Ear Infection Getting Worse With Treatment

[no longer registered]

Hi all, my 5 months old Cavalier has an infection in her right ear. I bought her last Wednesday, symptoms appeared on Saturday.

I took her to the vet Monday (yesterday) at 9am. A swab came negative for mites.

Vet flushed her ear out and gave me Dermotic to pop in her ear twice a day, said probably a yeast infection.

Today her ear feels so hot and she keeps trying to claw at it, she's got a cone collar on so can't access it but there's definite bloody wax discharge and I'm not sure what my next step is from here. She's not even allowing me to touch her ear to squirt in the ointment so must be very painful

Should I take her back already, and to the same vet? I feel dissatisfied with the briefness and was charged $97.40 for 10 minutes consult, a cone for her collar and 20ml Dermotic.

[Erny]

A swab came negative for mites.

Vet flushed her ear out and gave me Dermotic to pop in her ear twice a day, said probably a yeast infection.

Did the Vet swab for yeast and if not, do you know why not?

[CBL]

Poor little thing - sound to me like she needs to be seen by a vet. I would be taking her to a different one.

Where abouts are you, maybe someone can recommend another one near you?

[~Anne~]

I'd take her back. If you don't like the Vet, go to another. I would speak to the first Vet again though. Perhaps let him know that you felt rushed and that you didn;t feel he spent enough time checking your dog. Vet's are human. They sometimes have bad days and sometimes they don't realise they have upset someone. Sometimes it may be that they are just not your kind of Vet.

[Rascalmyshadow]

I would take her back, ear infections are really painful. The vet needs to do a swab because if it's not yeast she is likely to need antibiotics.

[puggy_puggy]

If there is a bloody discharge I would be finding a new vet. You could ring up the other vet and explain the problem and they might dispense some more medication (perhaps oral antibiotics) without seeing you. But if things have changed since yesterday, and it sounds like they might have, I would be having another vet look at her. I would also be ringing the breeder she has come from.

Poor puppy must be in alot of pain.

[no longer registered]

Wow, thanks for the speedy replies.

No she didn't swab for yeast, she had a look under the microscope for mites and didn't see any. She also looked in her ear but said it was still gunky.

I'm going to call now and see what I can find out.

[no longer registered]

Vet said to give the ointment time to work, and if it's still not helping after the 10-14 days then to bring her back. The assistant spoke to the vet so the info was a bit rough, and inconclusive as to whether she actually swabbed for yeast. From what I gathered at the appointment yesterday, she was guessing it was a yeast infection.

Something is not sitting right with me.

[Monah]

Take her back. Swabs needed, sent OS if neccessary to the USA.

Dog may need an ear clean out, ie. knocked out, ear examination, hair pluck, thorough clean. Ears cannot be properly examined if they are gunky, you can't see properly.

one of my dogs had an ongoing infection.

Cost me around $2000 over a 6 month period.Also had her on a special diet.

Finally had a dermatologist do scratch tests and she was allegergic to many grasses and trees. We did a vacc. program and are now on only 1 vacc per month and she has not looked back :nahnah: Best thing I ever did. Ears are tricky, hope it all works out, but, never give up as it will not improve on it's own. You must get something done about it until it is cured/controlled. Poor doggy

xxxxxx

[Poodle wrangler]

With an infection, you'd expect to see some brownish-reddish wax.

You need to clean those ears, despite any puppy protests.

Yeasts like to live in warm, moist places e.g. floppy ears!

Because cavs have floppy ears, like poodles, there's less airflow.

Their ear canals are also small, being small dogs.

My mini poodle has had a few ear infections and if there's any signs of scratching at ears or brownish wax, then I start regular cleaning with Malaseb (an antifungal-antibacterial shampoo) diluted 1:50 with clean, warm water. You use it the same way as the Dermotic, but it's both more effective AND more economical.

I didn't find the Dermotic that effective, though it was prescribed once together with an antibiotic.

http://www.thevetshed.com.au/product_info....products_id/246

[no longer registered]

Thanks for the advice and tips, greatly appreciated.

I've grabbed a bottle of Malesab, thanks Poodle wrangler. I did make an order last night through the vet shed so I'll be getting two packages soon.

I really want her to be feeling better soon my poor poppit, it smells terrible :\

Should I be treating both ears or only the affected? I don't want to pass a germ/fungii from right ear to left ear, or let the left side get as bad as the right.

[oakway]

chocobo When you make the Malaseb up use a spray bottle and keep the Malaseb flowing through the ear for about a minute. You may find that lots of gunk will flow out. Keep this up once a day for five days. Then see how it is coming along.

Some ear infections can also come from the food the dog is being fed.

Some ear infections may mean allergies.

[Cavalier]

Almost all ear infections really need to have a course of steroids in the treatment regime to ease the pain, itching and discomfort for the dog.

Just using antibiotics IMHO is unsatisfactory, and usually results in a quick return of the infection upon finishing treatment.

[persephone]

Unfortunately- with floppy ears AND a plastic cone collar- any infection in that ear is going to go ballistic

Try and let her have air around it as much as you can.... the heat and lack of air circulation are just what ear nasties love .

take collar off and take her for a walk onlead.... anything!

I certainly would not be waiting ten days for a return vet visit either !

[Erny]

Chocobo ..... going strictly by the information you've given in this thread, I would not be comfortable or confident with the treatment and 'diagnosis' by your Vet. The Vet has prescribed treatment on the basis of "it might be" and has failed to even take a swab to determine whether that treatment is the right one or not. That this is getting worse, by your account, is not a good sign and I agree with Persephone that I would not be waiting for 10 days for a re-visit. I partly wonder if the bloody wax you see is a mixture of dark wax and the ointment you are applying to your dog's ear canal, but only a visual would determine this and IMO that visual would be best seen by a Vet who knows what he/she is about. I am disturbed that a Vet thinks it "could be" a yeast infection but didn't take the swab required to determine this in the first place.

