ear infections

[labmomma]

One of my 2 rescued labs, Sam, is presently being treated for an ear infection. I'm irrigating and cleaning the ear canal one/day with Epi-Otic and wiping clean with a cotton cosmetic pad. Also am applying Ottomax twice/day and giving Keflex 3X and Prednisone 1X. This may appear to be overkill but he has to have surgery in 9 days for a congenital eye defect and they want everything cleared up by then. My vet said to use the Epi-Otic no more than 7 days in a row and once the infection is cleared up to routinely clean the ears. I plan on starting a maintenance program with my other Lab, Hokie. Good Luck

[lv4dogs]

Hows she been? Did you go to the vets?

She's in my thoughts.

[pnance]

Thanks everyone, sorry I didn't follow up on this, but I knocked a glass of water onto my laptop, so my computer access is a bit sporadic while I get it fixed.

I couldn't get a vet appointment till after the New Year, but I did take her. It was a new vet in the office that I'd never seen before,(and definately won't see again if I can avoid it ). I mentioned a stronger antibiotic even adding an oral in, but she wasn't very receptive. She thought it was allergy, and prescribed otomax again and added a course of prednisone. I tried to discuss trying a different one since otomax was helping but wasn't clearing it up, but she just kind of nodded and said we'll just try it first and see since that's the normal way to treat.
Nikka seems to be doing better, but right now she's still getting both the preds and otomax, which ends next week so I'll see how it goes. Once I've got it knocked down I thought I'd try the vineger/rubbing alcohol combo and see how that goes. If I still have problems I'm definately going to one of the other vets and making sure they actually pay attention to the previous notes in the file and me rather than just going with the "normal" regime.

The fun part is now Hunter has an ear infection in one of his ears, so back to the vet, although I'm going to make sure it's a different one. I have an appointment for Friday, but when I used a Q-tip to try to clean some of the stuff out I pulled it back with some blood on it so I may try to just go to walk in when I get off work tonight. I keep joking he doesn't want to be left out of all the "attention" Nikka gets when she get her ears cleaned....

[lv4dogs]

Boy I don't blame you for seeing that vet again. Didn't she look at your records & see that you have already tried the "normal" way to treat? Even so she should of listened to you.

Hope Hunter is ok. You have to be really careful when you use q-tips in their ears. Good luck to him!

[solares412]

This is what one vet said to use for persistent ear infections:

Dennis W. Thomas, DVM - "As a pet owner, it is important to know that persistent or recurring ear infections in a dog commonly are manifestations of other concurring disease processes. Allergies and hypothyroidism are good examples. Systemic allergies often cause dermatitis and itching in the ear canal, which predispose self-trauma and subsequent ear infection. Hypothyroidism may manifest itself as increased thickness of the skin and continual release of exudate in the ear canal, which favors an environment for otitis externa. It is not wise to use cotton tip applicators in the ear canal. This can be quite painful to the dog. Also, I don't recommend using alcohol in a dog's ear. Alcohol will dry the ear, but if there is inflammation or small scratches in the canal, the alcohol will burn and cause tremendous pain and further inflammation. If you must use a product from the shelf at home, use white vinegar diluted 50:50 with water. "

Some people, after that, put in a couple of drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract (diluted in a little water) because it kills all sorts of bacteria, fungus and yeast and is safe for pets. Health food stores sell it.

[pnance]

Update - I took Hunter to the vet Friday (a different one in the office) and got much better answers. He believed his is allergy, which I'd started to expect since he was showing signs of conjectivitis as well. He gave me otimax, some antinflammatory drops and told me to give him an antihistimine for a few days and it should clear up. It's already helping so I'm guessing he'll be fine in a couple more days.

I'd also taken Nikka with me to recheck. Her ears were better but still not great. He didn't believe Nikka's was allergy. According to him the problem comes from having extremely narrow ear canals. Apparently if a dog gets chronic ear infections they get a buildup of calcium in the canal that could eventually close off the canal. It's made worse if the infections aren't treated (which considering the condition of her ears when we originally adopted her I'm guessing that was the case). By the time we got her a lot of the damage had been done. He gave me some nolvasan (sp??) cleaner and additional otamax, and did a ear flush on her there. He wants to recheck her in 2-3 wks to see how it's going. If it still hasn't cleared up apparently the next step is surgery to try to widen the ear canals, unfortunately it's $1100, (I guess I have to start the Nikka savings account). The other problem is he can't say if that will stop the infections or not. She may get the surgery and still have the same problems, I'm not sure it's worth it??

