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At My Wits End - Ear Infections

~tj~

By ~tj~,
in Health / Nutrition / Grooming

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raineth

raineth

Posted
Posted

Poor boy :(

The only thing I'd like to add is that once you have the problem fixed it would be worthwhile to treat his ears weekly with something like epiotic, that can help prevent yeast and other infections occurring.

Good luck and definitely get it swabbed :)

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gsdog2

gsdog2

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Thanks so much for the info westiemum. My girl has had a yeast infection and yes, she's had many swabs (the latest one yesterday). After two solid weeks of Surolan suspension she is now clear in one ear and all but in the other. If this hadn't worked we were going to talk about surgery, but at this stage my vet's happy with her treatment.

I have seen an aural resection years ago - where they virtually open up the ear canal to allow it to air/stay dry. When my vet mentioned surgery I was definitely hesitant (to say the least :( ) and Indi's ear infections really weren't bad enough to warrant putting her through such major surgery. With care (avoiding swimming, careful in rainy weather & bath times and cleaning her ears weekly) I hope to keep her ear infections to a minimum. I recently changed her diet and I'm wondering whether that has anything to do with this latest ear infection problems???

The surgery Mac had, has improved heaps compared to the surgery I saw all those years ago and has obviously been a huge success for him and it's so good that he's painfree :)

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Jumabaar

Jumabaar

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Thanks so much for the info westiemum. My girl has had a yeast infection and yes, she's had many swabs (the latest one yesterday). After two solid weeks of Surolan suspension she is now clear in one ear and all but in the other. If this hadn't worked we were going to talk about surgery, but at this stage my vet's happy with her treatment.

I have seen an aural resection years ago - where they virtually open up the ear canal to allow it to air/stay dry. When my vet mentioned surgery I was definitely hesitant (to say the least :( ) and Indi's ear infections really weren't bad enough to warrant putting her through such major surgery. With care (avoiding swimming, careful in rainy weather & bath times and cleaning her ears weekly) I hope to keep her ear infections to a minimum. I recently changed her diet and I'm wondering whether that has anything to do with this latest ear infection problems???

The surgery Mac had, has improved heaps compared to the surgery I saw all those years ago and has obviously been a huge success for him and it's so good that he's painfree :)

Hypersensitivities (aka food allergies) can def cause ear infections!!!

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/30900.htm

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gsdog2

gsdog2

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Posted (edited)

Hypersensitivities (aka food allergies) can def cause ear infections!!!

Thanks for link :thumbsup:

As a puppy she had a lot of allergy problems after each vaccination. We have now changed to the 3 yearly vaccination and she made HUGE improvements.

Recently I switched her from Eukanuba to Canidae thinking I was doing the right thing :shrug: . Within weeks she started chewing herself and she seemed to have constant ear infections again :( .

We have also had wet weather which can also cause ear infections - so is it food or wet weather :shrug:

This week I've switched her back to Eukanuba, the weather has cleared and the vet is happy with the success of the Surolan suspension. Hopefully one or all of the above is working :crossfingers:

ETA we've been down the Dermatologist path (admittedly more that a year ago) - that was well before I started her on Canidae. At that stage I really believe the vaccine was causing her skin and ear issues.

Edited by gsdog2
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Jumabaar

Jumabaar

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Posted

Hypersensitivities (aka food allergies) can def cause ear infections!!!

Thanks for link :thumbsup:

As a puppy she had a lot of allergy problems after each vaccination. We have now changed to the 3 yearly vaccination and she made HUGE improvements.

Recently I switched her from Eukanuba to Canidae thinking I was doing the right thing :shrug: . Within weeks she started chewing herself and she seemed to have constant ear infections again :( .

We have also had wet weather which can also cause ear infections - so is it food or wet weather :shrug:

This week I've switched her back to Eukanuba, the weather has cleared and the vet is happy with the success of the Surolan suspension. Hopefully one or all of the above is working :crossfingers:

ETA we've been down the Dermatologist path (admittedly more that a year ago) - that was well before I started her on Canidae. At that stage I really believe the vaccine was causing her skin and ear issues.

Can I suggest titre testing in the future rather than vaccinating? My dogs are vaccinated as pups (only two) then titre tested- and none have needed boosters!! Jean Dodds has a fair amount of literature on the net about vaccination reactions which you may find interesting.

If it happens again with that history I would really follow up on hypersensitivities, Your normal vet SHOULD be able to go through an elimination diet etc but it may be easier to see a dermatologist who does this type of investigation daily. If it is a hypersensitivity then you will find treatment of the ear infection will be much more effective.

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RubyStar

RubyStar

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Posted (edited)

Ear flush under GA for my Lab with chronic ear infections was done last Friday. Numerous trips to a regular vet and they just kept prescribing Dermotic. Sure it would take care of the infection on the surface, but they can't see right down to the ear drum where the infection still was, and it would of course make its way back out to the surface where we can see it. Finally had a derm vet check them out and they flushed both ears right to the ear drum under GA - lucky after all these infections the ear drum wasn't perforated. Vet thinks underlying allergies are the root cause, so I am going to try a food elimination diet for starters. She's already on grain free kibble, but going to can that for goat and sweet potato for 6 weeks and see how we go.

See a specialist derm vet ASAP! A regular vet just can't see enough down there and try to just treat the problem, not the cause.

Edited by RubyStar
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shells

shells

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Have him sedated and have his ears fully cleaned out and swabbed.

My boy had ear infection problems for months. He had a grass seed deep in there and once removed his ears were hard to heal. I changed vets and he gave me topigen ear drops- they are fantastic

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gsdog2

gsdog2

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Posted

At the very least, CHANGE VETS! I think a dermatologist vet is a great option, too. I've been very impressed with vet dermatologists with my one consult (with a rescue dog).

I actually did the sums last time my girl had ear/skin issues and it's cheaper to go to the dermatologist than it is to keep tracking back to the vet time after time.

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westiemum

westiemum

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At the very least, CHANGE VETS! I think a dermatologist vet is a great option, too. I've been very impressed with vet dermatologists with my one consult (with a rescue dog).

I actually did the sums last time my girl had ear/skin issues and it's cheaper to go to the dermatologist than it is to keep tracking back to the vet time after time.

Yep sure is - by a long way. Not to mention resolving the dogs pain quickly :)

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