[Dakota3]

Hello, I posted a few times right after we got our puppy and got much needed help from you all. I'm hoping again you can give me some much needed advice. Our Dakota is now almost 9 months and is doing quite well behavior wise and potty training. But we noticed awful redness and lots of wax in her ears and lots of itching so we took her in a week ago. The vet said he wasn't quite sure what she had but that it was likely a bacterial infection and gave us Mometamax which we used for a week and saw no change so we brought her back in today and he gave us Otomax. Said if we wanted we could stop giving her all medications for 2 weeks and bring her back in for a culture. I guess the medicine messes up the test results, understandable. Anyway I just felt that we weren't given any real plan as to what to do to clear it up. He said the 2nd medication was unlikely to clear it up since the first one didn't so we're going to wait to do the culture, but he also said that based on the culture's results we might just find out that she has certain bacteria/yeast/etc. and that she's resistant to the medications to treat it. So -sorry to make this so long- I have no experience with this and am wondering first of all how to keep her other ear health because obviously we haven't been doing as good of a job taking care of her ears as we thought, and secondly, if any of you have had this experience-how have you gone about getting it cleared up. The vet kept talking about how we might have to have surgery for her to get tubes put in and that this might be a lifelong thing and I just can't accept this for her.
Thanks in advance so much,
Dakota and Worried Mommy
(poor Puppa-as my 3 year old calls her /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

 

[BeagleBabe]

I have no experience with a lifelong ear problem, so I hesitate to give you advice I would normally give to someone else, but I will say I think you should get a second opinion.

What part of NC are you in? If you're anywhere near Apex (that's where we are) try Lake Pine Animal Hospital. That is Abby's office and I absolutely love them!

Did your vet ever test for mites? Does her ear smell? Yeast infections tend to smell horrible.

 

[jassy]

I have no experience with it either but if you don't feel your vet is helping or giving clear answers I would get a second opinion from another vet. Some vets just are better at communicating information and problem solving.

 

[beaglesmom]

I agree - I'd get a 2nd opinion. I don't have a LOT of experience with ear infections - BUT when I had a lab/shepherd cross years ago, she did have a couple infections when she was a pup. At that time the theory was that ear infections in "floppy earred" dogs were caused by moisture in their ears. Since then the theory has changed - and now they say MOST ear infections are caused by food allergies - the most common allergens being wheat and corn. I'd read your dog food label and see if either of those are included. My Romeo was fed "Purina Pro Plan" by his breeder - and he did come to me with an infection. When I switched him to a good quality food with no wheat or corn we were able to clear up the infection quickly and he's never had another. In fact, with ten beagles here, the only problems I've had is with a little rescue girl - and once we got that under control with medication, she never had another.
There are products you can get to clean their ears - either liquid, or wipes, that might help too. I like the wipes - they're easier to use and "disposable" - but the liquid is what my vet uses.
GOOD LUCK!
Probably more than you ever wanted to know!

 

[Murphys Dad]

Again, no experience with Chronic ear infections, but based on what you wrote, definitely get a second and even third opinion. It's an ear infection, as far as you know, not a defect from birth - you don't just run and operate!
As beaglesmom said, it can also be food related.

As for regular maintenance of Chloe's ears, I clean them every week with a solution.

Keep us posted!

 

[Dakota3]

Hi again,
Thanks for the replies. I took her to another vet's office today and feel quite a bit better. Hopefully she will too. This vet did a test and determined it's bacterial not yeast so he want's her on an oral antibiotic and steroids because he thinks she has an allergy which caused the ear to be inflammed which made it easy for the bacteria infection to set in. So I'm worried about the steroids - not sure if they are really necessary. He did say that the infection is not likely to be chronic and she doesn't need surgery. So that by itself is great. Hopefully it'll clear up now so she can stop scratching and get back to normal.
Also, if anybody wouldn't mind describing their ear care plan-what I'm supposed to do for her ears each week or month, once her ears get healthy again it would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[jassy]

I have a liquid ear cleaner that I squirt in Maggie's ears and then hold the ear flap down and massage it in. Then I wipe the inside of the ear with a cotton ball. I know there are powders also. I think it is supposed to be done weekly but it usually happens every two weeks. We have been lucky with ears so far.

 

[rjcataldo]

Hi, I have an 11 month old beagle (Sophie) and I have always fed her high quality food like Solid Gold and Canidae throughout this first year and Sophie's ears have always been very clean.
I have read that diet can effect the ears if the dog has allergies so I always made sure that I fed her a good quality food from day 1. I truly believe it is worth the extra money in the long run.
I advised another beagle owner in my town about food because her 4 year old was suffering from bad ears, mushy stools, bad dog odor, and overweight. She has started Solid Gold a few weeks ago and has noticed a difference in her dog already. Her stools are firm and easy to clean. I haven't gotten a report about the ears yet but I guess it takes time to see.

I hope the issue is as simple as a food change!

 

[Dakota3]

Well, Dakota is on Wellness Puppy and we've been very happy with it. I am considering switching to the Canidae or the Innova Evo-I believe they don't have any grain in them. That's the only step-up food wise I can think of. She was on Solid Gold for a while and we did like that also.