Given that these are **RECURRING** the very first thing is to go to a vet and **ASK** for a culture & sensitivity to be done (before you "wash out" or clean out the ear -- let them culture what is there DEEP in the ear).
THEN you can clean and whatever -- but let them send away a culture & sensitivity **first** and get to the bottom of whatever is there. Some vets tend to just treat yeast infections over and over and they never seem to think it might be bacterial or deeper. A C&S is about $100 BUT it is worth it. It will tell exactly *what* bacteria (if any) is there but even more, what drug it will take to get rid of it.
You can get e-coli, strep and all sorts of bacteria in ears and sometimes it takes a specific antibiotic to get rid of it.
If ear infections go on and on for years the inflammation literally causes the ear canal to "ossify" -- meaning it turns into bone. Once that begins to happen it becomes **extremely** difficult to treat ear infections because it shuts off the blood supply to the ears (and most antibiotics pass thru the blood supply). The ear canal down deep may have thinned to the point where very little in the way of "drops" may get in.
They **must** find this out. This is why my Muffin lost both ears -- I had an idiot for a vet at the time (boy did I learn a LOT about what signifies "bad" there) -- he'd look and say there was bacteria and play at giving me genticin drops. Genticin is fine but it's not strong. And we messed with TONS of Otomax and stuff that soothed but didn't treat -- and eventually his ears swelled SHUT. That's after me having the dog at the vet over and over and over not realizing that it wasn't just "recurring" ear infections but bad vet care. Had we known earlier we could have saved his ears. It surely wasn't for lack of having been vetted -- he was at the vet every other week for his ears. I never dreamed the vet just wasn't doing the right stuff.
By the time I got to a good vet it cost Muffin his ears. There was a TON of e-coli and strep in there (along with a bacteria no one could identify). It was about $2000 each ear and it deafened him.. He lived thru it -- many don't. I only *wish* I'd known then what I know now.
Now -- as to the rest? Zymox is dynamite stuff -- particularly for allergy ears. It comes in two forms for the deep ear 'drops' -- it's an enzyme so it literally kind of eats the junk and leaves the ears nice. The "green" label is just plain Zymox. The "blue" label has a tiny bit of steroid in it so if the ear is inflamed and painful, it's a good addition.
BUT it won't treat infection. You *must* get that diagnosed **FIRST** (once you start cleaning and putting in "drops" then the ear has to sit untreated for several days before you CAN do a C&S)
Zymox makes a cleaner -- it's not my favorite.
The 'blue stuff' that most everyone uses has chlor-hexiderm in it. I won't use it for several reasons.
First -- dogs (and humans like me) can be viciously allergic to it -- it can provoke a huge red **sore** inflammation in the ear or on the skin. I can't stand it to touch *my* skin so I don't use it on the dogs. Muffin was fiercely allergic to it and would **scream** if it was put in his ears (Thank you Nasty Vet #2)
Second -- my regular vet (not the holistic vet) always urges extreme caution with chlor-hexaderm because IF IF IF there is any problem with the structural integrity of the ear drum, the chlor-hexaderm can transfer beyond the ear drum and deafen the dog. There would be some hearling loss if the ear drum wasn't 100% ok (occasionally it will rupture or get 'hurt' somehow and then heal over).
So -- my favorite go-to is still the Blue Power Ear Solution -- homemade yes -- but safe? Extremely. Soothing? TOTALLY. IN fact, I use it on my *own* ears. I've had bad ears since I was a kid and the tiniest bit of water can be horrible -- now I put it on a Q-tip but I wouldn't do that with a dog.
The advantage of it is that messy as it is, it removes the wax and build-up in the ear without having to probe, rub, use cotton or gauze. You shake and squirt it in the ear, fold down the ear flap and massage deeply for a full minute (literally massage the cartilage and all around the base of the ear to get it deep). I generally squirt it in one ear, close the flap and squirt in the other ear then massage both at the same time. Then I stand back and let them shake their head. that slings out the 'yuck' and it's done.
