flipping vet

[meggit]

poor buddy has got something wrong with his ears he keeps scratching and shaking his head a lot so took him to the vet, now apparantly its because of his raw food diet hes not getting enough zinc or something now i do keep his food varied he has as the basic food chicken wings with liver heart and kidney cubes (one once a day) and lamb or pork ribs depending on what i can get he has a tin of sardines in tomato sauce once a week if i give him that to often it uspests his tummy, so vet has given me this oil type mixture to give him once a day and some wipes for his ears there are no other dry patches or anything any where else on him its just his ears, so any one got any ideas on what i can give him rather than paying out for stuff thats full of chemicals from the vets its not the price of the stuff that dosnt bother me its all the other crap thats in the stuff i dont like.
thanks all

[Fundog]

Okay, so I looked up zinc deficiency in dogs, and it is actually very unusual for dogs to have zinc deficiency, unless they are genetically predisposed to it-- like Huskies and Malamutes. Like, it is so unusual, it is nearly impossible with a complete/varied diet! About the only dogs that have this condition are dogs who have a malabsorption problem to begin with.

So... I know that Buddy is not a husky or a malamute, or even a cross of either. Is the vet sure he is suffering from a zinc deficiency? Did he do a blood test? Usually a zinc deficiency shows up with other symptoms, besides funky ears-- like loss of hair, and chapped lips and red rimmed eyes.

Personally, I think you need to call your vet and ask some more questions.... or you could just get Buddy some zinc tablets and see if his ears clear up. I also learned it's nearly impossible to overdose on zinc. You would have to do it deliberately, in unimaginably huge quantities. There is a very big margin for "normal" zinc intake.

Oh, and the best source of zinc for dogs is muscle meat and bone. xxx (Lol at the "it must be the raw diet" theory)

[Nettle]

Did the vet look inside his ears?

Is the trouble with both ears?

Is there a musty smell from the ears?

Is there a discharge from either ear?

Do you think the trouble is inside or outside the ear?

Has Buddy been licking at his paws?

As for the zinc theory

[meggit]

its both ears no smell no mites just red and sore and im guessing by the way he acts uncomfortable he will let me clean them so i dont think they are painfull just sore nothing any where else nothing on paws or body eyes are fine to ive noticed its worse when hes been out in long grass and had his head stuck in it so i was going along the allergy route (silly me) as he has been a little bit sneezy as well, i know his diet is good ive read every thread on here about raw feeding before i started it and since just to make sure, when he was really ill with that tummy problem (again due to raw feeding huh) i removed all wheat and other cerial products from his diet (so no more biscuits ) and that helped a lot i havnt tried them again since as i dont want him to be that ill again, back te the ears hes got some dry patches in his ear and a few very red areas that must really itch as hes scratched them to bleeding i feel so sorry for him at the moment nothing worse than an itch you cant get rid of

[meggit]

oh forgot this one its just on the inside of his ear the ear canal is clean and dry just a little pink

[Sanna]

I'm not at all very knowledgeable about this type of stuff but it sounds very similar to when my pup had an allergic reaction. I'd used hot dog for treats one day (1/2 of one of those that come in a jar) and the next day his eyes were swollen and he had itchy ears. No itchy paws or anything, but the inside of his ears (the floppy bit) went red and raw, then turned into small sores that scabbed over. I gave him an antihistamine (and threw out the hot dogs) and within a few days the sores had healed and he was right as rain again. Sounds more severe with buddy though, if he keeps shaking his head and scratching til it bleeds? Is it possible that he could be more sensitive to something he'd normally eat as he's been poorly lately anyway? Just a thought. Hope he feels better soon!

[Nettle]

The one unanswered question is the most important - did the vet look inside his ears with a proper surgical instrument?

[meggit]

yes vet did look inside his ears with a what ever it is and showed me as well so i know they were ok i give the vet his due he did check every square inch of buddy and then told me it was his diet (none of the vets in the practice like the raw feeding thing) well im almost sure its an allergy to grass of some sort hes only been on road walks yesterday and today and his ears are looking much better hes stopped shaking his head but hes still scratching a bit, hes had nothing added to his diet since the tummy bug raw food only and cooked chicken (ive cooked it so its got no additives) i was going to try cheese again but with this ear thing im going to wait a bit longer

[Nettle]

Great stuff - well done