Dogs Ear

[vanbng]

I have a 4 year old Akita-Chow mix dog and his ears get full of this brown gunk. He is mostly an indoor dog. I try to clean them as best as I can when I can catch him off guard, I know this sounds mean. He picks at his ears, and quietly whimpers. He has seen a vet and at the last visit bit him and was foaming at the mouth so that's really not the route I want to take. The vet didn't treat him very well and this has angered my poor dog. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[chichi7]

I recommend putting vinager drops in his ear immediately! This kills the bacteria and is highly recommended by my veternarian.

I was taken back by your post because just last night at 2:30 am I was awakend by my Chihuahua with this same problem. I called my vet and he recommended this remedy. So far Taco has not cried once over his ear and has not picked at it nor is his head tilted to the side. I will be putting 2 more drops in his ear before bedtime tonight.

[dragondawg]

Go to the Vet (leaving puppy home), and ask for a product called: Foaming Ear Cleaner, and the corresponding rinse/cleaner. It's made by Animal Dermatology Labs. Ask your Vet on instructions as to how to use it for cleanning the ears. Also ask the Vet for a salve- Ottomax. A few drops are placed in each ear after cleanning, initially 2X daily. This will usually clear up the infection within a week.

If your Vet doesn't want to cooperate, then find another Vet immediately, as an inner ear infection can cause more problems. Once the ear has a serious infection it seems as though it will be prone to future infections very easily. So this will probably be an on-going problem for you periodically from now on.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by vanbng
I have a 4 year old Akita-Chow mix dog and his ears get full of this brown gunk. He is mostly an indoor dog. I try to clean them as best as I can when I can catch him off guard, I know this sounds mean. He picks at his ears, and quietly whimpers. He has seen a vet and at the last visit bit him and was foaming at the mouth so that's really not the route I want to take. The vet didn't treat him very well and this has angered my poor dog. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Do you think your dog's ears might have hurt so bad that the
Vet's touching them hurt & scared the dog? How did the vet
"not treat him well" ? My vet gave me Zymox solution(drops)
for Smokey's ears when they seemed to bother him once last
summer. It's very good stuff.

[wolfsoul]

I know that you don't want to go to the vet, but you really need a professional to take a look at your dog's ears and determine what's wrong with them. They could be dirty, they could be infected, he could have mites...the list goes on. You shouldn't be just throwing stuff down there unless you really know what is going on.

Also, how are you cleaning his ears? A cotton ball or Qtip is fine on the outside of the ear canal, but if you try and clean the inside you are only pushing the wax and gunk down firther and further infecting the ear or making infection more likely.

Does he have a muzzle? If you take him to the vet, muzzle him while the vet is touching him. It is not cruel, and prevents both the vet and dog from harm.

[lv4dogs]

i agree w/ wolfsoul! This needs to be seen my a vet.

How exactly did your vet no treat him right? I would seek another vet, maybe talk to new vets & vivit them first, make sure you explain his dilema w/ them as well.

Has he always been bad at the vets? How old is the dog/how long have you owned him? In the future you can train him to like the vets, go there without an appointment, as often as possible just to sit there, weigh him just get him used to the vets, bring lots of really great treats when his tummy is empty. Praise everytime he behaves there, is calm there, eventually let the techs & vets give him a nice pat & if he behaves well make sure they give him a treat. Any good vet will be more than happy to let you do this, believe me they would rather have a good dog w/ a good owner than a bad one!