meningitis, meningeal abscessation).