Need advice for dog

[mpumr]

Okay, my dog has had problems with his ears and we have been treating them with stuff from the vet. He has a yeast infection and boy does it smell! We have been flushing his ears out with hydrogen peroxide follow with a water rinse then putting the ointment down in his ears. Does anyone out there know of anything else that I could use that would get rid of this problem? I don't really want to take him back to the vet, can't afford the bill right now; and just wondered if there was any OTC stuff that I could use.

TIA!
Marsha :)

[wildbirds]

Do you by chance feed your dog dog biscuits? Like Walmart brand or other cheap ones? Not trying to be rude by any means but the reason I'm asking is we use to buy the Walmart Old Roy dog biscuits for our dog and we called the vet over because she kept shaking her head and scratching at her ears a lot. We found out from our vet that the cheaper dog biscuits will cause ear infections or other discomfort in dogs.

Sorry I don't know of anything that might help right now. Maybe flushing the ears with warm water might help. Hope your dog is ok.

[skpaw]

My dog Maggie had lots of problems with ear infections. We had to do the cleaning thing and use ointment as well as antibiotics for the bad infections. I don't think this is something you can do over the counter. It can be caused by allergies to food or things in the environment. Sometimes changing to different food can help, but first you have to take care of the infection your dog has now. You might be able to call the vet, tell them you are short on money and remind him that dog was just in for a check. He might give medicine based on the exam you already had. Good luck. My vet would do a refill of ointment or pills if it was for the same condition. Poor dog--that really hurts. Get Well Soon Doggie!!

[Txsweeper]

This might sound weird, but worth a shot. Try a feminine yeast product like monosil. Yeast is yeast.

[mpumr]

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming!

wildbirds: we have always feed Oscar name brand stuff, including his treats. Even when my mom and dad were dirt poor they always bought name brand dog food for their pooches. Dad didn't feel too keen on what he had heard in the past about the generic dog foods. DH feels the same way. So we are a Purina family. Don't mean to come off snooty, but I think everyone has a favorite brand of something.

skpaw: we have been feeding Oscar Beneful, vet reccommend a formula made for older dogs. He has been eating this for about 2 years now. However it wouldn't surprise me if he was allergic to it; seeing how an allergy can suddenly flare up with humans.

Txsweeper: DH and I actually thought about doing the female yeast products. I just want to be sure that it won't damage him in any way. If I knew that the ingredients of the ointment that I'm using on him are similar to those products, I probably wouldn't be so hesitant. Any thoughts on this people?

The odd thing is that when we lived back home and would take him swimming (he is a lab) he would get like swimmers ear and it would kinda smell. The vet back home would give us some type of liquid medicine to put in his ears to dry them up. But they never had this bad of a smell and the yucky gunk. Oscar is my first baby, have had him for 10 yrs now and he is so protective of me and the kids. So I really want to get this cleared up.

Thanks again, I knew someone would try to help me!
Marsha :gvibes:

[skpaw]

For swimmer's ear my doctor would have me give my children a home remedy: equal parts rubbing alcohol and white vinegar. It caused any trapped water to just dry up and no infection would get started. She had me put the drops in after the kids swam. Before using this on a dog, I would ask vet if it is ok. I know that dogs ears are much more sensitive than people ears to chemicals, and he already has an infection. It MAY be ok, can't hurt to ask about it.

Are the ingredients of the cream or ointment the vet gave you listed on the tube or the package? You could compare them to stuff sold for people. The only thing is I would ask the pharmacist how they compare in strengh so you know if they are alike. The pharmacist should be able to tell you unless you don't have the info to show him.

