My Maltese Dixie has chronic yeast infections in both ears. The vet prescribed Otomax and an ear wash, but she still gets them. I pull the hair out of her ears when I groom her like the vet showed me. Any advice? She is just miserable when her ears ache and itch.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), December 01, 2001

Answers

My 'Friday' hasn't had an ear infection since we changed her food to Science Diet.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), December 01, 2001.

I've mentioned it on other forums but not here-I was a vet tech for many years and am now "retired". Only because we don't have a full- time vet in our area, or I would be back at it! Anyway, chronic yeast infections can be helped by using a 50/50 mixture of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar. Alcohol helps dry ear canal, vinegar changes ph to one inhospitable to the yeast. This is only effective once the infection has been cleared up with the usual trips to the vet for cleaning and meds. It is more of a preventive. Usually, the ones who respond to diet had allergic reactions which often show up with reddened, itchy ears. I've unfortunately seen several that never did really clear up, even with meds, diet changes and continual office visits for cultures. Has the vet actually taken a culture to be sure it's yeast, or is he/she guessing?

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), December 01, 2001.

Hi Linda..

I have been kept by dogs for many years. Three of them have been cockers. They are known for ear problems. I had one dear cocker who struggled so, he made me learn ALL about ear problems.

First..as somebody said..check the diet. My guy was allergic to both beef and had a tough time with chicken. He ate lamb, pork and fish. Lamb based foods are easily found nowadays. I also did a modified Pitcairn diet for him. He loved fresh veggies and grains. It took some planning, but not a lot of expense.

Second..when ears flare up you need to distinguish between infection and ear mites. To test for this, carefully swab the ear. Put the Qtip in a little puddle of rubbing alcohol. If it turns red it's ear mites. Then you can pick up some mite meds at the Vet's.

If it's not mites it's the darned ear infections/yeast infections. Below is a snip from a file of mine about how to deal with them..

---------------------------------------------------------------------- If ears are already infected: 2 x's a day [for about a week] clean ears with Betadine on a Qtip [carefully, if you don't know how ask your Vet].

Follow each cleaning with "ear stuff" ..recipe is below.

After about a week stop the Betadine and only use "ear stuff" every other day for a week or two. Then use ear stuff about once a month.

"ear stuff" : 2 tablespoons boric acid 4 ounces rubbing alcohol 1 tablespoon glycerin Mix together and pour in medicine dropper bottle [pharmacist can get you one]. Shake bottle before each use. Use 1/2 dropperful for each ear [more for big dogs]. Massage well after. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Betadine is for immediate cleaning. The ear stuff keeps the whole ear environment properly balanced. I made it up using an almost full rubbing alcohol bottle [and adjusted the amounts of the other ingredients accordingly, of course.]. I would shake up and decant to fill the little dropper bottle when needed.

I am neither a Vet nor a Vet tech, but my dear Vet [who has since moved to PA. :-( ] approved wholeheartedly of my approach and helped me with it.

IMHO, products like Otomax and Novalsan [sp?] are great for some people..umm ..some animals. But, they are expensive, cookie cutter, approaches to a problem. With some study and some thought you can control your pup's ear problems better and cheaper.

I wish you luck!

-- pc (jasper2@doglover.com), December 01, 2001.

I worked for a vet and one trick that I learned was to wash the ears out with Betadine surgical scrub. This can be found at most vet & farm supply stores and is pretty inexpensive. You need to use a large syringe with no needle on it. 1st wet the ear inside and out with water really well, then insert the tip of the syringe into the ear canal & squirt a few cc's of the scrub as far into the ear canal as possible. Do this gently, never forcing the syringe tip further down then it will go easily. Massage the ear area all around & under ear to make sure the suds have done their job. Then use the syringe to flush the ear with clean water until you get ALL the suds out. Dry as best you can. You will probably notice lots of gunky looking wax comes out of the ear. This wax harbours infection and the scrub helps to kill any microbes that are in the ear. It might not totally clear a bad or chronic infection, but does really help prevent infections & also can clear mild ones. I do this routinely with my lab as she is prone to ear infections.

-- ellie (eagle-quest@juno.com), December 01, 2001.

Chronic ear infection is a sign of a food allergy, try switching to a dog food that has no corn in it, also check and make sure the food doesn't contain corn gluten, even though the label will say "corn free" it can contain the corn gluten, which causes problems same as corn.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), December 02, 2001.

After all these treatments, you might want to tie the ears up to get air to circulate, even if it's only at night. It looks funny but it will help.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), December 02, 2001.

Thanks for all the great ideas - I started using the Betadine and plan to try the boric acid mixture. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), December 04, 2001.

I use blue power for one of my dog's chronic yeast infection in her ears. I cannot find the original web site that I got the recipe from. I don't know who came up with it so I don't take credit for it. I put it on my web site for my own use but I'll post it for ya. I have found that with my dog, her ears do not get better if I clean them out with a cotton pad. I would spray her ears twice a day, let her flush them out on her own and within the week, her ears have got better. I treated them for a total of 2 weeks. Here is the link - http://olallacreek.myfarm.net/BluePower.htm Hope this helps.

-- Debra (olallacreek@myfarm.net), December 04, 2001.