My Lab can't be the only one to suffer from yeast infection in the ears.
Whats the RX?
The stuff the vet gives don't seem to knock it out.
Okay! is this something you can see? Our lab and chessie both havebeen shaking their heads alot. I look in the ears and they are nice and pink, with no discharge.
If it's yeast, you can smell it.
tgriz,
yeah,the odor is unmistakable.
and yeah,you can see it's irritated.
Does it flare up just when he is swimming a lot, or all the time? When my Golden stays out of the water, the ear thing is a minor maintenance problem. Just wipe his ears out every few days with witch hazel, and he's good. When he is wet all the time--his normal state of existence--it takes regular treatment with Otomax from the vet, to keep it in check. I haven't tried the home-brew purple stuff, because the prescription med does the job and isn't too terribly expensive.
Some dogs get the ear funk all the time and I'd go with the home-brew and the prescription meds, if that was the case.
If the ear isn't raw or infected yet, alcohol is a good preventative.
I've seen dogs split the tips of their ears from shaking. Not a good thing.
Some dogs ears get inflamed from too much care, It can be a fine line. Strike the word care and substitute "messing around with the ears."
Thnx for the good info Fellar's.
I took a H2O/alcohol mix,and Q-tips in for a cleaning this am.
Looked relatively healthy in there.
A mix of 50/50 alcohol and vinegar is used in swimmers ear in humans...the alcohol absorbs water and is a drying agent and the vinegar is fungicidal....if you mix alcohol with water, it kinda defeats the purpose
Walmart has some ear cleaning medicine for dogs. Squirt a bit in and then just fold the ear down and rub them. It foams up and cleans well. Then you clean it out with a paper towel. Works everytime with my lab.
brought his back up as my chocolate has developed a lovely case of mystery schmeng in the ear.... i can clean this twice a day most days..
it looks like dried blood mixed with fine dark powdery substance... i wipe it out of one ear only... some days i get a faint bubbly/popping noise at the base of her ear when i wipe (gently!).. she shakes her head a good bit. also, i have treated for mites and it seemed to make no difference.... it does bleed from the irritated skin areas at times after i wipe the ear clean.....
i was going to try the vinegar/alch mixture above but i am afraid i may irritate it even more...
any ideas? vet is two weeks out...
woofer
Here is a recipe for a homemade remedy that is widely used and recommended--though, I haven't used it on my dawg.
Purple stuff
16 oz witch hazel
16 drops Gentian Violet
4 tablespoons boric acid
Another thing to try is to give the dog a couple of tablespoons of active culture yogurt, daily. This is also known to work on females (canine and otherwise) when they get yeast infections down at the other end. It is a preventative, and aids in the cure of yeast infections.
One of my Labs (sadly now gone) used to be prone to these infections. I found the best thing is to prevent it in the first place. I used some stuff called R-7 (brand name) ear drying powder. Whenever the dog got into water I would just squirt some of this powder in her ears when I got home. Worked like a charm and just about totally eliminated yeast infections.
Another thing to consider is changing your dog's food. Some dogs are allergic/highly sensitive to dye/colorings in dog chows. This often manifests as chronic ear inflamation and scratching.
Plain, noncolored dog chows are best to introduce, like Pro Plan.
Might also want to get your dog's thyroid level tested. Low thyroid can contribute to infections in dogs. Labs are notorious for having low thyroid levels as they age.
I have owned labs for quite some time. The condition you mentioned is fairly "normal" for labs. What you need are three things that can be had cheap at your local pet supply store:
1. Ear rinse
2. Long q-tips (get as deep in the ear as possible without hitting ear drum.
3. Drying agent
Just follow this routine on a regular basis and you will be able to control the problem.