Bacterial Infection in ears

We took Murphy to the vet on Friday and the vet told us he has a bacterial infection in his ear. From my previous experience with a poodle who had severe food allergies, I immediately thought it was mites- b/c it produced a brown smelly discharge in his ear and Murphy itches them constantly. The vet insists that its only a bacterial infection and gave us some antibiotics (?) that we are to put in his ear once a day. My concern is that now after 3 days of treatment, they dont appear to be getting any better and whether this could potentially be an allergic reaction (although my vet insists that Murphy is too young to present with food allergies). Any thoughts?

[movistar]

could be a combo of yeast and bacteria.

also the bacterial infections respond best to antibiotics
placed directly in the ear when the waxy brown stuff has been completely
removed. if the brown stuff is in the ear canal it prohibits the medicine from getting in and doing its job.

different vets I have had do different things. one had me use a liquid first to clean wax, the other preferred no liquid first but he cleaned the ear prior to first application.

if there is a bunch of wax and it doesnt come out readily then the dog will be anesthetized to eliminate any risk of perforating his ear drum

[tina.abrams]

Lucca is currently being treated for a yeast infection in one of her ears. I took her to the vet and they looked at a sample of the dark brown wax in her ear, cleaned her ears, and gave us a sauve to use for ten days.

My vet says antibiotics do not work on yeast infections and she did not want to give Lucca a steroid shot.


I also had to clean her ear every day with a special solution.

[Jac]

The advice you have been given is really good.

I assume that your vet took a sample and confirmed that it was bacterial...if not, ask him/her to do so. If the medicine is not working, tell your vet and ask them for something different. Not all meds work on all types of bacteria and, as mentioned by Tina, it may be yeast infection and if it is very severe, your vet can do more to clean the ears out than you can.

Ear infection is common in Labradoodles because they have such long ears, usually with a lot of hair inside, and they love water...so once you do get the infection under control, be sure to regularly clean your dog's ears and check them for signs of infection (usually discharge and/or smell.)

We have found that the only sure way to clear up ear infection in our dogs is to have a shot...I believe it is cortisone...but I am not sure...anyway, without it the infection gets worse no matter what we do...with it, the infeciton clears right up with regular cleaning.

This is a really good article, I think, It starts out with a tale about how a dog with ear infection bit a child...but get beyond that and you get some good info (I really like what they say about not plucking ear hair!): http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-20-2006-91502.asp

Here are a few more articles with different situations involving ear infection: http://www.vetinfo.com/dogear.html

[CindyB]

We fought ear problems several times with our labrador. After countless medications that helped only marginally, I stumbled on the following concoction that has kept our lab, and her doodle son, without any ear problems. Since I'm not a vet, it might be wise to run it by yours, but I've shared the recipe with others and all have found it to work wonders.

16 oz. bottle isopropyl alcohol
4 Tablespoons Boric Acid Powder
16 drops Gentian Violet Solution

Mix all ingredients in the alcohol bottle & shake. (You may need to pour out a small amount of alcohol so it will all fit.) Be sure to SHAKE WELL before each use to disperse the boric acid. It's easier to put in the dog's ears if you put some in a small squirt bottle--or to soak up a twisted paper towel that'll fit into the ear.

Treatment: Flood ear with solution & massage gently for 60 seconds and wipe with a tissue. Flood a second time and just wipe without massaging. The dog will shake the excess out. The Gentian Violet isn't supposed to stain, but be careful.

Schedule of treatment:
2 times per day for the first 2 weeks
1 time per day for the next 2 weeks
1 time per month thereafter

All ingredients are available at a pharmacy. The Gentian Violet will be the hardest to find and may need to be special ordered.

Despite the alcohol, dogs don't object to even the first treatment. The Boric Acid soothes the ear & the Gentian Violet is an anti-infection agent. The solution works well on any ear problem from mites to wax to canker. One vet reported a success rate of 95% - 99% and felt those not successful had not been routine about it or had not done the treatment long enough. This solution is also effective for the treatment of fungus type infections on the feet & elsewhere on the dog, for cuts on dogs or people, and for hot spots. For EXTERNAL use only. Avoid getting in eyes.