pitbull puppy 3 weeks old and ears are not open yet

by Man
(TN)

My sister has a 3 week old pitbull puppy and the ears are not open yet. She doesn't respond to sound that well, visually they look closed.

She eats fine, is hand feed, barks, growls, plays around and explores. My sister is wondering if she is deaf, I don't think so.

Has anybody experienced this before,..?????





Hi Man
Puppy development occurs at different rates in individual puppies and although normally a puppy's ears are open by around 3 weeks, it's most likely that this little girl's ears are just taking a tiny bit longer.

As she seems to be happy and healthy otherwise and it sounds as though she's developing normally in every other way, then I wouldn't worry too much about this yet.

However, if the ears don't appear to have opened within another week then I'd recommend that your sister take this pup to her own veterinarian for a check up to make sure everything is okay.

Also, in the meantime if this pup shows any signs that her ears are hurting or bothering her, or if there's any discharge/swelling etc. then get her to a vet right away as there may be an infection or other problem.

Hope this helps, best of luck with it all.