Ear Cleaner

[Daxilly]

Hi,

The Vet diagnosed my lab with a yeast ear infection and prescribed Opti-clean (?) to clean the ears as well as Dermotic to clear up the infection.

I found the Opti clean made the ears look very red and sore so changed to Epi Otic. This also made the ears red and sore looking.

I used 100% cotton wipes to clean the ears and tried to be as gentle as I could given that she wasn't being terribly co-operative.

Now I have stopped her ears look much better and a nice pink colour. However, I suspect the infection is still there.

I am planning on taking her back to the Vet for a check, however, could somebody recommend a mild ear cleaner to use. I was going to mix up some saline and canestan but thought I had better check.

Is there something else which will be mild yet help the healing process.

Thanks

[puggy_puggy]

I would also be looking at what you feed if your dog is having yeast infections.

[quoll]

The products the vet mentioned and the Opti clean and Epi Otic are excellent for maintenance of ear cleaning, but will not address an infection.

These products will not inflame the dogs ear flaps, but the infection will make the ear flaps look red and sore.

An infection is easy to diagnose there is always a dark reddish brown wax in the ear canal, the ear may smell and the dog will often scratch at his ear or shake his head.

Ear infections can only ONLY ever be treated by anti biotics prescribed by a vet !

Home made remedies will only compound the ear infection which if left untreated can even lead to meningitis.

So best way to deal with this is to see a vet and know just what you are dealing with.

Edited July 4, 2009 by quoll

[Daxilly]

Thanks,

I thought the Dermotic was an antibiotic cream. Should I be giving her oral antibiotic tablets?

Should I also be insisting on a swab to identify the type of yeast infection? I am also concerned that if I give too many broad spectrum antibiotic treatments she will built up an immunity and I will never be able to clear it up!

Would the anti fungal treatments work in this case?

Thanks

[huski]

My vet told me Daisy's yeast infection in her ear can be a digestive problem which is why appropriate diet/nutrition is so important when you have a dog with yeast issues.

I've recently started on the advice of my vet adding some colloidal silver into her water and also using them as ear drops once a week. Will be interesting to see if this helps, putting her on a raw diet to cut out the grains in her diet made a big difference but her ear (one is worse than the other) recently started getting a bit yeasty again.

Edited July 4, 2009 by huski

[quoll]

Thanks,

I thought the Dermotic was an antibiotic cream. Should I be giving her oral antibiotic tablets?

Should I also be insisting on a swab to identify the type of yeast infection? I am also concerned that if I give too many broad spectrum antibiotic treatments she will built up an immunity and I will never be able to clear it up!

Would the anti fungal treatments work in this case?

Thanks

If your dog has a diagnosed yeast intolerance, than you may well need to follow a regime like Huski does.

Yeast is everywhere around us, dogs ears are perfect to it to fester, damp warm ideal conditions. The trick is to keep the ears as dry and clean as possible and do a weekly ear maintenance, more often if the dogs have been in water or even just bathed.

A commonly used antibiotic for ears which is very successful is Surolan. Cant say I have heard of oral treatment for ears, but I guess there may be.

[Daxilly]

I would also be looking at what you feed if your dog is having yeast infections.

I try to keep it a BARFish diet. She eats chicken, beef and pork mince /bones including a vegetable/fruit slush. The slush has ACV included in the recipe. She has various kinds of fish and natural yoghurt. The yoghurt has joint guard as a preventative for HD. All preservative free.

The only thing which may aggravate the problem could be the treats I use. They have various carbohydrates, including flour.

I have been toying with the idea of changing to the treats made by one of the other DOLers so if you think this could be the problem, I will order the other ones.

She also gets psyllium husk, for regularity, very occasionally.

[puggy_puggy]

Get rid of the treats with the flour.

Dried liver and raw veggies and fruit are the treats of choice here.

Some dogs can be allergic to beef.

How long has she been on the BARF diet?

[Daxilly]

As she is a lab trying to keep her out of the water is almost impossible. We also have a river at the bottom of the garden, which doesn't help.

She swims almost everyday in summer, less so in winter. I will be interested to see if the ears improve over the colder months. We have also just filled in our dam so she has less access to swimming now. Do they make ear plugs for dogs?

Collodial silver, I assume can be obtained at a chemist? She shares a water bowl with an ACD so I assume that it will not be detrimental to any other dog.

I will take her to the vet next week and see what other options we have.

I may use a bull dog (lab) clip to pin those ears back to get some air flow through. I don't have this problem with my ACD, who has "stick up ears". :p

Thanks

[Daxilly]

I suspected the treats may be the problem!

We got her as a rehome where she was on PAL. We have had her for 4 years so she has been on BARFish for about that long.

Is it carbs, which cause the problem, or can diary also be an issue?

