yeast infections in ear? - Page 4

Just a note for others reading: NEVER INTRODUCE MOISTURE INTO A HEALTHY EAR. You do not need to clean healthy GSD ears. 

Get to the root cause. Treat for Candida. I get so frustrated when people want to try 1000 different foods and the real problem isn't "allergies,"; it's candida. I'm not saying that's what's going on here; you could just have a one-time thing due to swimming or something. But it's certainly something to keep in mind and the treatment for it will not hurt the dog.
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yeast_mini_course.htm

Jen, that's why I said my experience might  or might not
help with vk's dog.  No harm in him trying if he uses dairy
products in any aspect of feeding his dog(s).

I did not 'search' for allergies or try 1000 foods in Vee's case;
it just happened that I made the connection between her getting
cheese as treats when doing some intensive training and the
recurrence of the problem.  Then, on a simple 'trial & error' course,
I confirmed the link.  Stopping all dairy in her diet had the desired
result.  Maybe its a part of the known lactose intolerance in the
adult canine, perhaps more than the gut can be affected ?

Linda, I didn't even read your post. No chance I was directing my post at you. Just a disclaimer for those who do not know better than to be "proactive" and  clean healthy ears. Once you start, you better believe you'll probably have to keep it up. 

 

Gochya, Jenni.  .  I agree.  Every time I have had any problem
with ears to treat, from yeast to ear mites, the vet has prescribed
cleaning plus medication - like Joan says, you need to clear any
build up of gunk out of the way first, for the treatment to work.  And
I cannot abide it when people do not check their dogs ears regularly
to see if there are problems.  But I would not keep cleaning ears out
if there is no sign of gunk / irritation;  I think you can do more harm
than good if you upset the natural balance.  Having said that, if someone
feels they need a good proprietory cleaner, there are a couple of excellent
ones based on Calendular flowers, rather than chemicals.

I just smell the ear, very easy to tell if there's a problem or not.  I agree there is no need to be flushing out and cleaning healthy ears.  If I notice my dog shaking his head, itching his ear, or holding it sideways, I smell it.  If it smells bad, I treat it like yeast and use the Zymox once daily for a few days as well as swabbing out the discharge. If there's no smell or discharge, there's no problem.  Maybe a few times in the lifetime of my dog he's gotten so dirty I've actually swabbed out his ears to "clean" them, but it is not a regular thing.  I don't brush teeth either and usually only brush the coat in prep for a show/breed survey or if the dog is heavily blowing coat.  Really the only regular upkeep is nail trimmings. Some of my dogs need it less often than others.  My flyball dogs I prefer to have short nails, I don't want them catching and splitting or ripping.

to answer some questions collectively and update, firstly thanks a bunch for all the tips and concern for my dog. he has stopped being visually agrgravated by it.

the vet knocked him out cold, no gas, a needle, and a reversal needle which bought him back in less than a minute (never seen that before), while under shoved the gadget down the ear canal and i could see plain as day an infection. the ear canal was not closed so i did right by getting him in early before it got bad, vet said he has treated cases where the infection completely blocks the canal.

while under the vet scraped the canal/s out with a swab and cleaned it well. the cephalxin, cleaning fluid and anti-fungal seem to have worked, no aggravation thus far.

the dog swims every day in very "fertile" water ecosystems so lots of bugs i guess. he gets little dairy except for yoghurt which i am not keen to cut at this point.

vet did not request a follow up unless things don't appear to get better, if i go back again the dog will have to be sedated again which i don't like to do, he will accept an injection if i am at his head and vet is behind me  but won't accept any further handling, not sure health implications of full sedation, needle versus gas what gives?

dog takes hours to recover from gas, and minutes to recover from needle after reversal is given, any explain what this is all about?

thanks all.

The gas is deep anesthesia and the "needle" is light sedation with a reversal....a little more pricey, but when they need sedation, I prefer the reversible drug. Being he swims every day, can you check into putting an oil base drops in his ears to keep the water out?

the needle knocked the dog out good i must say, will check what oil based drops are available. will try keep the idiot out of the water for a few weeks. for a gsd he is a great duck dog.

"What do you feed him, precisely?"

I don't have time right now to read through this thread but was this question ever answered?