Yeast infection - Page 2

On the rare occasion that I notice a dog with a somewhat gunky (certainly not stinking  or with hair loss) ear, I ask the dog to sit in front of me while I spray some Eqyss Microk-Tek spray (anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral--very soothing) into his ear canal. Before the dog gets a chance to shake his head, I massage the base of the ear to loosen the gunk.

Then, I use cotton balls wrapped around the tip of an index finger to remove this matter. If I notice more redness and sensivity than I like, I apply a few drops of Otomax ointment deep into the ear and massage it well into the base of the ear.

I doubt that I do this once a year to a dog.  I know for certain that the condition in my dogs is not indicative of a food allergy.

Otherwise, I clean the ears with Micro-Tek spray as a routine part of hygeine/husbandry after I bathe the dogs and use a Dremel tool on the nails. When one of my dogs returned from titling in Germany, I could tell that his ears had never been cleaned during his absence (nor had his "talons" been trimmed or the dog groomed).

I'm not saying that food allergies may not be responsible for chronic, recurrent yeast infections. However, 45 years with the GSD breed (and a career in the field of veterinary medicine) tells me that, on the rare occasion that one of my dogs has had a minor yeast infection in its ear, the condition has not been diet related.

One other consideration worth mentioning is that dogs with recurrent ear infections are often hypothyroid.

I have a Shih Tzu that has been struggling with systemic yeast infection all his life.  It gives him a stinky smell that is general but stronger in his ears.  In fact we used to call him Mr. Stinky.  It is a very distinctive smell.   It makes pustules and bumps on his skin and also makes him very itchy, especially chewing his feet.  I agree with the food allergy theory as he has not been able to maintain on any type of commercial food.  I make him a special simple diet that works for him.  I also believe that apple cider vinegar and apple cider vinegar, did I say apple cider vinegar in the diet works wonders.  He has to stay on this diet and I can give him nothing else or it flares up again.  So I haven't really been able to cure it, but only knock it back and make the metabolic environment unfavourable for the yeast to flourish in.  His diet is lightly cooked for the most part.  For the cooked part:  I use extra lean ground beef, pureed blanched vegetables (carrots, celery, other leafy greens), slowly cooked barley.  Uncooked part:  Ultra-kelp, dried ground egg shell, salmon oil, apple cider vinegar, cod liver oil and vitamin E oil and pro-biotic capsules (mix the contents with the food).  I make it in large batches and freeze it in reusable containers.  I also feed it to all my other dogs as a supplement to their regular kibble.  This is what works for my little guy and it took a lot of experimentation to figure it out.

Good luck with yours.

I have to further add, that I think that rather than being a true allergy, my little guy's immune system is unable to fight off the yeast on a normal commercial diet, and I have to give him a diet that, as I said above, makes his system unfavourable for the yeast which he does not seem to have resistance to without a special diet.  If that makes sense?  None of my other dogs, including my other Shih Tzu have ever had this problem.

Well the dog that I am speaking about in this original post has been on several different kinds of food to try and eliminate what ever he was supposedly alergic to. He was even on prescription diet from the vet that was very costly. When food was changed he was only given that food and nothing else for many months and I still have the ear infections and itchy sore skin. I am almost sure it is not food alergy but systemic yeast infection. I am very frustrated and at my wits end with this whole thing. I can hardly stand to see my dog suffering like this again and again.

Tondawg, I really feel for you and it took me several years to figure out how to feed my little one (he's seven now and doing fine on his regime).  You may have to consider building a diet for your own guy that you make yourself from ingredients you can control.  You start from a very simple diet of maybe a meat protein, probably chicken is the safest, and vegetables with some salmon oil, apple cider vinegar and probiotics and if he gets along on that, build on that one ingredient at a time.  I know it is very frustrating, and making your own food is time consuming especially for a German Shepherd.  I think you should consider moving away from all commercial food and starting your own simple diet.  This just heartfelt advice from my own experience.

Ok, well, you guys have me whooped!

I won't argue, but for me,  I will still stand behind the food allergy thing!  With my first import I finally figured out that her ear infections were food related, I placed her on a different diet from my others and cleared up the ear infection.  After that I could always tell when she had been in the food bin because with in 24 hours she would have a yeast infection and be scratching!  I didn't keep her food in the food bin......she thought she was so sneaky!!!  LOL~  This also seems to be the exact same issue with my new girl, changed her food and took her off lamb and rice!  Cleaned ear and treated with otomax.  Inflamation is gone and she isn't scratching at it any longer, but I have been anal about her diet too!

Vickie Lanig

www.PowerHausKennels.com

Tondawg,which vet food did you try?There is ONLY 1 which is the true hypoallergenic food ,it is the ULTRA ZD.I would NOT even try there other one which is called just ZD because it does have intact protein coming from the patatoe and for all you know that could be an offending food source.The Ultra ZD has only the starch component of the grain with NO protein at all other than the HYDROLYZED chicken protein which even if the dog were allergic to chicken this would NOT affect them cause of the smaller protein molecules being less than 5000kd.Your dog may very well be sensitive to other enviromental things but I too would say that this sounds like food issue.Please let me know what vet foods you have tried and remember that this is only for a few months untill you identify the offending foods and then you can find a food that works for him.Yes i do know that it is expensive,but its only temporary.Again,GOOD LUCK with your little guy and hopefully he will get better soon.

Powerhaus/Vicky, I never said it WASN'T possibly allergy related. I just said it was SYSTEMIC, which is obvious, because the skin is affected as well as the ears. Also, if it's a food allergy, the whole system has to be affected, inside and out!

As for yeast infections, I can't count the number of times I've been treating an oral or topical yeast infection, and found the patient also had itching and redness in their groin or anal area, which usually means the infection is ALL THE WAY through the whole digestive system. It may be different with dogs, but I doubt it.

And sterioids and antibiotics have exactly the same effects on animals as they do on humans. I did work for a small animal vet a number of years ago, and 95% of the drugs are THE SAME.

Sunsilver, I have read that a bodily reaction to a food one is allergic to will actually feed a systemic yeast infection? Something to do with the body not digesting the food properly and the higher sugar conversion of the carbs makes it more fertile for the yeast in the body?  My friend's son had a systemic yeast infection and they had to put him on an almost diabetic diet because some foods convert to sugar so quickly in the body.  I rember her also saying that she was frustrated with conflicting information about oral probiotics from different sources. Some said it would help stabilize the good yeast levels but some said it wasn't enough to counteract the problem. What have you found to be the case? I know she had been doing the vinegar, diet and probiotics from healthfood store. But I haven't talked to her in a few years since we moved.

I'm suspecting this in my EPI girl. She has never had much of a body odor but in the last six months or so she almost has a bit of a "soured" smell when she's close. Is this the smell mentioned above?

"I'm suspecting this in my EPI girl. She has never had much of a body odor but in the last six months or so she almost has a bit of a "soured" smell when she's close. Is this the smell mentioned above?"

For my little guy his bad odour did smell kind of sour, like somthing spoiled.