ear infection?

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

my MILs dog has been shaking her head and scratching her left ear along the couch for 5 days. my MIL thought maybe she has an ear infection but the vet says her ears are clean and healthy (she didnt do any swabs). the last few days she has been a bit "off" , going into the office to sleep away from everyone. her appetite has been ok i think (shes very food motivated). She has been on a new food the past month or so. pulsar by horizon http://www.horizonpetfood.com/pulsar. she had a small bag of the chicken, then has been on the fish for a few weeks. before she was eating performatrin grain free http://www.performatrinultra.com/about/about.htm. my MIL read that new food and new protein can cause bad ears, but as i told her, if she was having an allergy there would be some redness or gunk of some kind. Other than that there have been no changes to her lifestyle

I said i would ask the dk gurus their opinions

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

My 2nd thought, a headache :(
No advice, just my thoughts. I'm sorry. Get well soon

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

she is an akbash with small floppy ears

[Ginny Nightingale]

My dog gets ear issues with some foods and yes, you can tell that there is a yeast infection by the gunk and the smell--so if the vet didn't notice anything, that is odd. I really dont have a clue--unless she got an insect bite or something? But that would show up--hmmm. I wold take her back if it continues--maybe ear mites.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know there's a lot of anecdotal information about a food/ear infection connection, but so far nobody has been able to show that scientifically. There can often be something present too deep in the ear for the vet to see, which is why it's important to swab them.

That said, about a month ago, JD started rubbing and scratching one ear; the vet found fluid in the ear but nothing else, and he did do a swab. The scratching and rubbing continued for about 10 days and then disappeared. I am sure it was related to Jack's seasonal allergies, especially given the time of year. There were no food changes or any other changes happening at the time.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Even if the infection is deep, the ear should smell with an infection, I think. I would think if the vet didn't think an infection was present it's not in the vast majority of cases.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Sometimes, they can have mites.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good point.  An infestation wasn't something I thought of.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I just changed Lyric's food to whitefish from a chicken base (both Wellness brand) and it has really helped both her eyes and her ears--she has the most problems when she is raising a litter because we usually have to feed her boiled chicken because she gets queasy and has less of an appetite. Next time (her last litter!) I will maybe give her beef or fish and that might help?

So, it seems like it could be related--her son has the same issue.