[Dogsfevr]

The dermotic is great stuff.The other stuff useless.

[Daxilly]

The dermotic is great stuff.The other stuff useless.

So should I use just the Dermotic without cleaning the ear first.

I did notice that I had to wait at least half an hour before the ear would dry enough before I applied the Dermotic.

Could the other stuff just be moistening the ear canal making the Dermotic useless?

Thanks

Edited July 4, 2009 by Daxilly

[Rascalmyshadow]

Having poodles yeast infections in ears is something I have to be very wary of. I had problems with my oldest girl when she was younger, one vet told me to try malaseb rinses once a week permanently she is now 8 and her ears have been great.

Now if any of them have a flare up they get their ears cleaned with the rinse and surolan once ears are dry.

The malaseb rinse is 1 part malaseb to 30 parts warm water gently syringed into ears.

[westiemum]

I have a rescue westie with a chronically infected left ear - I've worked really hard with a very good vet to get it all under control (Pseudomonus though, not yeast, although sometimes I think it smelt a bit yeasty).

After getting rid of the infection I'm using TrizEDTA solution and dermotic every couple of days to make sure it stays at bay. The TrizEDTA works well - on the bottle it says its a cleaning and/or alkalinizing or pre-treatment solution - and the vet told me its good as it works on the outer shell of the nasty bugs, helping break them down so the dermotic (or whatever) works more effectively than just the dermotic on its own. And my experience is thats right. Haven't had any success with any other ear cleaning solutions.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Westiemum

PS Oh and a swab to dertermine the exact tyope of bug is really useful - and can save an enomous amount of 'hit and miss' even though the pathology + consult can be $80.00+. I'm absolutley sure its worth it - I spent more than that on 'hit and miss' treatments before we finally did the swab and got on the right track. So make sure you are certain you know what you are dealing with first - worth the effort and money IMHO.

[Clyde]

Malaseb diluted with water is great for yeasty ears, I also use it as a maintenance cleaner with good success.

[Daxilly]

Thanks Westiemum, that's what I was looking for!

Do you need a prescription for TrizEDTA or can you get it online? Are you concerned that with using the Dermotic every few days it will cause a resistance over time?

Luckypup has just started a thread on ACV as an ear cleaner so I will be interested to see what feedback she gets.

[Daxilly]

Malaseb diluted with water is great for yeasty ears, I also use it as a maintenance cleaner with good success.

Is that the Malaseb shampoo or is it a special ear cleaning solution?

Thanks

[quoll]

There is something else which is also great for yeasty ears, 3 parts rubbing alcohol ( from chemist ) to one part white vinegar.

The alcohol really dries the ears the vinegar is great for the PH balance.

This ratio and ingredients are commonly used in human ear drops as well. This mixture can't be used n infected ears andcannot replace antibiotics. Cheers

[westiemum]

Hi Daxilly,

Yes resistance is a worry. The vet and I talked extensively about it because with Pseudomonas (sp?) there are very few options if the bug becomes resistant, particularly your particular nasty!!. We had already had a run with Otomax which is apparently top of the pile with this nasty bug which is already apparently resistant to most antibiotics, and the Otomax worked. So we are back with Dermotic to give us Otomax to go back to if we need it.

So I'm not sure there is a good answer to this one - resistance is a risk but I'm not sure what else to try as the chronic infection is risky to my precious boys ear health as well. Its a bit of a balancing act and I think we have it right at the moment - so we'll just have to see long term.

Not much of an answer I know but I hope that helps.

I think the best answer is to find a good vet you can work with and have confidence in, diagnose the bug early, work very closely with them, keep swabbing regularly, take their advice and follow it carefully.

Cheers,

Westiemum

ETA I'm not sure if you need a script for the TrizEDTA or not - I usually pick it up from my vet and they have to mix it up - so I doubt it would be a good thing to buy online. To be honest, I'm very very wary about putting anything down my boys ear without vet examination and supervision - in chronic infection if the ear drum is ruptured and can't be seen because of chronic infection/inflammation and you inadvertently pour the wrong stuff down there you can do a lot of damage. So although the experience of DOLers and other remedies can be invaluable, make sure the ear drum is intact first and be very very careful.

Thanks Westiemum, that's what I was looking for!

Do you need a prescription for TrizEDTA or can you get it online? Are you concerned that with using the Dermotic every few days it will cause a resistance over time?

Luckypup has just started a thread on ACV as an ear cleaner so I will be interested to see what feedback she gets.

Edited July 6, 2009 by westiemum

[Clyde]

Malaseb diluted with water is great for yeasty ears, I also use it as a maintenance cleaner with good success.

Is that the Malaseb shampoo or is it a special ear cleaning solution?

Thanks

Shampoo

OMG - I just reached for another piece of chocolate and realise there isn't any left. I've just eaten an entire block of Club