[groovyguru]

The standard antifungal creme for women should be safe. The tender areas that are usually treated with the creme is much more sensitive & absorbant of medicine than an ear. A small quantity on a q-tip would probably be very safe. Keeping the ears clean on a regular basis is alot easier than dealing with a sick puppy.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

[melonhed]

Now what an incredible coinky-dink. My dog has ear troubles and bad allergies. His name is Oscar also. Yours is not black and looks like a wooly mammoth is he? He's got grinch feet, with the long fur off the end of his paws. Anywho, I would suggest you call the vet and explain the problem and just ask for a new round of meds. We have been dealing with my Oscar's ears for years, he's had two surgeries to clean out the foul gunk that is beyond our care. At this point we can tell his ears are bad by the way his breath smells and the vet trusts our judgement so he just fills a script for the ear meds.

[wrinklepup]

Oh, do I know all about ear infections in dogs--------I am a breeder of Chinese Shar-pei's, and they are known to have ear infections, because they have very narrow ear canals and lots of wrinkles in their ears......Now, I say it is very important to get your dog to the vet for this, because if you don't get it treated it will cause an infection to spread to the brain, and if the ear infection gets really bad, and not treated properly, they might have to remove the whole ear canal....I do not want to scare you, but it can cause the ear canel to swell up, and when this happens, there is no other way for the infection to go, but to the brain... please listen to me and get the proper meds......"OTOMAX" Is the best meds, I found for treating yeast infections in dogs ears, Please go to the vet, and pick some up... Not too much, I think it is around $10.00 and you pour in ear canal twice a day for a week,,works great and will clear it up.....Do not put peroxide in their ears...BAD! also, You need to clean your dogs ears with an doggie ear cleaner, you pour alittle down his ear canal, and squish his ears for about 30 seconds and then let him shake his ears, then you take an cotton ball and remove all debris from ear... do this twice a week, if you clean his ear often, you will not have as many problems with ear infections in your dogs ears...also very important that you do not get any water in his ears, as this will cause ear infections too. Please pm me if you want more info... But please get your doggie to the vet... he is in pain from this, and the medicine is not a bad price for treating this... I hope this helps you and I hope your doggie will be fine soon.... Jill

[doctorstrangelove]

Weaseldog (lab/schanuser) had a severe ear infection last year. Our vet gave us a product called Enrolog ointment. About $20 a tube. It works very well. You may be able to call a vet and just buy the medicine without the visit. But you may want to check for earmites. Our new dog, Lucky is a yellow lab with similar ear and breath problems. Peroxide may clean out the gunk but it doesn't treat the infection. I've noticed we have less ear problems to deal with when the dogs get plenty of chew treats and bones. I think the jaw exercizing helps. Our dogs also have their own toybox. Before I leave for work I scatter a few toys and chewables on the floor for them. It keeps them busy and they are less inclined to damage other stuf--like my caps, shoes, furniture.
:cool2: :cool2: :cool2: :cool2:

[steelergirl]

i know of an old home remedy for human ears. not sure if it will work on dogs, or if your dog will let you do this. fill the toe of a white tube sock with salt. then heat it a little in a pot of boiling water. lay down with you (or your dog's) ear against it. the heat feels good and the salt will pull out any infections. everyone i have told about this and have tried it have had really good results. it may be hard with a dog, but i'm sure if you gave him/her lots of pets, they would stay still long enough for it to help. good luck with your doggie.

[skpaw]

I am concerned about the hot sock with salt idea. Dogs are not nearly as tolerant of heat as people are. Also the salt can cause irritating chemical burns. The heat can cause actual burns. And the heat can cause an irritated ear drum to rupture. This happened to me when I was a kid. Hot water bottle as told to use by doctor. Eardrum ruptured because of heat. The pain was really bad--I remember more than 25 years later. Lots of blood and infected pus. NASTY. I would never wish this on my dog!!

My vet said no peroxide in the dogs ear, he gave Maggie Otomax ointment (sometimes Panalog ointment when it was not a yeast based infection) and a commercially prepared ear wash and if it was bad, antibiotic pills, which I served with a dab of cheese. She loved her pill. The other two dogs came for their bit of cheese at pill time. They were sad when the pills were gone. Please see the vet even if money is tight. This problem will not get better without medication and it really hurts.