An infection in the ear can lead to worse issues and even to a burst ear drum (which in itself is excruciatingly painful). I'd be going for a second opinion and perhaps to a specialist, especially if this is as bad as it sounds.

I also agree with the suggestion that ear infections can be diet related and especially if ear infections keep returning it would do well to consider feeding a hypo-allergenic diet.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Erny

[MsBex]

I switched vets when I wasn't happy with my first vets diagnosis (or lack of)/costs etc. Went to the vet associated with the Animal Welfare League and explained I was changing vets, they were really helpful, charged a return consultation fee, and medication was noticeably cheaper as well!

Good luck with your dog

[stormie]

It's possible they are a bit more sore today due to the poking/prodding/massaging done at the vets yesterday. Most of the common ear drugs prescribed cover a range of bacterial and fungal problems, so in many cases, the treatment will be the same whether its a yeast overgrowth or another type of bacteria. If the one prescribed doesn't work in the time frame prescribed, then obviously a recheck is in order and further investigation needed. Most cases of general ear infections will clear up with Dermotic, if it doesn't, then you're obviously dealing with something more difficult. Malaseb is for yeast, so if you are doubting the vets diagnosis for yeast, then there's no point using the malaseb.

If you are unhappy with your consult, though, then I would give them a call and let them know. They may offer to see you again for free...

[Staranais]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but why couldn't the vet have seen yeast (or the absence of yeast) on the swab and slide taken for mites? You're just looking at the earwax to see what's there, right?

I'm wondering if what the vet meant by "maybe yeast" is that she saw some yeast there, but don't know if it was causing the problem (perhaps only saw a tiny bit of yeast or something)? Just a thought.

[BittyMooPeeb]

Hi Chocobo,

These things tend to get worse before they get better, so you would not generally see an improvement within 24 hrs (plus as someone else said, the prodding and poking can also make the ear more sore).

I would suggest giving the treatment time to work, and not adding something else (ie the malaseb) to the mix. Most ear infections are yeast, which is probably what the vet is working on. It can also be hard to see what is causing the infection if there is a lot of gunk, as the yeast/mites etc might not show up on the slide. I recall my vet saying that sometimes it takes over 10 slides to find something.

Give the treatment time to work (I would not leave it for 10 days though - maybe 3-4). You could also ask the vet if flushing the ear out once might help the treatment work (as she said the ear is filled with gunk). I have tried this with one of my dogs and it did help. I used apple cider vinegar, and the malaseb dilute mix could do the same job. Just do it once before giving the treatment (a few hours before, to give the vinegar/malaseb time to get out of the ear) then continue with treatment as normal. Check with your vet before you do this though - if a perforated ear drum is a possibility, this could flush everything further into the ear and cause permanent/lonng term problems.

[tomas]

This ear treatment never fails to work for me!

Blue Power Ear Treatment from the web,though I use this on my floppy eared dogs and usually only have to clean them once every few months and they swim regularly.

Caution: please have your veterinarian evaluate your dog's ear drum prior to treating the ear problem yourself. Be certain that the ear drum is NOT ruptured, as there could

be the risk of irreversible deafness or loss of equilibrium. Your vet can rule out the presence of tumors or foreign bodies such as foxtails. A microscope smear would reveal

bacteria, yeast or mites and then a culture and sensitivity test can be performed.

INGREDIENTS:

16 Oz. bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol (standard 70%)

4 Tablespoons of Boric Acid Powder

16 Drops of Gentian Violet Solution 1% (see end of article for more information)

Mix together in alcohol bottle and shake well.

You will need to shake solution every time you use it to disperse the Boric Acid Powder. Purchase a flexible plastic bottle with the opening at the top so that the solution may be

gently squeezed out and dispense solution to affected ears. The ideal is a hair-dye bottle available at a pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Target, etc, or a beauty supply store.

TREATMENT PROCEDURE:

1) Evaluate condition of ears before treating and if very inflamed and sore: do not attempt to pull hair or clean out ear at all. Just flush and then wait until

inflammation has subsided, which will be about two days.

2) Warm the solution (as instructed above) and shake the bottle each time before using it for treatment.

3) Flood the ear with solution (gently squirt bottle).

4) Massage gently to the count of 60, wipe with a tissue.

5) On first treatment: flood the ear twice, wipe with a tissue, and leave alone without massage.

6) The dog will shake out the excess, which can be wiped with a tissue.

The SCHEDULE of treatment is as follows:

• Treat TWICE a day for the first week to two weeks, depending upon severity of ears.

• After the second or third day you can clean out the ear with a Q-tip or cotton balls (see caution below). Treat ONCE a day for the next 1-2 weeks.

• Treat ONCE a month (or even less frequently, depending on the dog).

Caution: When using a Q-tip, only insert it as far into the ear canal as you can actually see. Use care to prevent the gunk from falling down into the ear canal.

Users of the Blue Power Ear Treatment have found that, unless the dog has abraded the skin by scratching, thealcohol doesn’t sting and the dog will not object to even the first treatment.

The Boric Acid Powder soothes the ear.

The Gentian Violet Solution is an anti-infection agent, as it is a dye mixture that acts as a bactericide, fungicide, and anthelmintic (destroys worms).

Remember, gentian violet will stain hair, clothing, etc.

The Blue Power Ear Treatment as detailed above appears to work well on any and all ear problems from mites to wax to canker. The success rate for this treatment is said to be 95-99%. Those who do not succeed have usually not done the treatment long enough.