# Persistent ear infection - HELP!



## Labs R Us (Jun 25, 2010)

Miles has had an ear infection for quite a while. I had been using the blue/purple stuff and Vet Solutions ear cleansing drops to keep his ears clean but he still managed to get an infection. The vet had prescribed Momentomax but that didn't clear it up. She then felt it was a bacterial/yeast infection so she flushed out his ear and prescribed Posatex, which was two weeks ago. He still has brown, gunky, waxy stuff in his ear. He has been on a grain free diet for about a year now and I give him a spoonful of yogurt once a day. 

Just wondering if anyone else's dog has had this persistent problem and if a cure was found. I will also be contacting my vet Monday morning. Thanks!


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## JoeOverby (Jan 2, 2010)

Fought this for two years. My older male developed an allergy to chicken when he was about 7. Now its lots of fun finding food he can eat!!! I have used a new treatment that is a "leave in" type of treatment. Same meds as normal (steroid, antibiotic...) but mixed in with a waxy substance in a syringe. You place the syringe in hot water for a couple minutes and it melts the concoction and then you squirt it in their ears. The waxy stuff "re-hardens" and stays in the ear for 7-10 days. Comes out on its own. I was skeptical at first but I have used it 5 times now on 5 different dogs and it works. UGA told us ear problems are almost always food allergy related...


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## GiGi Grant (Nov 15, 2009)

Oh boy. I have had way too much experience with ear infections, thanks to my 7 yr. old CBR, Kiowa. Similar symptoms/treatment as your dog, with the infection always coming back eventually. What worked for us (finally) is a product someone told me about that I then suggested to our vet. The literature refers to it as BCP BNT Otic; the label put on by the vet's office calls it Enrofloxacin, Ketoconazole, Triamcinolone. The stuff has the consistency of a very thick petroleum jelly, and it's inserted into the ear with a plastic syringe. It's been a miracle drug for us. I've used it twice in the past 6 mos., and no more wicked infections. Ki's were so bad that his ear drum burst once (and the eardrum has to be intact before using this stuff). After it's been in for a couple weeks, I go back to using the purple stuff a couple times a week.More if he's swimming. Hope this helps.


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## ReedCreek (Dec 30, 2007)

JoeOverby said:


> Fought this for two years. My older male developed an allergy to chicken when he was about 7. Now its lots of fun finding food he can eat!!! I have used a new treatment that is a "leave in" type of treatment. Same meds as normal (steroid, antibiotic...) but mixed in with a waxy substance in a syringe. You place the syringe in hot water for a couple minutes and it melts the concoction and then you squirt it in their ears. The waxy stuff "re-hardens" and stays in the ear for 7-10 days. Comes out on its own. I was skeptical at first but I have used it 5 times now on 5 different dogs and it works. UGA told us ear problems are almost always food allergy related...



My girl developed an ear infection in late summer that would not go away not matter what we used. Like Joe, I used the "leave in" stuff and it was the only thing that worked, and believe me I tried a slew of medications. Taking her off of chicken also helped...but it was the "leave in" medicine that finally brought it under control. One bad side affect - during the time the ear infection was raging and the ear canal was swollen and the time when the vet put the waxy stuff in her ears she lost significant hearing for almost 30 days....not fun.... Good news is it finally cleared up....I am super careful now with any and all signs of ear infection...or discomfort.


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## John Lash (Sep 19, 2006)

I had a dog with allergies. During the endless allergy research I read that ear infections are usually the early signs of allergies, which was the case with my dog.


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## Mike W. (Apr 22, 2008)

That's interesting about the waxy substance treatment.

Did that reduce the symptoms on its own without changing the food?


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## ad18 (Aug 23, 2006)

I had the problem beginning of the year. Vet expected it to be food allergy related. Did the ingredient elimination routine and isolated it to rice. Been fine since.


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## Guest1 (Sep 6, 2011)

GET A SECOND OPINION FROM ANOTHER VET!!!!

And it is a GREAT idea to dry the easily reached portion of your dog's ears whenever he's been in water. Don't go DEEP...just as far down with a dry wash cloth wrapped over your finger as you can get and then generally swab the underside of the ear flap.

Overzealous ear cleaning can CAUSE Otitis!

As others have posted, Otitis can be caused by several different things...sometimes multiple things like yeast AND bacteria infections.

But above all, getting a second opinion from a different vet is the SMARTEST thing you could do.

Regards,


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## rontalbott (Mar 20, 2010)

Try Otomax it will work


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## EdA (May 13, 2003)

Chronic recurrent otitis externa

1.Ear cytology to identify if yeast or bacteria
2. Bacterial culture and antibacterial sensitivity test
3. Rule out common predisposing factors of hypothyroidism and allergy (both food and inhalant)
4. Persistent and vigorous ear cleaning can be counterproductive as most of the commercial cleaning agents dissolve the fatty substance that the cells that line the ear canals produce to protect the lining of the ear canal.
5. Treatment can be prolonged and may involve both topical and oral medications depending on the offending organism(s).


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## terrax (Sep 1, 2011)

GiGi Grant said:


> Oh boy. I have had way too much experience with ear infections, thanks to my 7 yr. old CBR, Kiowa. Similar symptoms/treatment as your dog, with the infection always coming back eventually. What worked for us (finally) is a product someone told me about that I then suggested to our vet. The literature refers to it as BCP BNT Otic; the label put on by the vet's office calls it *Enrofloxacin*, Ketoconazole, Triamcinolone. The stuff has the consistency of a very thick petroleum jelly, and it's inserted into the ear with a plastic syringe. It's been a miracle drug for us. I've used it twice in the past 6 mos., and no more wicked infections. Ki's were so bad that his ear drum burst once (and the eardrum has to be intact before using this stuff). After it's been in for a couple weeks, I go back to using the purple stuff a couple times a week.More if he's swimming. Hope this helps.


