dogs ears

[geepy]

I have 6 hound mixes and they get yeast infections in their ears. ihave tried the vinegar and water, and it works but does anybody use anything else. I live in florida, the yeast capital of the world. I'm just looking for suggestions. thanks.

 

[Kansaseq]

If they have an active infection, you will need to both clean and treat the ears with an anti yeast medication, then can just do maintenance cleaning to prevent further infection. I believe we use otomax/animax for those.
Are you sure it's yeast? Sometimes they also get a bacterial infection. The only way to tell for sure is to have your vet do a cytology (slide of the ear goo) to make sure.

 

[geepy]

thanks for the reply. They have been to the vets and it is always a yeast infection. The vet gives us zymox which works, I was just seeing if anybody does something different so I don't have to go to the vet so much.

 

[sandypaws]

what are you FEEDING your dogs????? they need to eat something with NO wheat and NO corn..
also DO feed them a tablespoon full of plain yogurt every day...

i was told the mixture is 50%alcohol 50% vinegare for the ears
the alcohol to dry the ears.. the vinegare to get the PH balance back.. i personally would add a few drops of teatree oil in it because it is anti-fungal anti-bacterial..

but do not use teatree on cats!!!!

 

[mamaKate]

I keep a bottle of Epi-Otic and use it for maintenance. You can buy it online. Mold and mildew are rampant here,too. I have to bleach the roof, clothesline, etc. The summer dew is heavy enough that dragonflies lay eggs on the fence and mosquitoes breed in sunny two inch grass. I clean MY ears with vinegar.

 

[geepy]

Thanks for the info sandypaws. I read vinegar and water, but the alcohol makes better sense. With so many big dogs I must admit I am feeding them just a popular less expensive brand of dog food, never thought of the yogurt though. Thanks for the info.

 

[geepy]

never heard of epi-optic whats it for?

 

[Kansaseq]

Epi-otic is an ear cleaner

 

[verity]

We have Cavaliers and their long ears encourage yeast conditions -- I order a powder called 'Thornit' from England -- after cleaning the ears and letting them dry, I put in the Thornit on the end of a q-tip --

Thornit is available online --

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Oddly enough we just went to the vet yesterday about this very thing. She said my Lucy (the one in my avatar) has both bacterial and yeast infections in her ears. The vet said that some dogs are just really prone to these infections. She also said that it is not something you cure. It's something you just stay on top of to keep it under control.

We are now using ear wash (from teh vet) once a day for the next three weeks and then Once a week after that. It gets sudsy in her ears and I really rub it in. WHen I let her go Lucy shakes all the liquid back out. It makes a huge mess as it loosens the gunk and she shakes it all over everything.

In addition we have medicine to drop down in the deep ear canal and then pills to take twice a day to knock back the infections. Yay for us, right? Lucy was an angel for the vet and just sat there while she worked on her. She was not such an angel for me, so I see this being an ongoing trauma.

Good luck. I tried the vinegar/alcohol mixture for a while and it didn't seem to help. Actually, I think it stung a little. Dunno.