Cruddy ears

[sandy]

My poor Elzie is so sick of me bothering her ears but they have really turned cruddy. I bought and have been trying to use an ear cleaning product (from Petsmart...she HATES it) but have never had a problem in the past (she is 9 months old). She is fed Canidae with lots of raw meat (buffalo, chicken necks) as well as some eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, tuna. Also, I recently started her on the Missing Link Joint Formula<--could this have an effect? I had the vet look at them 10 days ago and he wasn't concerned but they are driving me nutty. Any suggestions? And is there some home remedy treatment to use instead of the store bought cleaner? Thanks!

Sandy

[Adkins]

Hi Sandy,
The new stuff you started her on may be the problem. All or some of everything you have her on could be. Meaning, she could have allergies. What you could do, is try her on a fish and potatoe diet, from your Vet. It's made by Eukanuba. It's a Vet. perscribed diet. You'll need to do this for 12 wks or more. WITH NOTHING ELSE!!!!!!(for treats, give her pebbles of the food)
If her ear problems go away, she is most likely allergic to one or more of the tons of ingrediences in the food you where feeding originally. Try to stay away from any food that has: wheat,soy, corn, or anything saying glutin. You may want to try a food that has a meat your dog has never had. If you feed a chicken base food, go to lamb, etc.
As far as the ear cleaner, get a cleaner that say it dries. Make sure when your cleaning them, don't stick the cotton ball way down the ear. This causes the wax to push deaper and packing the wax down.
If I think of anything else, I'll reply again. Otherwise, I hope this helps.
Good Luck, Brandi

[LauriS]

Did the vet culture the ears to make sure it's not a yeast infection? If not, that's where I would start.

If it's not a yeast infection you want to look at what you are feeding. Here's the ingredient list from Missing Link (the Canine formula):

Ingredients: FLAX SEED, BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES, RICE BRAN, PRIMARY DRIED YEAST, SUNFLOWER SEED, FREEZE DRIED LIVER, DEHYDRATED ALFALFA, DRIED CARROT, FREEZE DRIED BONE, DRIED FISH MEAL, FREEZE DRIED OYSTER, SPROUTED GREEN BARLEY, DRIED KELP, LECITHIN, GARLIC AND YUCCA SCHIDIGERA EXTRACT.

Common allergy triggers: Flax, grains, yeast, alfalfa, kelp. And all those are in there.

Also, dairy products can be triggers.

(And canned tuna is NOT good for dogs. It can be too high in mercury. Feed canned Jack Mackerel instead.)

As for a safe, non-irritating cleaner - try this. Take 3 parts Witch Hazel to 1 part Aloe Vera gel and mix thoroughly. I use a 3cc syringe without the needle to draw up and mix the cleaner. Hold the syringe tightly in your hand for a minute or two to warm it up. Then gently squirt it in the ear. Massage the lower part of the ear to get the stuff down in there and loosen up the crude. Let the dog shake their head and then remove any leftover cleaner with a soft, damp, warm cloth.

If you want you can add a drop or two of Tea Tree Oil to the cleaner. Tea Tree Oil is an anti-fungal and can help soothe the ear.

NEVER EVER EVER use Tea Tree Oil on a toy breed!! It can be toxic.

[sandy]

Thanks, Brandi and LauriS, for your sugestions and for sharing your knowledge. I have discontinued the Missing Link, as that is the thing that I feel could be the problem, based upon the time that I started it and when I started seeing the crud. The vet did not culture the ear because he didn't feel that it looked too bad but I will request that to be done if this continues. Thanks especially for the recipe for the non-iritating cleanser!

Sandy

[geronimo]

If it's a yeast infection (very common in the GSD), no "culture" is required--it is not related to what you are feeding. For a diagnosis, the vet just needs to stick a cotton swab in the ear and collect a sample of the crud. Then, streak a little of this on a microscope slide, stain with a drop of dilute iodine solution, apply a cover slip, and examine the slide under a microscope at relatively low magnification to see the yeast buds.

Otomax (anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal) topical ointment is usual the medication of choice. Epi-otic may be used to clean the ears prior to the Otomax and for daily cleaning until the ears are clean.

For healthy ears, I usually clean them with Eqyss Micro-Tek spray, massage the bases of the ears, and remove remaining dirt and moisture with cotton balls over my index finger.

[ShepVet]

Diet of course being the first thing to examine....

We have been successful on a high quality diet, we now feed BARF although the Nutro prior worked.

Also, weird though it may sound..... We use a Listerine solution to clean ears....

Since starting this YEARS ago, I have not had another ear infection or cruddy ears.

I stumbled on this at the vet's office by a patient who did this. My vet said many local folks did this and few come in with ears problems.

Might be weird but it works for us!

[AvalancheGSD]

After many years of ear issues with one of our GSD's and many different types of cleaners, dryers, otomax and the like...... We tried a warm water flush and believe it or not, Billie hasn't had any problems since.

My husband would put her in the bathtub and use a hose attached to the shower head. He used warm water and spent about 10 minutes flushing/massaging both ears. This was a daily thing for about a week or until he got the results he was satisfied with.

Sometimes you just can't beat plain ol H20.