Note the following warning in using enrofloxacin (Baytril) in young dogs

Quinolone-class drugs have been associated with cartilage erosions in weightbearing joints and other forms of arthropathy in immature animals of various species.


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## GiGi Grant (Nov 15, 2009)

Interesting! I'll have to talk to my vet about the possible adverse effects. Seems like we hardly use any of the BCP, but then again, it might not take much to cause issues...


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2011)

My daughters schnauzer had a yeast infection on and off for the last year. After treating it and finally clearing up (It would clear up than get bad again) my vet gave us a wipe that kills yeast she wipes his ear out once a week I will find out the name so far so good.
My labs swim often and I have been using oticlens for the last twenty years never had an ear problem.


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## ebenezer (Aug 19, 2009)

We have been though hell with ear infection. One dog has had 22 different medications. There is a new vet in the practice and she checked the ear and prescribed a medication called Aurizon. Clean and dried the ear and put 10 drops in the ear for 14 days. Infection is gone. Just have to keep an eye on it now and use the drops weekly for a short period.


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## RockyDog (Nov 18, 2008)

I adopted Teddy two years ago. Both ears were infected with yeast infections when I got him, and he had apparently suffered chronic infections for a long time before that. I was buying ear cleaner by the gallon (literally) and cleaning his ears every day for the first several months. The infections turned out to be allergy based. He's now on a grain free, poultry free food and his ears are practically maintenance free .


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## Steve Hester (Apr 14, 2005)

This is really good stuff. With a weekly rinse with this stuff, no more ear problems.
http://www.amazon.com/TrizUltra-Ket...=UTF8&qid=1308933378&sr=1-2#productPromotions


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## Labs R Us (Jun 25, 2010)

Thank you all so much for the information. I will have lots to discuss with my vet tomorrow. Poor fellow shakes his head every time he barks because it must hurt him. I'd like to get this cleared up soon as I'm concerned about possible hearing loss. Thanks again everyone.


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## Susie Royer (Feb 4, 2005)

Have you had the dogs throid checked? Full panel sent to MSU? Thyroid can cause chronic ear infections.


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## Terry A (Jul 1, 2003)

If it turns out to be bacterial, find the recipe for the purple solution. Worked great for us


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## ErinsEdge (Feb 14, 2003)

Zymox works well on bacterial/yeast infections but you can't use the purple stuff with it. You can order a rinse specific for using it.
http://www.amazon.com/Pet-King-Enzy...001LNSSH2/ref=pd_sim_hg_1/188-8617343-9020963


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## kcrumpy9 (Sep 29, 2008)

ErinsEdge said:


> *Zymox* works well on bacterial/yeast infections but you can't use the purple stuff with it. You can order a rinse specific for using it.
> http://www.amazon.com/Pet-King-Enzy...001LNSSH2/ref=pd_sim_hg_1/188-8617343-9020963


This is what I used on both of my dogs, it took a few days to get rid of them but it worked and worked well. You don't have to pre-clean the ear just add it to the ear gently massage and clean the excess. My yellow lab Zeke shook his head every 2 minutes, now he only does it getting out of the water.


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## Labs R Us (Jun 25, 2010)

I thought I'd give an update from a month ago regarding Miles' ear infection. I switched him to a completely grain-free and poultry-free diet (TOTW lamb) for the past month. I also started using Zymox for two weeks but that didn't clear things up either. 

I then, again, took him to the vet and had a culture done which showed a yeast infection. The vet prescribed Ketomax pH 8.5 for 14 days, twice a day. The first morning after, I was shocked to find a brownish liquid draining from his ear. At first I thought it was blood but then realized the Ketomax was (hopefully) dissolving and neutralizing the brown gunk in his ear. This is about the 6th solution I’ve tried in his ears over the past few months and have high hopes this will clear it up once and for all. Has anyone else used the Ketomax flush?


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## HiRollerlabs (Jun 11, 2004)

Have not read the entire thread, so hopefully am not repeating information.

I have a dog with yeast infection in one ear. Vet said it is common for yeast to only affect one ear--that's interesting. We are using MalOtic 2x daily for 10 days. The medicine seems to be working very well. He had a very sore and swollen ear canal, and it's much better. We have about 5 days to go.

I asked the vet about using an ear wash first. He advised against any wash. Said the wash will work against the MalOtic by making the ear too wet, and changing the pH of the MalOtic. As swollen as his ear was, it would not dry easily. So, skipped the wash and am just using the MalOtic. I am happy with our results thus far.


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## Steve Hester (Apr 14, 2005)

Labs R Us said:


> I thought I'd give an update from a month ago regarding Miles' ear infection. I switched him to a completely grain-free and poultry-free diet (TOTW lamb) for the past month. I also started using Zymox for two weeks but that didn't clear things up either.
> 
> I then, again, took him to the vet and had a culture done which showed a yeast infection. The vet prescribed Ketomax pH 8.5 for 14 days, twice a day. The first morning after, I was shocked to find a brownish liquid draining from his ear. At first I thought it was blood but then realized the Ketomax was (hopefully) dissolving and neutralizing the brown gunk in his ear. This is about the 6th solution I’ve tried in his ears over the past few months and have high hopes this will clear it up once and for all. Has anyone else used the Ketomax flush?[/QUOTE
> 
> See post # 16. The T8 Keto is the key.


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