[Logan]

We fight this with our Golden Retriever, Honey, constantly. In fact, she's due for a recheck on her ears now. She seems to get ear infections constantly and our vet usually treats them with Otomax and Cipro (antibiotic...very strong, very expensive ), and 20 mg Prednisone. Last time (two weeks ago), he did a deep flush on both ears, which was painful for Honey (and for me as I had to help hold her while he did it). I'm so in hopes that she is cleared up now. She seems better. He said it is very painful for them when they get so infected. Poor baby. I looked in her ears, with his scope and it was a bloody, infected mess in both ears.

We are using a solution that he provided, 4 times/week, now and flushing her ear canals out. It is a clear, blue liquid. It has a lot of alcohol in it to help keep the ears dry. The next step, if this continues, is to resection her ear canals, surgically. I know it would benefit her to have this surgery, but I'm certainly hoping to avoid it. The recuperation is horrible. We went through it with our Murphy (RB) on one ear, as she had tumors that blocked her ear canal, and it was tough. I think Honey would recuperate more quickly as she is younger and doesn't have the tumors, but still it is quite invasive.

Apparently, a dog's ear canal is quite complicated and curvy, thus making it harder for them to get air to dry out and when infection sets in, it is harder to clear up. The resectioning straightens it out and allows much more air flow, and less chance for infection.

Good luck. I know what a problem this can be!

Logan

[lv4dogs]

I'm glad to hear you seen a better vet & have more knowledge now. I hope it works!

The surgery option is a tough choice. It's probably one I would get done if needed.

Before the surgery though make sure they have tried stronger meds & antibiotics and even a deep/involved ear flush (they need to be under anesthesia for that).

[pnance]

The next step, if this continues, is to resection her ear canals, surgically. I know it would benefit her to have this surgery, but I'm certainly hoping to avoid it.

The resectioning straightens it out and allows much more air flow, and less chance for infection.Logan

Did your vet seem to think the surgery would stop the infections? Mine seemed to think that although she'd be better it wouldn't completely stop the problem.

Before the surgery though make sure they have tried stronger meds & antibiotics and even a deep/involved ear flush (they need to be under anesthesia for that).Luv4dogs

I agree, I'm not in favor of putting her through painful surgery on both ears if I don't have to. I discussed stronger meds, but he didn't seem to think that would help . I didn't realize they could do a deeper flush under anesthesia...I'll discuss it with them before we start talking surgery. They did a flush on Friday (not under anesthesia) and the smell from her ears was horrible. My entire car smelled like her ears for a couple of days afterward and having her in the house required lots of room spray. I'm guessing that flush brought up a lot of stuff that was trapped down in there, so I'm hoping that helped. She does seem to be less sensative about them and it's only been a couple of days, so I at least have some hope.

Thanks again everyone for the help.

[lv4dogs]

I agree, I'm not in favor of putting her through painful surgery on both ears if I don't have to. I discussed stronger meds, but he didn't seem to think that would help . I didn't realize they could do a deeper flush under anesthesia...I'll discuss it with them before we start talking surgery. They did a flush on Friday (not under anesthesia) and the smell from her ears was horrible. My entire car smelled like her ears for a couple of days afterward and having her in the house required lots of room spray. I'm guessing that flush brought up a lot of stuff that was trapped down in there, so I'm hoping that helped. She does seem to be less sensative about them and it's only been a couple of days, so I at least have some hope.

Thanks again everyone for the help.

Maybe your dog is just SO well behaved they don't need anesthesia. But a few years ago when I worked at the vets we would so simple ear flushes during an exam but other dogs needed a deeper flush or were too wild to do it without anesthesia.
I would imagine there would be a more involved flush under anesthesia as the ones we did while they were under took a good 45 minutes or so. They were very intesnse & thorough. But technologoy has changes daily, maybe they have a new procedure that is easier yet equally as good?
It would be worth mentioning to your vet though if she continues to have problems.

Good luck!

[Logan]

Sorry I'm just responding.

Our vet said that it will cut down on the infections due to more airflow, but as we learned with Murphy, there still is a chance for infection, but it is much easier to treat. Murphy had tumors in her ear canal, which made it much more difficult to treat infection, so the surgery definitely helped her. We simply could not bear the thought of putting her through it on the other ear, even though it would have helped her. Murphy was pretty much immune to any type of pain medication, sedation, etc. Made it much harder to keep her calm and relaxed while she recuperated.

With the surgery, they go from having a very crooked, complicated ear canal, to having a "straight" ear canal, much more like those in humans. I hope Honey won't have to have it, but if it is necessary, we are ready to do it for her comfort. She has infections like she is in water, constantly, which she is not.

Hope this helped!

Logan