dog question persistent

[runamuk]

I have a question on persistent ear infections in dogs.........................my shepherd dog who has mostly upright ears gets nasty infections..............................

He went to the vet and we muzzled then sedated him.....there was no foreign object....flushed ears and did drops and 14 days of clavamox and prednisone.....he was feeling fine by day 5 did the full round................he has been off the antibiotics for two weeks and he is right back where he was.................cannot find my muzzle and hubby and I just got our arms hands etc nearly eaten off...gonna hurt tomorrow.............................does anyone have any brilliant ideas?

My vet was stumped he was amazed that a dog with his ear type is the one with problems....and of course he is my most difficult dog to do anything with..........I hate seeing him hurt..........if any vets or techs on here want to PM me that would be cool as I am looking for a new vet in my new location and am happy to share ideas.......................we can put him back on antibiotics but it isn't feasible to do for the rest of his life nor is it exactly good for him

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[liltnt]

I was having that same problem with my pug. Constent ear infections, Vet had me wash out her ears and clean them With Opti Rinse. I thought yea right but it has worked and I havent had to do it again since I moved off the farm. I believe it can have to do with allergies as she isnt snoring as much as she was since we moved. Alot less dirt and dust now.

 

[penny]

Could it be a yeast infection? Those are terribly hard to get rid of...Next would be...what type of food are you feeding? Dogs are carnivors and most dog food have wheat or corn as their main ingredients...A good quality food can alleviate alot of allergies...Or you could feed the 'natural' way by going raw...I suggest Candidae, Solid Gold, Merricks, anything with meat as the first 5 ingredients...Oatmeal is fine as is barley but corn and wheat are big allergins...also don't use any feed with beet pulp in it, that;s only there to ' firm up' the stools so you think the dog is getting all the nutrients he needs, when he isn't...And, switch your foods every couple of months...not all foods have Taurine in them and dogs need that....

 

[runamuk]

I was having that same problem with my pug. Constent ear infections, Vet had me wash out her ears and clean them With Opti Rinse. I thought yea right but it has worked and I havent had to do it again since I moved off the farm. I believe it can have to do with allergies as she isnt snoring as much as she was since we moved. Alot less dirt and dust now.

I have been hoping that our move back to washington might help as he didn't have this issue until we moved to Idaho and it has been almost constant since then ( 4 years)...................I would love to be able to simply wash his ears however he will bite if he isn't muzzled and flip out when muzzled and not sedated...major trauma every time we do it..............he is a rescue dog that was severely abused prior to living with us...............even though he has been with us for about 5 years he is still convinced any restraint= torture..............he is terrified of brushes of any sort..........wig's out over collars.........hates the leash but has learned to at least tolerate it ...................he needs major psychiatric help :no: :no: ....his saving grace is he loves my 10 yr old and lets him do 'ALMOST" ANYTHING (EXCEPT EARS YES i TRIED TO CHEAT)

: ...but even my son has a tough time brushing him (he is sneaky uses a tiny horse grooma (rubber nubby) and as long as max doesn't see it he thinks it is just fingers

:

: the minute he see's the brush he heads for the hills (his crate)........................there are days I would like to just re-home this dog....but no one would want to live with him and my son adores him

 

[keeperofthehorses]

Having raised Goldens for 17 years... <sigh> I've so been there.

If it's yeast, you'll smell it, fruity. Yuck. We're fighting that right now with the recent weather change. There's a wash (I think it's Rx only) and an ointment (Otimax?) that I use on Jerry, my only remaining Gold dog, that will get the yeast under control. I have also heard of people that will flush the ears (please forgive me, this isn't a mainstream type idea) with medicated douche. But it sounds like those may not be an option for this dog if he stresses with the handling.

Maybe you could Ace him once every week or two for a couple of rounds, just to get the upper hand on the problem?

If your dog's ears get itchy, will he let you massage the outsides of them? (Mine love it, they go into a trance)If you can do that, and maybe some T-Touch, you might be able to relax him enough to get just one drop in at a time.

Also, if he's kind of a worry wort kinda guy, stress maybe rattled his immune system enough to make the ears worse. Maybe the move, the new vet has got him disfuddled and his body is reacting?

My first Golden, (Grunt, awesome dog, would hunt upland or waterfowl, and win a frisbee competition the next weekend

: ), would only clear up when we got him totally off corn. It took several years of fiddling with different diets before we found one that worked for him. When swabbed, there really wasn't an overload of cooties in his ears, just lots of bumpy inflamation. With diet changes, he had normal ears (for a Golden)unless he hunted. Even one cookie treat would set off his ears if it had a corn ingredient.

I've seen folks go through the allergy testing, which is really expensive and a loooong ordeal. Some were able to isolate a problem and fix it, most weren't, which did no good for the dogs, and frustrated the people.

