So as Truffie's post suggests The Waffler's ears were infected. I had noticed the baby licking her ears and someone told me that was a pretty good sign she had an infection. I usually clean them 2 a month, and generally try to sniff her ears every few days. Right after a bath I use this stuff called epi-otic to dry/clean out her ears. So we do all that and she still has ear infections. This is her second one this year. When we 1st noticed she had crud in her ears I started cleaning them every day, I thought we had it kicked, but it came back. Does anyone have suggestions? She had a shot and is on ottomax, this is not a cheap experience. Our last lab we never had this many ear problems.
any other cleaning solutions, labrador ear clips/head bands ect... how do you get the stuff way down at the bottom of the ear canal? I feel like I'm sticking my finger into her brain. Any other suggestions.
Carrie
7 comments:
She may have a food or enviromental allergy contributing to the ear infections. You could try an elimination diet if you don't want (or can't) pay the huge charges for allergy tests.
You might want to check her food. My pet dog got horrible ear infections when he was on a food that was high in grain. It gave him yeast infections.
And when you give baths you can put a cotton ball inside each ear (not too deep) to help adsorb any water that gets in her ear.
My pet dog has always had troublesome ears. We just keep them clean and dry. And anytime he is on an ear drop we keep any extra medication to use if he has signs of another another infection. It might not be the best practice, but it certainly helps and is much cheaper than getting new medication every time!
She is already on natural balance limited ingredient lamb and rice. I don't think it has any grain. How does the elimination diet work?
An elimination diet is where you try eliminating one possible allergen at a time and see if it helps. There are a lot of different possible allergens for dogs from wheat, corn, protein sources, eggs, etc. You could find the first possible allergen on the ingredient list on her current food and try switching to a natural balance food without that. How long has she been on the Lamb? Sometimes all that is needed is a change in the protien source, so change from lamb to chicken, for example.
Have you noticed them being around a specific time of year? That could point to an enviromental allergy more then a food since it sounds like she's on a good food.
Another option for the food is to feed a homecooked food for a couple weeks (Eva sometimes gets a mixture of eggs, chicken, brown rice, some veggies and pumpkin) and see if that helps her ears just as a starting point.
Tamika kept getting ear infections as well. Our vet put her on Mometamax and kept her on it until her ears were completely free of infection. It took over 3 weeks, but we finally kicked it. The vet says that a lot of times, even after a week or two, there is still some inflammation, so have your vet check to make sure the infection is completely gone before stopping the drops. I use Epi-Otic as well, but we clean out her ears at least once a week. It might also be diet based. Doug and Laura were saying that one dog they had was on the sweet potato and venison diet and stopped having ear infections after that. Might be worth trying....
Yeah, me and PeeWee each get ear infections with the yeast now and then. Stinky! I find a good flush at the vet followed by daily cleaning and icky (expensive) drops clear things up.
Slobbers,
Mango
We have had lots of inhalant allergies floating around our area - been a bad year for it. So, it might be in your area too. I really love the epi-otic solution, best stuff I've found. But, as for the ear thing... hoping it gets better and it's just seasonal or just a fluky thing.
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