Chronic Ear Problems - Page 3

DesertRangers: My older female had severe ear infections for the first 8 years of her life. I experienced the same thing as you. Once the medication ran out, the infection would come back. Her infections ranged from yeast to staff and once had pseudomonas. She was either on ear drops or oral antibiotics or both. If we were lucky, she would go a few months at a time without problems. She was tested for allergies, but that came back negative. We tried switching foods, but saw no improvement. I switched vets when she was 7 and after going thru another 6 months of the same thing, my vet performed an ear flushing while she was sedated. He told me that what he pulled out of her ear was unbelievable. The infections we down deep and both the vet and I must not have been getting all the stuff out, so the problem would just keep recurring. We did this flushing twice, and I am relieved to report that she has not had another ear infection in the past 5 years. I hope your dogs ear infections clear up soon. Cheryl

Cheryl/Hodie Thanks for the suggestions. Will be trying both. Never heard of the ear flush but sounds interesting. Will update back in a few months..

My experience of ear infections/allergies/yeast etc. is that it ALWAYS occurs in a GSD with DRY ears. A dog with oily ears( if you put the tip of your finger in you can immediately feel a lubricating film) never has these problems. When I clean ears I use Docusol, which is a slippery foaming cleanser and leaves the ears with a lubricated surface. Dirt and debris then attach to this and are easy to clean with cotton wool etc. I also use a homeopathic immune system booster available in South Africa called Eco Immune in conjunction with Eco Scratch and Eco Heal. Dose 3 x daily till definite improvement and then twice daily and reduce to a maintenance dose.Maintenance dose must be established based on what the dog needs. Some can go with twice weekly dosing, others need continued daily dose. Medication then becomes a thing of the past. The important fact is that these ears must be examined regularly and the process nipped in the bud to prevent a major flare up. Seasonal problems can be anticipated by cleaning and using the remedies to support. Natural feeding, VitC, Omegas and regular cleansing are the key words.

Raw diet will usually clear up any and all infections. I have a lab mix who we found out had several bladder and ear infections, we must have spend a good 1000 at the vet by the time all her antibiotics were given. we switched her to a raw diet and she hasent had one yet(4 months)knock on wood. if you go to leerburg.com he has a whole page of Q&A's about raw diets. Check it out, just might be your anwser to all your problems :-).

Apologize for bringing this thread back up. Since I was not able to purchase OtiCalm or Epi-Oti, I went to the pharmacy and purchased Cerumol (Ear drops for human ears). Not sure if I should be using it on a dog's ears, but it works like a charm. With the ears running around the house, it also seems to have an extra bonus of deodorizing the house. Anybody used it?

I definetly agree with looking at his diet. I switched my dogs to Canidae and had 3 get ear infections and one get ear infections on a regular basis. switched them back to what they were originally being fed and no more ear infections. I am not saying Canidae is bad but it was just not the food for my dogs. Also look at how moist/humidity the area the dog spends time in is. When I moved my male from the un-heated kennel to the heated one as the tempature here at night is going down to -11 F he developed an ear infection cause the heated kennel is more humid with the pups spilling water ect. Mike

You will never have a problem with your diet if you feed Eukanuba!

Vinegar and distilled water use it as a flush that is the main ingredient in most ear flush. (Before you start this make sure the dog has no yeast infection, if that is the problem.)You can also try feeding yogurt too.

The vinegar advice is excellent for cleaning the ears. And my question above was strictly related to cleaning the ears. Has anyone used Ear Drop for humans such as Cerumol for CLEANING the healthy ears of a dog? No point in feeding the dog something special if one neglects cleaning the ears regularly.

Zymox Otic enzymatic solution can be purchased online from vetamerica.com I have it for my border collie mix with the floppy ears, but its great stuff. If its chronic, like with her, you can use it for 7 days - 14 days, then once a week. Buy the 8 oz bottle in that case