There is a last ditch surgery that I've seen several vets that I worked for do. It's grusome looking, but does seem to help some impossible to control ears. It's called a V surgery (or Cocker Cut), and that's pretty much what they do. They remove the outer covering of the portion of the ear canal that goes down the side of the dogs head(before the canal turns in toward the head) in a V shape. It brings more air circulation into the external part of the ear. It looks terrible immediately after, and they must wear a satellite dish until it's healed, but once healed with hair regrowth, is hard to see unless you really look for it. I've seen a couple though that had to have it repeated after several years. I'm imagine with laser surgery being so much more widely available now, it may not take as long to heal as it did 'back in the day'.

I hope he clears up for you. Remember not to try too many things at once, or you may not know what it was that finally worked. I had to have Grunt off of corn for 2 or 3 weeks before I started seeing (actually smelling) an improvement.

 

[Wee Mite Miniatures]

The dog I have now has this problem. It used to be once a month at least. She would seem to be find then ewww lost of yucky fluid would pour out of the ear. Nothing seemed to work. We took her to a specialist, x-rays scoping the whole nine yards. Nothing. Tons of med in pill form and in ear drops. It would clear it up for short times. We even used a anitibiotic pill for 3 months straight. She would still get it.

A groomer suggested changing her food. We started to feed her Wellness - fish and sweet potatoe. It took a while but we started to see an improvement. She is a spoiled girl and she does get some people food and lots of treats. It is really best if it is an allergy that they only get the Wellness but she begs so cute.

Her ear infections are now down to a couple mild ones a year. In fact I think it must be at least 6 months since her last one.

 

[minimomNC]

I totally agree with trying a food change. I had a cocker spaniel, who anyone thats ever had one knows, bad ears bad skin. I switched all of my dogs to Natures Recipe which contains no beef, wheat or corn but its primary ingredients are chicken, lamb or venison along with rice. Wheat and corn are only fillers in dog food, they serve no useful purpose at all. My cocker has gone two years now with clean ears and no skin problems at all. She doesn't get upset stomachs anymore and my silkie male that has never had a very good coat is growing enough now to actually shave him in the summer. So I would try a food change to at least see if it will help.

 

[runamuk]

Thanks.............

We have switched to a lamb and rice diet with no corn etc, about 3 weeks ago, and his itchiness and the aussies has gone down.........also switched our flea product as the previous one wasn't working anymore

:

When the vet swabbed the ears and checked out what was in there it was nasty bacterial cooties and no real sign of yeast........

hmmmmm.........maybe another round of antibiotics, while we see if the diet makes a difference ..........and find my dang muzzle as my hand is bruised and beaten

: ...................just boggles me that it is the up eared dog and not the poodle who has mile long hair that must be pulled from his ears or the flop eared aussie (of course I can keep both their ears well cleaned)..........

In the meantime I will keep trying to get his antibiotic drops in at least once a day..........ughhhhh....where did I put that muzzle (this is why I should not clean my house then I cannot find anything

: :bgrin )

 

[Shelley]

This has worked well for me and I always keep some on hand.

I apply it with a cotton ball.

Blue Powder Ear Wash

1 16 oz bottle of rubbing alcohol (pour off an inch to make some room)

8 to 16 drops Gentian violet (it's real cheap, but hard to find - try next to the Iodine at a Mom & Pop Pharmacy or ask someone to order it)

4 Tbs. Boric Acid Powder (also cheap and found at the pharmacy)

Each time you use it, shake the bottle well to make sure the powder is in suspension.

The Gentian Violet will stain, so be careful where you mix it and where you apply it to the dog's ears.

If you're treating an infection, you want to clean the ears with this mixture on a daily basis. Otherwise from once a week to once a month is usually enough to keep the ears healthy.

Hope this helps, it did for me!

Shelley

 

[tinacvt]

Bacteria is the hardest to get rid of in the ears, the vets I work for prefer to see yeast and not bacteria. Has your vet had you try Baytril Otic when he is on all the other meds? Baytril is one of the strongest antibotics. I would try changing his diet, if they have a food allergy it is the primary problem which will cause ear infections as a secondary problem. Good luck.

Tina Certified Veterinary Technician

 

[MiniforFaith]

My English Springer Spaniel has constant ear infections too. As soon as it starts I just use the ear wash from the vet (VET Solutions Ear Cleansing Solution) and it clears right up. There is something in it to help with drying it it really works. She didn't like it at first, but now she knows it helps and let me with no problems. It also helps get rid of smelly ears.. Hope this might help..

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]The antibiotics when there is no bacterial infection will CAUSE yeast to grow because it kills the necessary body flora as well. Sounds like aa food allergy to me or an environmental allergy...... Esther had that when she came to VA from NY. I am now feeding all Diamond dog food, all natural no corn or beef. The dogs ears and skin are all less smelly even the drop eared Doxies who can get stinky ears fast.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[runamuk]

Thanks everyone.........I am hoping that the diet change makes a difference in the meantime I will get it treated as often as I can..........the only way to get it cleaned well is to sedate him......but I can at least get some of his drops in there ....................people who abuse young dogs just burn my butt.......he is a sweet dog who was royally messed up before he was even a year old and has so much fear ...he has come a long way (in 5 years) from where he was and he likes visitors and people as long as you aren't trying to restrain him........