Severe, recurring (yeast) ear infections

Hi all!

A little intro... My name is Holly and I have a 3 year old Goldendoodle named Peyton. He is our baby and by far the most well behaved, well rounded, friendliest, happiest dog we've ever been around. He is our 'child' and we are so thankful to have him :)

One issue, though, that we've been unable to conquer is his recurring yeast infections. His ears are CONSTANTLY filled with black/brownish snotty-like-substance goop. They are stinky (although his whole self does not stink, just if you lift the flaps and get a whiff) and constantly irritated. We clean them out every day and have for the past year or longer, we have tried a million things and nothing seems to stop the yeast.

We have spend THOUSANDS at the vet trying to get to the bottom of his issues. We have had approximately 10 prescription drops made for us, all of different mixtures. Some really caused his ears to be inflamed and seemed to make issues worse, while others seemed to possibly be slightly working, but never once were his issues gone despite constant and very consistent use.

We then searched the internet and went the holistic dog food route. We've spent at least a thousand on that ($75 a bag, feeding a 100lb dog, it adds up quickly!) ... we tried fish first, grain free, everything we read on the internet, we've been doing this for almost a year now. Still, nothing.

We've used Zymox a lot over the past year and while we saw a slight improvement, it was extremely inconsistent and despite using it at the exact time every day, we could never really tell if it was helping. We've tried daily oral allergy medications as well, and still, nothing. He is not a swimmer and is never in/around water. He's only been bathed maybe 3 or 4 times his whole life (could this be it?? I've seen things that say you have to clean them often to rid their body of yeast, but then others that say bathing regularly could CAUSE skin issues - and the last thing we need is to make him more uncomfortable!), as he never needs it and has a perfect coat/skin without it. We are constantly plucking hair out of his ears and we keep his fur pretty short to try to increase air circulation to those nasty ears.

I am desperate ... we've reached out to his breeder and she's never seen an issue this bad. When he was at the groomers, she said the same. Our vet is wonderful and always willing to try new things, but nothing has gotten to the bottom of it. He deserves to be pain/bother free and its hard when twice a day we are in his ears removing the gunk and/or applying this or that medication.

Our latest try has been at homemade food. We were doing beef/eggs/supplements for the last 6 weeks and I swear it made it WORSE! He is now chewing on his bottom?? And seems to be itchy (he's never had skin issues prior).. So... at least we can eliminate all of those things and never go back, as possibly one of those elements was the issue (possibly the supplements?) ... we are now doing chicken and vegetables with a little bit of plain yogurt. We just started this this evening and as with all food changes, will not see any results for a while. I figured, in the meantime, it would be worth a try to ask you guys here.

Any experience/suggestions would be so appreciated. We have the sweetest puppy and are at a loss on how to clear him of these awful, yeasty ears!

Thanks in advance and happy new year!

Holly

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Permalink Reply by Joanne ~ Spud* on January 5, 2015 at 1:51pm

Just a note. Every time I recommend the Thornit link above the person will say, " We dont have mites" Well, that i is just how the British advertise the product.

Believe me, many, many, many, of us here use this product. I would say, NONE of us had mites when we started. We were in the same situation as you.

My vet was floored when I told him what we are doing. He laughed :) Then said, " Good for you"

Ignore the ads, get the product, and message me with a follow up if you would. Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Holly on January 5, 2015 at 2:30pm

Wow - all such awesome information. I am beyond thankful. It has been such a long/frustrating battle and is so refreshing to get some new options and renewed hope! To be sure I'm understanding correctly... this THORNIT will be the maintenance meds once I get this current mess cleared up. This is NOT to rid him of what he's experiencing now, but instead is what we will use to prevent us from ever getting to this level again. Is that right? I am ordering it this evening and am so eager and thankful to have a tool to keep it at bay! It is an issue I've worried about... once we are in the clear (which we haven't been in so long) what am I going to ever to do stop it from coming back?! I always "know" recurrence is inevitable... so to have something once we get to that point will be such a huge relief. Thanks, again! This is all very encouraging.

