Ear Infection

[Stephanie Bowman]

Hi Everyone!

I'm a first time dog owner and have zero experience with battling an ear infection. Beginning Sunday, we noticed that Teddy was shaking his head a lot and scratching his left ear. We had just given him a bath and figured it might be water but quickly noticed a swollen, dirty ear. We're typically good about cleaning his ears out weekly, but we got him groomed this month in preparation for his neutering surgery, and then were waiting for the clear recheck before giving him a bath.

We took him to the vet Monday and he sedated him and thoroughly cleaned his ear, and began an antibiotic ear drop treatment, a mixture of Conofite with Dexamethasone. When inspecting his ear this morning, it doesn't look like it's getting any better? I attached a picture of what it looks like to this discussion. I don't know if it's my untrained eye or me having unrealistic expectations on how quickly these things heal, but I wanted to reach out and see if any of you have had experiences with this sort of thing.

[Stephanie Bowman]

teddy%20ear.jpg

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It sounds like a pretty severe infection, if treating it required sedation and steroids. So it's probably going to take some time to start looking better.

[Stacy]

I would give it a few more days before I worried. It looks like he made a mess in there. Poodle ears can be such a challenge. I struggle with Katie's. Sometimes it seems like the more I mess with them the worse they get. We work to find a happy balance between not messing with them enough and messing with them too much. I hope your little guy finds relief soon!

[Nicole and Teddy]

My Teddy used to get pretty frequent ear infections- now I use an ear cleansing solution that I got from the vet after every bath, swimming, romp in the rain, etc. I think the floppy ears make controlling the moisture in the ear more challenging. I am sure you can get something from your vet after the current infection is healed up or find something on Amazon. I've found that he gets way fewer infections when I'm diligent about using it. Good luck with your Teddy!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The floppy ears do contribute to moisture retention in the ear- it creates reduces air circulation and no light gets in there either, so they don;t have a chance to dry out. Combine that dark, moist environment with the think woolly hair that traps wax and dirt that grows in the ear canals of Poodles and related breeds/mixes, and you have the perfect environment for yeasts to grow. 

It's imperative to clean the ears weekly with a good product that also contains a drying agent. I like Virbac's Epi-Otic, used it for years. 

[Marlo]

If the ear infection does not clear up over time or if it’s recurring frequently I’ve found that animal chiropractic can really help. I have a 2 year old labradoodle that has had ear issues that do not respond to medication. My chiropractor fixes the issue almost immediately. Dirty runny ears and constant flapping pretty much clears up straight away. Quite incredible really. Now she has turned two and finished growing she no longer seems to have this issue. I also had a ridgeback who suffered immensely for the first 5 years of her life with chronic ear infections. Chiropractic helped her and she never had another for the rest of her life. I know some might think this is out there but always worth passing the info along just in case it helps some sweet little dog out there.