Preventing Ear Infections

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Does anyone have some good advice re: preventing ear infections, which I think is fairly common in doodles with floppy ears? I talked to my vet after yet another round of yeast, and he just says to keep the ears clean, free of hair and dry. Which I really try, but the dogs still get yeast! Maybe because we live in a wet climate, and they swim frequently, but it's maddening (and expensive) to have to constantly run to the vet for treatments, plus I feel really bad for the dogs.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Hi Ellen I think it just varies dog to dog....I also think that an over abundance of yeast in the ear can be an indication of systemic yeast throughout the body. Too much yeast is a tell tale sign of an auto-immune related difficiency......( Blake suffers from this as a result of being a puppy mill pooch).....Plain, unsweetened, probiotic yogurt daily ( La Yogurt or Stonyfield Farms )with some live acidophilus cultures added are HIGHLY beneficial when combating both sytemic yeast and auto-immune issues....With the swimming?...Blake too loves to dive under....I usually dry out his ears with a cotton call shortly after he emerges from his swim...Seems to help....

[9pavxfihcp80]

I can see where you are coming from. (this reply was intended for Ellen above but didn't show up there!)

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

I picked up some gentian violet which is an anti-fungal liquid that I've used on myself before. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, but it actually seems to work to keep Lilo's ear free of yeast. Just thought I'd pass on this tip, since the liquid is inexpensive and doesn't require a prescription.

[Ellen Hopcia]

Hi Eva, Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but I didn't see your question. I got R7, step 3 drying powder at Petco. I use a very small amout, it comes out as a creme. I rub the dogs ears gently and it drys very quickly. Ellie

[Marci Southard]

As far as ear infections go are you sure they are not caused by certain foods? I have two dogs, one a lab and one a doodle that constantly get ear infections if i feed them anything with Turkey in it.............another scenario with certain dogs is air ventilation so the inside of the ears can dry rapidly, alot of us doodle breeders use a short blade to basically blaze a short trail from ear to ear under the neck so there is not thiick hair blocking air flow............I also use a good ear cleaner weekly and after swimming i always use an ear cleaner and dry out with cotton balls whether they are prone to ear infections of not;;...................there is a recipe if anyone is interested that you can make with ginsing blue ..............more homeopathic and alot of times i will just put a drop or two in their ears after cleaning to "prevent" ear infection.

[Debbie & Cotton Clegg]

We just went in for our annual exam and my vet recommended that we wash our swimming dogs ears each night with a mixture of 5 parts water to 5 parts vinegar and 1 part alcohol to dry them out and twice weekly for all dogs a few drops of mineral oil to prevent the wax build up. With four dogs and two of them the doodle and a Boykin spaniel that stay in the pool this is a most economical solution to preventing ear problems. We also have to pluck Cotton's ears. Sometimes I wonder if she can even hear there is so much hair.

[Mommy2Max]

Pluck the hair in the ear canal.

Keep them dry/clean.

People RAVE about a product called Zymox. I purchased it and it worked. Max's ears smelled like corn chips (no joke) once upon a time. It has gotten much better with Zymox.

Some people also say that keeping the dog on a low grain diet will help prevent yeast infections. Max eats grain free and I found that helped as well. It makes sense yeast strives on sugar but, yeast isn't the only problem a floppy eared dog can have.

~Danielle

[Debbie and Thomas]

Our dog trainer told me about a product called "Gentian Blue" ear cleaner. Many of her clients dogs had chronic ear infections and after they used this-the problem dissappeared. I bought it and tried it. My GD had a dark brown waxy build up in his ears from 10 weeks old. It was getting worse and his ears were smelling. The vet prescribed an ear cleaner which I used and the very next day, the brown yecky stuff was back. I searched and found the Gentium formula in a specialty pet store. I put some of the Gentium in his ears a month ago and wiped our his ears-to this day they are as clean as a whistle. Also, this treament is holistic-it is made out of the Gentium flower. It is amazing! It can be purchased at specialty pet stores or online. The big box stores do not have it. I have talked to many people who have used it for their long eared dogs-one Retreiver had tubes in his ears because the infections were so bad-the smell from his ears was strong and permeated through their entire house. They tried the Gentium and the problem cleared up after a few weeks.

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

My vet told me to put cottonballs in the puppies ears when we give him a bath or he is going to go swimming. Now I tried this and it really did not work well for me but I assume it is because Riley is only 15 weeks and the cotton ball is too big. I am going to try to cut it in half or 2/3 and try it again next time he gets a bath.

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

The product I've been most happy with I read about right here on doodlekisses.com from another doodle owner. It is Natural Care Veterinarian's Best Ear Wash & Dry. We used prescription after prescription from the vet. I have been using the Vet's Best ear wash and dry and Connor's ears are doing GREAT. I clean his ears about once a week and after his bath and we have not had problems in months. Ingredients include clove oil, tea tree oil, echinacea and other natural stuff. It has done wonders for Connor.