Am I a bad owner?

Question

I have a cute little 2 year old dog. She is constantly itching and scratching, and she also has a very red ear. We've taken her to the vet and she does not have fleas and we just need to clean out her ear once a week.

I give her baths to try to relieve the itching, and I clean out her ear once a week, and sometimes more than once a week. But she is still scratching, and her ear is still red. But now her ear hurts!!

What should I do???

Answer 1

I suggest cutting back on the baths.

Water in the ear can lead to infections, bacterial or fungal.
You really need to dry those ears out thoroughly, especially if the dog has floppy ears.

Also, give the ears a sniff, if they have a weird odor than you may need to take her to the vet.

Answer 2

You are a very good owner to be concerned and to seek treatment for your little one.
First make an appointment with a different vet. Yours doesn't seem to be helping much.
What are you feeding? A lot of times itching is caused or aggravated by allergies. Go to a pet shop, one that sells natural, holistic foods. Purchase one of the natural foods; innova, prairie, canadae. My dogs like Prairie. Change to the natural food. You can do it gradually over a few days. My guys did fine with a dramatic switch.
Stop the frequent baths. Brush daily or every other day. Weekly baths will make the itching worse and dry out the skin. Purchase a shampoo for itchy skin; oatmeal or another one recommended by the knowledgeable people at your new pet shop where you buy food.
Vet needs to recheck the ears. Sounds like the ear needs some medication. Also there are prescription ear cleaners that are soothing and promote healing. Need for the vet to prescribe.
Best to do this soon. Untreated conditions get worse. They become more difficult and more expensive to fix.

Answer 3

The most common problem with a dog's ears is yeast growth. Try cleaning the ear three times a day with some rubbing alcohol for a few days to see if that solves your problem. It will kill yeast. You can also use any OTC fungicide cream like monostat or lotrimin. The easiest thing to do is simply use rubbing alcohol. If it doesn't get better in a week then you need to have an ear scraping done at a decent vets to diagnose the issue.
You are not a bad owner. But I am not too sure about how good of a vet you have. He should have given you a better answer.

Answer 4

You're only a bad owner if you don't go back to the vet with this problem! Just kidding. It's just that you need to continue seeing the vet if this problem has not cleaned up. The vet will want to know if the problem has not resolved, otherwise how can they help you?

Sounds like the dog has an ear infection at a minimum. It may need more than just cleaning, if it doesn't already. Please pick up the phone to your vet and say what you've said on here. If you're not happy with the treatment you've received from your current vet then find another - but give them a chance to fix the problem first!

Chalice

Answer 5

Hello:

Perhaps you are washing her to much and its drying her skin out, or you may not be rinsing her enought. Do not use human shampoo on a dog first of all get a good quality pet shampoo and cream rinse. She could also be lacking something in her diet, adding a few drops of a good quality olive oil in her diet is very helpful. Perhaps a change in what you are feeding her may help.

As for her ears, first of all be very careful how you clean them, get some mild alcohol from the drug store and some cotton balls or swabs and be very gentle if there is a lot of hair growing in the ear canal, trim it out, if she has a dark waxy substance try and gently clean it with the swab and acohol. If her ear is very red, get some neo-sporin from the drug store and try that there is differnt grades get the antibiotic kind. If all else fails get a new vet, she may have ear mites or build up wax in the ear canal that has become infected.

Good Luck
John

Answer 6

No , You're not a bad dog owner. You are a concerned dog owner and shows that you really care for your dog.
I would make a trip to another veternarian to examine your dogs problem.
Your dog more than likely has an ear infection. Its easy to tell when a dog has one because they shake their head. They whine. And, of course, if you take a close look, you will see that the ear canal is hot, red, inflammed, and full of goo. If you touch the ear it will often hurt or elicit groans.
It could be food allergies, bacterial allergies or inhalent allergies that are causing the problem. Again, I would go to another veternarian to examine the problem and then I would start with natural diet of human-grade ingredients. It will build the immune system and the pet is less likely to succumb to infections and allergies in the future. I would switch your dog to at least a low allergen dog food if not entirely grain-free.
Ones that I would recommend to you are Canidae, California Natural and Innova (Evo).
Continue to keep your dogs ears clean. Examine them weekly and use a soft cloth to wipe away any dirt that might have accumulated. To improve air circulation, ask your pet groomer to trim the hair inside the ear.

Answer 7

No, your not a bad owner. I would try to take the dog to another vet for a 2nd opinion. Maybe its a allergy or maybe the dog is doing it out of habit now. If you let the dog continue to itch it could cause scratches that could become infected.

Answer 8

No your vet is a bad vet. Take her back and say you're not happy with their evalutaion as there is something wrong with her ear and you want it investigating. She may have an ear infection or ear mites. Does she swim a lot, she may have a water bubble in her inner ear? Is she walking with her head to the side? Is she constantly shaking her head? My 2 English Springer Spaniels are always getting stuff in their ears X

Answer 9

Scratching around the face... maybe she has allergies...try switching to an allergy formula food like Natural Balance (Petco) they make 3 allergy flavors. Try a small bag and if that is the problem you will notice pretty quickly (within a day or two). I had a similar problem with my shih tzu. It started with the scratching around the face then rubbing his face all over the carpet then biting the legs and feet. If this sounds familiar I hope it helps otherwise check with a new vet...

Answer 10

I would either go to another vet or ask your vet if its allergies. That can cause a dog to itch like crazy unlike with us we get runny nose and watery eyes they get itchy and there ears get itchy and sometimes red and irritated. But definitely ask about allergies. And no your not a bad owner things happen you'll figure it out.