Has anyone's dog gotten an ear infection?

Question

I have a yorkshire terrier and he just turned a year old. I bath him every week and clean his ears but for the past 2 weeks or so hes done nothing but scratch and whine at his ears. I check them and they have a dark wax in them. I called my vet and the assistant said it may be mites so I bought the medicine she recommended but his ears are still in the same shape as they were before I started using the medicine. It breaks my heart to know hes in pain because of his ears. An ear infection is the only thing I can think of that it could be and ever since hes been digging at his ears he has a slight odor to him. Help please.

He has a vet appointment to get the problem checked next Monday.

Answer 1

It sounds like an ear infection to me. If you take your dog to the vet they can take a sample of the debris (a cytology) and figure out if it is a yeast, bacterial, or funal infection. They will probably prescribe something like Malotic or Otomax.

To prevent future infections, make sure you either put cotton balls in his ears, or dry them immediately after baths/swimming. Moisture creates a breeding ground for bacteria and other nasty stuff.

Good luck.

Answer 2

First of all, you shouldn't bathe your dog every two weeks. It dries out his skin.

As for the ears, yes, they do get infections and they are itchy and smell funky, and the cure is pretty inexpensive and not that big of a deal. Go to the vet and get some Oticalm and some Gentamycin cream, and clean his ears every day with the Oticalm and squirt the Gentamycin in there. That will take care of it, but you have to get the stuff from the vet - it's a prescription antibiotic. You should get it taken care of soon, because if he keeps digging at his ears he's going to end up scratching the inside of his ear with his toenails and causing more damage.

Answer 3

Yes, it's likely your dog has an ear infection. We have a Dachshund who has the same issue sometimes due to the floppy ears. You'll need to see the vet and get a proper medication to cure the infection.

What our vet suggested we do with our dog, is when we give him a bath, to put cotton balls just inside the ear. Not deep mind you, only enuf to hold during the bath. The water getting in the ear is a big source of the problem for ear infections a lot of the time, and the cotton prevents moisture from getting down into the canal.

Answer 4

Dogs don't often get mites, you need to find a vet that does ear cytologies. Yeast is the most common problem for ear infections in dogs, but you can get bacterial infection or combination bacterial/yeast infection, and the ONLY way to know what you are dealing with is by doing an ear cytology, then the vet can give you the proper medication.

Yeast naturally grow in the ears, but will bloom out of control under the right conditions... getting water in the ears is one thing that will encourage yeast to grow, if his ears are very hairy in the canal, they may need to be plucked. You can put cotton balls in his ears during bathing and rinse with an ear cleaner that contains a drying agent after. A 50/50 mix of white vinegar and rubbing alcohol is good to flush the ears with after swimming or bathing, but ONLY IF the ears are clean, pink, and healthy. Doing it now when his ears are red and painful will burn.

Answer 5

These are ear mites, why would you take your dog to the vet then not want to believe them?
Keep using the medicine and clean the outside of the ear clean. That dark "stuff" is the bugs poop it is kicking out of the dogs ear. It is nasty and stinks, there might even be dead carcases of bugs in it too). Your pup could have germinate hearing loss if this is not treated. If you are not comfy with your pooches ears take him into the vets and they will do it. If you have to get a cone and put it on your pooch so he/she can not scratch his ears. It is painful for the dog! If a infection set in the vet can give you antibiotics, it is not good to give your pooch these on your own for there system can get used to it needing even a stronger dose. Call the vet and ask what pain meds you can give your pooch. What I give mine (we have 4 dogs) is what I do and your dog might be different.
Worked with around and assisted vets with dogs (and other critters) all my life because I wanted to not because I had too...and I am no young person anymore lol!

Below is a article about ear mites. Understanding what they are will stay with you longer then someone telling you how to deal with them....

Answer 6

Our Springer Spaniel used to get them often. Best advice is taking him to the vet and doctor should be able to give you something. Then after it is gone clean the ears out once a week with a low % rubbing alcohol to keep from the ear infections coming back (this was what our vet told us to do). It has really helped him and hope it helps you too.

Answer 7

My beagle Jake had the same problem. I took him to one vet who diagnosed it as an ear infection and gave me ointment to put in his ears. I went back week after week (every Saturday) for 2 months while they tried different medicines to heal his ear. Nothing worked.

I took him to a second vet who ran a culture of the stuff in Jake's ear and found out exactly WHAT the bacteria was so it specifically could be treated. It turned out to be a combination of a yeast infection and bacteria. We had to switch medicines several times and keep testing to see what came up in the culture.

Ultimately my second vet referred me to a doggy dermatologist. The dermatoligist sedated Jake and put a scope down his ear to look at it. The infection was so deep that no topical medicine could ever work. Jake had surgery to remove his ear canal, which cured his chronic problem. The procedure was called a Total Ear Canal Ablasion. It was expensive and painful for Jake, but he has been infection free for over a year and he is a much happier dog because of it. Although the ear canal is gone you cannot tell by looking at him because the flap of his ear covers the scar. He can still hear fine (just muffled, the vet tells me).

if your vet is not being proactive in finding the source of the pain for your puppy, you need to get a second opinion.

The problem with the first vet i went to is that they never did a culture to see what SPECIFICALLY was causing the infection, they just blindly gave him antibotics and cremes that weren't effective because they did not target the specific bacteria/yeast Jake had.

Ask for a culture to be done on a swab from his ear. Get a referral to a specialist if your local vet cannot help him.

your puppy cannot speak to you and tell you what is wrong...he relies on you to help him. you rely on a vet to help you. When your vet is not helping you, you need to seek another opinion.

Answer 8

Take him to the vet and make sure of the diagnosis. Mites and ear infections are treated differently.

When you bathe him, be sure to put a cotton ball in each ear to avoid getting water in them. Also, get a dog ear cleaner that is formulated to clean/dry the ear to keep infections at bay.

If ear infections become a persistant problem, ask the vet about changing your dog's food to one like the ones offered at http://www.frrco.com/121668 as some ingredients in most commercially prepared dog foods can contribute to ear infections, due to allergies.

Good luck!

http://www.libertydogtraining.com

Answer 9

I don't know why the vet wouldn't help, but I'm pretty sure this will: get garlic-mullein ear drops from the health food store. This is very soothing as well as getting rid of the infection.
If there is a large amount of wax, you might also want to use some ear wax remover drops, the kind people use, at the drug store.

Answer 10

My Labrador suffered these periodically. Other than good hygiene and washing the ears, I usually applied a topical medicine recommend by the vet. It sounds like you have done this much already, so I would definitely take the dog in for a check-up.