Ear Problems!

[ChubbyPuppy74]

It's this time of year again Mia starts to get her ear infections. It's always a yeast infection in her ears. There is a surgery that we can give Mia that will reduce her ear infections so we are looking to to that but in the mean time, we take her to the vet it costing 100 bucks per visit. I try my hardest to clean out her ears but it is nearly impossible. She will run,bite and kick at you. She just does not like you touching the inside of her ears. And the ear medication does not seem to do anything. Trying to hold down an 110 Pound dog is not easy at all. And also when clean out her ears, they turn pink with reddish dots everywhere is that normal? She is constantly shaking her head, i feel so sorry for her, we will be taking her in a few days when my mom can find the time. (Since she is back in collage) She has a real soft spot for Mia's ear infections, Thank Goodness. Anyways until then and for a ear cleaner what do you suggest?

[Nettle]

I use a few drops of lavender oil (therapeutic quality) in warmed olive oil. It would obviously be wrong for me to advise you to do that without your dog having a vet check and finding the reason for the sore ears. So I just thought I'd say what I do if my dogs get an ear problem, which for them is usually caused by mites.

Lavender oil kills mites and funguses/yeasts. But you need to find what is causing the trouble in the first place.

[runlikethewind]

Agree with Nettle - find the cause of the problem first. Yeast infections - why? Diet?

[ChubbyPuppy74]

Thanks for you comments. We have to take her in later in the week due to they are closed for the holiday and they are booked til thanksgiving. Every time we go for her ears which is 4-5 times a year, its a yeast infection. He says it's because of moisture getting into her ears. He always asks if she swims and i always say no. But possibly it could be from her sticking her ears into the bowl of water every time she gets a drink. But that only gets the tips. So I'm not really sure how she gets them like she does. I'm not sure on what to do.

He said vinegar and water would help with the yeast infections to get water out of the ear canal. But it did not seem to help, and also Mia hates the smell of it.

[Wicket]

Do you clean her ears every week or semi-regularly? Generally, dogs with floppy ears are more prone to ear infections due to their floppiness. Dogs with half pricked (like terriers) or pricked (like German Shepherds) are more open, allowing more airflow to go through. Some dogs (like Poodles) require some of their inner ear hairs to be plucked out to prevent infections and allow more airflow. My Poodle's ears are cleaned every two weeks since they get oily and funky; I usually clean them in the bathtub so I can shampoo off the alcohol from her fur.

If the yeast medicine doesn't seem to be working, perhaps it's a different kind of infection. I'm not a vet or vet tech but whenever I examined dogs' ears whenever bathed them as kennel worker, sometimes our vet would take out some of the infection and put it on a slide to better determine the cause of the infection. Frequent ear infections can be caused by allergies too, so that's another cause to look into. What food is your dog on?

Nettle: do you know how to desensitize a dog to ear drops? Mia definitely doesn't like getting hers!

[Nettle]

Desensitising - I don't actually use this stuff as drops (I hate ear drops myself!) I put the liquid on a sponge and wipe around the inside of the ear that I can reach easily (not right inside) as the great thing about lavender oil is that it penetrates the skin really quickly, so even the inside of the ear is good enough. As my dogs aren't worried about me fiddling around with their ears I can get the tip of the loaded sponge right into the outer part (is this making sense?) and the fluid does the rest.

As your dogs are a bit nervous of this, I'd build them up very gradually to it at a time when the ears aren't actually sore. Lots of rewards for slow progress.

It's nonsense to say that a yeast infection is caused by getting the ears wet. Lots of dogs get their ears wet and don't get a yeast infection. Often a tendency to yeast infections has a dietary base. If you can feed your dog lots of liquidised greens it usually helps - spinach, apple and watercress are particularly good. Or if you can get Dorwest Herbs products where you are, Garlic and Fenugreek tablets are very good.

[ChubbyPuppy74]

Finally got her to the vet, Took some more tests and yes again it is a yeast infection. Since she gets these seasonal he thinks she has allergies, There is a surgery when they go in and clean out the ear, but is it $200. So my mom said she will have to think about that. And also the medication for her ears and allergies are $900 For the medication. Other than that he told me just to keep putting the medication in her ears. Until we decide what we want to do.Which is a hard task at home.

[Fundog]

Hmmm.... Nettle what do you know about Golden Seal? I remember my mom used to make an ointment/salve out of Golden Seal powder for all kinds of skin issues, from diaper rashes to cuts and abrasions. I'm wondering if some Golden Seal powder might help clear up those yeasty ears? And it sure won't cost $900!

Other than that, I'm wondering if it would be just as good to get some Nystatin cream--- it is an antifungal cream for clearing up yeast/thrust infections on people, including infants with diaper rash/thrush caused by yeast. I'm not sure if you can get it over the counter or not, though. But it isn't terribly expensive, either. When my son was a newborn, he developed a yeast infection on his bottom from receiving antibiotics in the hospital (sepsis precaution). The pediatrician prescribed Nystatin cream, and it cleared it right up. That was 17 years ago-- it might be available OTC now. Ask your vet to be sure, but I know they use a lot of the same "people meds" on pets too, just in smaller doses. (Whispering) For that matter, you could probably just get a tube of Monostat cream, and dab some of that in the dog's ears!

[Nettle]

I don't know anything about either, but I have used an ear powder called Thornit (I think only available in UK but worth a Search) costs next to nothing, lasts for years, and the chief ingredients are zinc oxide, iodoform and boric.

I use it on my ferrets as they are very prone to ear mites and yeasts, and they won't keep still for anything liquid unless I nail one ear to the table...