ear infections

[lv4dogs]

Thanks lizbud I'll see what I find.

lv4dogs she gets fed Canidae. I'd thought about food before but we've had her for about 4 years now and doesn't matter what food she's on she gets them. She's short haired so no extra fur around the ears. In fact her ear shape is probably similar to Raustyk, maybe slightly smaller. We're at the point now the vet pretty much just refills our otimax(sp??) perscription w/o having her come in and lets us dose as needed. We've tried longer and shorter times and doesn't seem to help. I hadn't discussed another antibiotic though, I just assumed that was the strongest one. I'll give the vet a call, but do you have any suggestions on a stronger one?

I wish I did, but after 5 years of not working at a vets office my memory has failed me some, not to mention I am sure times have changed & there are new products available. lol Have you tried giving her an oral antibiotic along with the ointment? Maybe she just needs a boost? Or even a different type of ear antibiotic, I know the vets I used to work at had a majic ear potion, it was tresiderm mixed with Conofite and it worked wonders on puzzeling ear problems. I can't remember the percentage of what to what but your vet should be able to find that out. If not I can call my old vet & ask them for you if your vet thinks it is worth a shot.

[.sarah]

Have you tried her on an allergy formula of food? Mandy and Nova had the same problems until we switched them to Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish.

Mometomax is slightly stronger than Otomax. That's the only one I know of. Animax I believe is the same strength, but I could be wrong. Mometomax is once daily vs. twice daily on Otomax.

[pnance]

lv4dogs and .sarah I'll mention those to the vet and see what she says. I'm guessing I'll have to take her back in for and exam since our old vet just moved back to Colorado, so I have to start fresh with one of the others in that office, but that's not a big deal since all the records are still there.

.sarah I've actually fed that food before, it gave 2 of mine really bad gas and their coats started to thin so I switched them. Mandy and Nova don't have any problems?

[dab_20]

Well I've got a cocker spaniel, and used to have another one, and they always get ear infections. You do pretty much what I do, so I can't be much help. I hope you get this figured out so your pup can feel better!

[.sarah]

.sarah I've actually fed that food before, it gave 2 of mine really bad gas and their coats started to thin so I switched them. Mandy and Nova don't have any problems?

No, they do wonderfully on it ... although I'm going to try switching them to raw food I think.

[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....