Dog Community

EARS!

Posted : 8/11/2006 11:57:02 PM

I hope this is in the right category, I'm not sure where exactly to place it.

My nine year old Labx dog has had problems with his ears for quite some time now. Our vet gave some ear cleansing medicine but thats it. I've tried some other ear drops and products, but nothing seems to be working. When I look at his ears they have crusted bits of 'guck' and look extremely irritated. He winces when I touch his ear and sometimes even yelps when I try and cleanse it. (It's actually amazing to see my other dog, a Border Collie named Buddy, come up to him and lick his ear for him...).

Anyways, I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions. I was also thinking about moving to a new vet since this one is proving rather useless! I'm not sure what to do =(

Thanks,
Mista <3

Debbie R

Posted : 8/12/2006 6:44:26 AM

I was also thinking about moving to a new vet since this one is proving rather useless! I'm not sure what to do =(

i would ear aches are very painful

Melissa Camiel

Posted : 8/12/2006 9:35:27 AM

If he is wincing, then he most likely has an infection. Definately take him to a good vet and ask that they check his ears for yeast AND bacteria. Some vets will only check for one or the other--mine did at first. They should be able to give you something to clear his ears up.

After his ears are better, do not use the other ear drops and products that you get at a petstore. A lot of times, those just make the ears gunky and irritated ( i had to learn the hard way that sometimes those do more harm than good). If you want to keep his ears clean, try cleaning them out with pure vinager once or twice a week.

I hope he feels better soon!! Earaches are no fun[

]

Danielle Beinke

Posted : 8/18/2006 11:15:53 PM

Mista Tummus I would be interested to hear how you get on with your dogs ears, My sisters dog has a problem with her daschounds ears, the vet hasn't been able to help much even after finding another vet, they clear up and the infections come back and each time it is a different infection, than the vet give more antibotics to treat her each time, in the mean time she has to wash her ears out with some stuff they recomend but it is not curring the problem only keeping it under control to a certain extent I would really like no what they recommned to you
Good luck

Danielle

calliecritturs

Posted : 8/18/2006 11:23:07 PM

Danielle -- get the vet to do a "culture and sensitivity test" on the dog's ears. That takes a sterile culture of the 'gunk' deep in the ears and they literally GROW a culture from it to identify what kind of bacteria it is. THEN they divide it up and 'treat' it with various antibiotics to see which will work and which won't!! You get test results that actually tell you what drug TO use.

Don't let them fool around any more bouncing from drug to drug. That only allows the ears to ossify (ear canals that are always inflamed actually get boney and that causes worse problems).

The test is about $100 but it's worth it. Tell her to pursue this -- long term ear infections will not only cause the dog to lose his hearing but it can also eventually kill them.

Danielle Beinke

Posted : 8/18/2006 11:44:45 PM

Thanks callie I rang my sister and they hadn't done what you suggested so she is going to get it done, she is rapt that someone could help, she is really sick of it as you say bouncing back and forth and it is not good for the dog she is an older dog, one vet told her the dog had no eardrum, actaully on second thought I will go with her to the vet, you have to be pushy and we are restricted where we live only one vet clinic available so we can't shop around.
Once again than you so much

Danielle`