I’ve never posted a topic about anything other than college admissions, so I hope this is the right place to do it. You all have a wealth of good advice on so many topics that I thought you might have some wisdom to impart here.
We have a 10 year old poodle mix (half poodle, quarter bichon, quarter cavalier King Charles). Off and on for several months now we have been battling a severe ear infection that produces all kinds of sticky gunk in his right ear (left ear is fine).
He’s been to his vet several times, on antibiotics a bunch, then onto a dog dermatologist who said it was a food allergy. We put him on a very strict rabbit food diet per their recommendation and continued to clean his ear with the solution they gave us. For a couple of months, the new diet seemed to be helping. But now the infection is back and worse than ever. We can’t get back into the dermatologist until March.
Has anyone had any experience with this problem? We will try anything!
A friend’s dog had a chronic ear infection, and they finally biopsied it and it was actually a cancer. Just had the ear amputated, and dog is doing fine now.
Our lab struggles with recurring ear infections and difficult to heal skin issues, typically in her neck folds. To deal with these, she is on Apoquel year round. In the spring and summer, we add a Cytopoint injection every 6 weeks. Our vet prescribed Animax ointment to have on hand - we administer it at the first sign of a problem while we’re waiting to see the vet. Of course, we clean her ears weekly with a vet prescribed solution. I’m glad she’s cooperative with all of this!
Our toy poodle (13 now) had chronic ear infections for years….until a different vet in same practice suggested Hills Z/D diet dog food. Has both dry and canned. (And treats).
She is bored with its flavor after being on it for probably 7 years or more but……she’s never had another ear infection which is amazing.
My Bichon used to have chronic external ear infections. I used a ear cleanser daily and scooped out as much gunk as I could with a Qtip. Here’s a few options for cleansers. It took a long time to eventually go away. It was about 3 decades ago, but I believe my vet said it was ear mites.
Our old dog had this problem, probably related to food allergies. The vet tested for allergies after she almost died as a young dog, and from then on, she was on a Z/D prescription food for dogs with allergies (rabbit food sounds weird, but I’m no expert) and we used Zymox ear drops (the noncortisone kind) every day when she was having a problem and twice a week when not. I have a very high regard for Zymox drops! She also had a chronic bladder infection and took antibiotics for that. Lots of work and expense, but she lived a long, happy life.
Good point. In our experience, vets tend to prescribe Benadryl, which causes sleepiness, but, with our vet’s blessing, we gave our dog Claritin, with no issues.
Thank you so much for all the great advice. I just ordered a vitamin for skin issues, and some Zymox drops. We will try the Z/D prescription food diet too.
(The focus on rabbit was the recommendation from the vet, I guess many allergies are due to proteins and rabbit is a low allergen protein)
Oh, I thought you meant food for rabbits! The idea of feeding an unusual protein makes sense, although it wasn’t enough in our case. The Z/D allergy food contains hydrologized proteins. Our vet told us our dog would probably tire of in a month or two but she happily ate it for more than ten years. (Expensive though!) We gave her dried sweet potato as a treat.
My Aussie mix had a gross yeast ear infection and the vet squirted a sticky concoction of anti fungal meds in his ear which was effective. A couple of months later he got a cold with yucky nasal discharge. This time antibiotics worked. I just on my own started giving him Benedryl every day and he hasn’t had problems since (I informed the vet later and she approved). I could tell he had allergies because he always had a clear runny nose. He spent his first two years in NM and now lives in SW VA and I think his immune system went into overdrive moving from one place to another.
He’s an active and happy guy but also has had kennel cough twice in the two years I’ve had him. I’ve stopped doggy day care and both my dogs have been healthier. They did really love going though; the barking bus would pick them up twice a week and they’d stand at the door waiting a half an hour early, then run and jump right into the crates in the van when it came! When they got dropped off in the afternoon, they dragged themselves to the door like a soldier returning from battle, lol.
We have had similar issues and our dog was also put on special food, but also takes prescription allergy medication (during some months, half a zyrtec is fine but other months only prescription works). I think it’s called apequel. Anyway, vet told us dogs respond to allergies with licking paws, shaking ears etc, and then ear infections follow those symptoms. So we were told to just keep allergies in check.