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Permalink Reply by Joanne ~ Spud* on January 5, 2015 at 4:02pm

Correct. IF IF IF, there is no infection that requires a real antibiotic and vet visits, go for it NOW.

It is an old wives tale remedy. My mother told me, they used this for darn near everything back in the day.

For many of us, it is a God Send! Honest

I'm truly sorry you and your dog have suffered through this ordeal. Such pain! Such expense. I wish you both a GREAT New Year!

Also, Spud's infections were infections. So, if that might be your case too, ask your vet for a maintenance dose of antibiotics only to be used when you have to do any ear maintenance. Once I apply a dose, I go right back in two days and put in Thornit to dry that up.

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Permalink Reply by Holly on January 5, 2015 at 4:33pm

Ordered! Unfortunately the 100 is no longer able to be shipped to the US so we went for the 50 ;) thanks, again, for this tip!

As far as antibiotics... Are you talking oral or topical? They always refer to his issue as a "yeast infection" and they've created concoctions for us that go directly in the ear... Curious if you were/are given oral antibiotics... Trying to think and there is a possibility we were given oral maybe one time... but can't remember for sure (I may be thinking of after his neuter...). If this is something we need to push, I would like to know so I can mention it to my vet.

This may be a ridiculous question, just trying to understand better, so not ALL of these yeasty ear issues we hear about are due to infection necessarily, is that right? Is there a chance you can have these nasty goopy ears without infection? Can a yeast overgrowth stand alone without infection, I guess, is my question? Just trying to educate myself here, and wrap my brain around this yucky nonsense. Hah! Honestly, I've never considered the two issues separately, infection vs yeast... and I'm assuming if he has a "yeast infection" we need to be treating both the yeast AND the infection (antibiotics)... I feel very elementary asking this. Forgive me! ;)

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Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on January 7, 2015 at 11:48am

Antibiotics donot treat yeast whether oral or drops. Antifungals treat yeast. You can have yeast growth without infection or goop. My dogs have gotten to the stage where I clean the ears about once a month. I use an acidifying solution, Malacetic Otic. Yeast don't like acid, they do like warm, damp places like ear canals. The yeast are all around and just need the right conditions to grow.

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Permalink Reply by Joanne ~ Spud* on January 7, 2015 at 4:01pm

I went back and read my post again. I'll correct a few things. Sorry, I have the flu and it kills my head to look at the monitor so I may be been a bit misleading.

We DID use antibiotics. We actually had a few versions that caused more harm than good and now have them on his chart to " Do not use" His skin completely pealed off. He had some reactions to several topicals but we found one ( drops) that he tolerates and yes, we did use directly in the ear. We still use if we touch or inspect his ears. Just a one time maintenance, as needed, but he is not on them continuous.

Yes, he was on oral antibiotics for months that last time and we went to the vet each week for check ups. He was on both oral and topical for some time.

We though, had reoccurring bacterial infections, not yeast. You can get both but in our case, we had an infection that just would not clear.

Most people, like F, Calla and Luca use Maacetic Otic in the ears for yeast but it did not work for us. Again, it was a liquid and....... liquids, maybe because his canals are narrow, just made everything worse. But, that is a good product and I have used it on my other dogs.

Boric Acid is a powder and seems to do the trick for us as far as keeping infections and yeast away.

Anyone else reading this... You must treat infections with antibiotics. Not over the counter products. For that, go back to the vet.

We are just talking healthy maintenance.

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Permalink Reply by Lynda Kamrath on January 8, 2015 at 5:55pm

But a yeast infection? I would not give antibiotics for a yeast infection in the ears. Okay, F, what do you say?

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Permalink Reply by Diane and Alma on January 6, 2015 at 9:20am

It says you can also apply Thornit to the paws. Does anyone have experience with this they can share? A few times a year, Alma's paws get red and irritated. The vet has tested and says she has a high concentration of yeast - due to the irritation she licks them and they get warm and moist so yeast develops. We give her 10 mg Claritin daily during these periods for relief but it would be great if this product would make it so she doesn't get flair-ups.