Kiki's ear is really bad. :(

[Kfamr]

This morning, she woke me up as she usually does (came and layed next to me on my bed, bonking me with her tail, and nosing me with a wet cold nose!) I opened my eyes, rubbed her ears like I always do.

Except her right ear was crusty and gunky. The fur all around it is stiff with ear goop and stuff was leaking out of it. I cleaned it out real good for now, the vets are closed today, of course, and my parents are also gone.

She's always had a problem with her ears, because she swims so much, and after trying everything we could the vets just basically said we have to deal with it. (My co-worker Jill is having the same problem with her dog and was told basically the same thing)

Kiki did go swimming yesterday so i'm wondering if that's what triggered it to get worse. It doesn't seem to bother her that much (she doesn't flinch or anything when I go to touch it.)

Anyways.. I'm blabbing on now. Hopefully it'll get better, just keep her in the back of your mind for me, will ya?

[sammy101]

I'm sorry Kiara. The swimming might have caused it to worsen? I hope her ears get better,and i'll be thinking of you Kiara

[trayi52]

I'll be keeping Kiara in my thoughts, Kay. Hope that ear clears up on its on.

Willie

[RobiLee]

Awww..poor Kiki.

I'm glad to hear that it's not bothering her too much. Lets hope it clears up on its own.

Hugs and kisses for your little girl, Kay!

[*LabLoverKEB*]

No, I'll keep lil' Kiara in the front of my mind. lol, that was dumb.

I will pray that KiKi's ear get's well soon! You're doing the right thing, though, Kay!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Kiki did go swimming yesterday,
so i'm wondering if that's what triggered it to get worse.

You might want to consider not letting her swim till after her plane ride to Utah -
give the ears a chance to dry out and heal before she has to experience the
possible discomfort of that high altiude flight.

[CagneyDog]

Aww. Poor Ki, I hope she can still come with you to Utah!

[lizbud]

Poor Kiara. I am glad that it's draining instead of blocking up her
ear completely. My son loved swimming also but offen suffered from ear
infections. (swimmer's ear) The Dr. recommended alcohol drops in the ear
after swimming & it really helped. I wonder if your Vet can come up with
something similar for Kiki. I know how much she loves the water. I hope
this clears up for her.

[anna_66]

Poor girl, sorry to hear that her ear is bad again Kay.
You'll have to ask the vet about Liz's suggestion...
couldn't hurt!

Kisses to you sweetie Ki♥♥

[Kfamr]

Her ear is actually looking a lot better now since I cleaned it out REALLY good this morning. I spent atleast a half hour on it, and then a little bit more about 10 minutes later. I wonder if she just got water in it last night and it was draining out.

I haven't let her swim in a while but she threw the ball in and started swimming while I was taking pictures of Nala. It's like hell to her if we don't let her swim, poor girl.

[poofy]

Would the swimmers ear medication work for her to help dry it up.??
I just know my mom use to use it..

[caseysmom]

Kay...is there anyway you can put cotton balls in her ears before she swims? Caseys ears were irritated and the vet gave me the c 1/0 for 10 days and then he said to be careful when I bathe her and I think he mentioned the cotton balls, I need to call and verify that....

[dragondawg]

your's and your friend- get another Vet. It's their job to provide a solution for the problem, not for you to just deal with it.

In general dogs with long ears or ones which lay flat with very little chance to get a good circulation of air for drying have the most problems per ear infections as a result of swimming. The classic example are the Labs. The characteristics of the typical infection are:

1. Excessive scratching, heading shaking by the dog.
2. Inflamed skin towards the top of the inner ear.
3. Sometimes small amounts of secretions can be seen down in the ear, or sometimes smelled.

The fact you are seeing goop or excessive secretions indicates a severe infection, and as in humans this can spread to the inner ear. Your dog is a candidate for treatment with Clavamox to treat any internal bacterial infection. Unclear what you are using to clean the ears, but you can obtain precription cleaning and drying agents for the ear from a Vet. Once cleaned a few drops of Ottomax should be dropped in and the ear massaged gently. The Ottomax is a precription salve that contains antibiotics effective again bacteria and yeast. Usually just a few days of morning and night applications will get the ear back to normal. But again due to the copious amounts of secretion you are describing, Clavamox to treat any inner ear infection should be given. No swimming for puppy until the ears are cleared up!

Once a dog's ear has under gone a severe infection the natural ecosystem of the ear never seems to return to normal. Add in a pond or other water with a high yeast/bacteria content in the middle of high summer temperatures, and reoccurrant ear infections are likely to occur. You can help short circuit reoccuring problems by swabing the ears with a barely moistened cotton ball after swimming where you moisten it with a 1 part white vinegar + 2 parts distilled water solution. In fact you should probably dry the ears first before applying the diluted vinegar solution. The vinegar drops the pH in the ear which hinders the growth of yeast, and some bacteria. The trick is to remember to do it! For my previous dog as long as I remembered the vinegar swabing she didn't have any problems. But when I forgot and an infection occured, I always had a tube of Ottomax on hand.

[.sarah]

I know you said you tried everything but I'm still going to ask ...

Have you done a food trial to see if she's allergic to wheat, corn, soy, or meat in the food she's eating? Mandy and Nova both have food allergies and get chronic ear infections with meat and Nova also gets rashes on her belly.

IF you have done this then you may want to flush her ears, instead of just clean them. It will get further down in there than just cleaning them.

[beeniesmom]

Ok Kiki,
I hope your ear gets all healed up.
Kisses to you, your siblings and your momma!