When we got Billy his ears were already swollen shut -- we thot he'd have to have an ear ablation in each ear. We didn't. I actually got his ears in pristine shape in about 3 weeks. But that was AFTER we determined with a C&S that there WAS bacteria and we did a 10 day course of Baytril (Momentamax is probably better now but wasn't around then) ear drops AND Baytril oral. Once that was done I did 2 weeks of the Blue Power and Dr. Bailey LOVED how his ears looked. He actually now gives out that recipe to clients because it works so well.
The boric acid soothes and reduced inflammation. The alcohol disinfects. The gentian violet kills fungus and bacteria. The alcohol **does NOT hurt** because of the boric acid. I can tell you that absolutely -- because I have used it on myself when my ears were really darned sore. It's just plain relief.
This is the recipe as I give it out. Boric Acid you can usually find in a 'real' pharmacy -- or ask your grocery store pharmacy to order it (about $5-$6 a bottle). Gentian Violet -- you ONLY need the 1% (about $3 for the 1 oz bottle). ASK the pharmacist -- they'll love to sell you the 2% but it's four times the price. Ask for the 1%. Alcohol? Use the cheap stuff $.89 a bottle. All pharmacy items.
BLUE POWER EAR SOLUTION (from the old AOL cocker board)
The Blue Power Ear Solution was first circulated on the AOL Cocker Spaniel Board. This is a home-made recipe and if all you are dealing with is yeast ear infections it will really help them. I gave it to my vets and they refer it all the time. It's actually safer than the purply/blue stuff that the vet sells you and it's way cheaper because once you have this you can keep making new batches of it. I often take bottles to folks I know do rescue.
DOWNSIDE - this stuff stains. You ***Must*** put it in their ears outside so they can shake and not stain everything because gentian violet is just like ink!!! (however, plain rubbing alcohol WILL cut the stain and you can wipe it off skin and coat iwth alcohol)
16 oz. bottle isoprophyl alcohol (just a cheap bottle)4 tablespoons boric acid (use human boric acid - it's not a dog thing)17 drops gentian violet (1 or 2% , but the 1% is MUCH cheaper and is fine)medicine dropper to use to measure the gentian violet Add the boric acid and gentian violet to the alcohol (Yep, it will all fit in that brand new bottle of alcohol -- surprising but true). Shake well. Transfer some into a squirt bottle (an old shampoo bottle or a hair dye bottle -- anything with a squirt top on it). The boric acid never dissolves til it hits the skin so you have to shake constantly. The boric acid soothes. The gentian violet deals with the yeast. It STAINS. So do it outside, not in your kitchen! Even 15 drops of this in a whole bottle of alcohol *does* stain. But it sure works. Gentian violet is the stuff that they give human babies with "thrush" (oral yeast infection). If the ear is inflamed use this twice a day for 2 weeks -- just squirt in and massage behind the ear. The first day don't worry about massaging, but thereafter massage for a minute EACH EAR. Yes, I'm serious -- COUNT. They'll discover this does NOT hurt, but rather it soothes, and after you are done massaging, they will shake their head violently and all sorts of yuck and junk will fling out. THAT IS GOOD. After 2 weeks of twice a day, then do a week at least of once a day, then just put it on maintenance once a week.
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Once you get the ear infections TREATED, then absolutely what everyone is saying about food allergies, etc is TRUE. They can often create ear problems. But so can atopic allergies -- you could tell what page of the calendar you were on with both Muffin and Billy by their allergies (ears and otherwise).
But please don't just try to do food alone. Ear infections hurt more than most humans know -- and bacterial ones are THE WORST. Yeasty infections cause head-shaking and are miserable. but BActerial infections cause deep horrible pain -- and often these dogs LIVE with them and have for years. When we look back at pictures of Muffin AFTER his ear ablation surgery you wouldn't think it was the same dog. He CAME to us with ear infections and we never knew how much pain he had been in until AFTER the ears were gone.
That's why I make such a big frigging deal out of the culture and sensitivity -- it is SO worth it to find out exactly what you're dealing with so you can TREAT it successfully. And I can promise you 99.99% of owners don't even *know* that you can ask for one!!