attention dog owners and or vets! I need help/advice with my dog's ears

[thebutcher85]

we've got a 2 year old "Frug" (father was a french bulldog, mother was a pug) he's a great dog, excellent personality, very friendly etc.

anyway, for the last year we've been battling red, itchy ears with him, we've tried food changes, expensive trips to the vet, you name it, nothing has really worked. It seems to be a yeast infection, and we have treated it with a mixture of apple cider vinegar + rubbing alcohol, as well as anti-fungal cremes, and those did the trick the last  couple times, but he has them again and nothing is working! Any advice? The poor guy is pretty miserable, and we're at our wits end!

btw his name is "Titus"

 

[bagman67]

Sorry to hear bout Titus's woes.  My own dog Trixie was plagued by nasty ear crud and we eventually got a diagnosis of a wheat allergy - we put her on grain-free food and it cleared right up.

 

[nexrex]

My 8 year lab had a similar problem (ears always full of stinky waxy crud) Turns out it was an allergy to grass. Go figure. Anyway my local veterinarian has given something similar to what humans use fr cleaning them up, and also recommended we put him on Claratyne (Loratadine) which is an antihistamine when he gets bad.

 

[hannaugh]

My dog has horrible allergies.  We switched his food to Natural Balance, but there are a lot of similar foods out there that also have limited ingredients.  Basically, the fewer ingredients the better because then you don't have to worry about the dog being allergic to some weird random additive.  Also, wheat is a very common allergy in dogs.  It isn't really very good for them either, and it supposedly has been linked to behavior problems. 

If you go to the vet, you can get a hydro cortisone or other anti-histamine shot that should last about 6-8 weeks.  If the problem clears up during that time, you know it is an allergy.  If not, it's probably something else (either that, or the shot didn't work).  If you find that it is an allergy, there are a lot of treatment options for that. 

We're going through a similar thing with one of our cats right now.  She has had an itchy red ear for weeks.  The vet gave her a shot and we have to keep her in the cone of shame when she isn't supervised so she can't scratch it, and we give her anti-biotics and ear drops.  Not fun, but she is getting better. 

If you lived around me, I would definitely recommend our vet.  He is excellent. 

 

[thebutcher85]

thanks so much for all the advice, I'll keep you all posted! I've been out of town on business.

and to Hannah: we live in Denver CO, someone here just recommended a vet, so we are going to try that route as well.