[River Rat]

I've been waging war with something in Chouette's left ear since September. Right before we left for France I noticed that it had a strong unpleasant odor and a dark substance in the canal and outer ear. I cleaned it out and told the dog sitter about it, and she said she'd treat it with a preparation she uses for her beagles. When we picked Chou up on our return she smelled awful, and I realized it was that ear. So I cleaned it out again with peroxide. Taking her to be groomed at Petsmart didn't resolve the problem and when she went to be spayed the vet just cleaned her ears out and sent her home with some prednisone.

Recently a friend who's a retired veterinarian got a look at her and said she had mites. Before he saw her he had assumed it was a fungal infection and advised me to swab her ears out with alcohol three or four times over a period of a week or so. According to Ernie, alcohol kills the majority of the fungi which attack dogs' ears. If that didn't take care of it he recommended the use of vinegar, since that kills those fungi that aren't affected by alcohol. But nothing worked and poor Chouette started trying to hide when she saw the cotton balls appear.

Finally I picked up a pyrethrin-based treatment at Petsmart and for the first time we seemed to be getting somewhere. Chouette's ears smelled fine for longer and longer intervals. Still, I hated to use pyrethrin on my puppy!

When I took her to for her haircut on Tuesday the groomer suggested using a preparation with boric acid for ear mites. She doesn't like pyrethrins either. So I found one at the feed store which had presoaked wipes, but I wasn't sure that this would do the trick. Once I got home I did a google search for "boric acid ear mites." This is what I came up with:

http://www.liquidvitaminstop.com/pp/Earasil.htm

and from http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=fau-pets;action=display;num=1163507186

[mtd885]

Abby arrived with a Nasty case in both ears--poor thing. She really stunk too! The vet I have been using Rx Tresaderm with cleansing 3x a week. It's just Neomiacin sulfate We treated dr katz as well since the mites love cats too. It might be prudent to do the same if you have other pets in contact. A groomer friend also suggested trimmimg the hair at the base of the ear to allow more air flow to the ear. The Vet assistant picked the hair out of the ear as well. These are all things I will do at home and save the $$ Vet bill should they return. I've been thinking of posting Abby's arrival video (mites are discussed--lol) but first I have to ask my wife if it's ok. She might not want to be seen on screen without makeup Like she still has her SAG card or sumthin
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mtd/renee/abby/dr katz
DOODLE ON!
DOODLES OF AMERICA UNITE!

[River Rat]

I'm surprised that Neomycin is prescribed to treat mites! But we did all the rest - cleaned her ears out, trimmed her hair short around the ears - you name it. Nothing helped until I used the pyrethrin, but I hated to apply it to such a young animal - or any animal, really - and I didn't like getting it on my skin, either. We used to use it on our organic garden but I've heard so many negative things about it that now we only take it out when nothing else works. So I was glad to hear of a less toxic solution.

Leslie
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*\Portraits http://www.leslieficcaglia.org *\
*\Wild and Scenic http://mauriceriver.igc.org/ *\

[mtd885]

[SadieFern]

I am telling anyone who will listen...this WORKS! I noticed a change in Sadie's ears in 1-2 days! It can be a pain to get the violet and boric acid...you have to ask the pharmacist for it. It stains. Do it outside. It works. I can't say it enough!!!!! I warm it up beforehand. Sadie enjoys the warmness of it and doesn't fight it at all.


http://www.dogbiz.com/faq-ear-infections.htm
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~Julie~ Mom to three kids and one furbaby!

[River Rat]

I'm going to try just the boric acid and alcohol, as the site I quoted suggested. The Earasil does have gentian violet in it, too, I think, but if it works without it I'd be glad to avoid the mess. I'll let you know how it works.

It's great that you found a solution for Sadie!

Leslie
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*\Portraits http://www.leslieficcaglia.org *\
*\Wild and Scenic http://mauriceriver.igc.org/ *\

[River Rat]

Because I don't want to use any more strong poisons if I can avoid it. I had to give Chouette another dose of Frontline this week because the groomer found a few dead fleas and wasn't sure there weren't some live ones lurking in the thickets of her fur. And I've been using the pyrethrin-based ear drops, which have obviously helped, but I don't like them much either. So if boric acid and alcohol can do the trick I'll go for it. Or else I could try adding gentian violet if I can find that, or ordering that Earisil on line which includes both boric acid and gentian violet. I've been playing around with the mites for so long that a little longer won't hurt her.

Leslie
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*\Portraits http://www.leslieficcaglia.org *\
*\Wild and Scenic http://mauriceriver.igc.org/ *\

[Cinsmom]

Frontline will keep on working for 3 months on fleas. It's ticks you have to apply it every month for. I hope you didn't panic on that one and gave it too soon.

It probably won't hurt her, but I too hate to put too many chemicals in my "baby".

[mtd885]

It probably won't hurt her, but I too hate to put too many chemicals in my "baby".[/quote]

AMEN to that
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mtd/renee/abby/dr katz
DOODLE ON!
DOODLES OF AMERICA UNITE!

[River Rat]

[jstuenkel]

Julie--I also use the Gentian Violet, boric acid, alcohol mixture. Does wonders!!! Our Golden Retreiver had a horrible time with infections=---not any more.
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Jerrie

[River Rat]

I have been using the boric acid and alcohol treatment on Chouette and she is still having problems. It's not as bad, but I have to reapply it every few days and she hates it. Maybe I should warm the alcohol up before I administer it, but she keeps shaking her head afterwards and seems miserable.

I just ordered the product that includes boric acid, gentian violet and alcohol and when it comes I'll see if it works any better. Maybe I'm not administering the boric acid and alcohol solution often enough? When it worked for you, how often did you use it before you got results?

Leslie
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*\Portraits http://www.leslieficcaglia.org *\
*\Wild and Scenic http://mauriceriver.igc.org/ *\

[annabelles mom]

she might be shaking for 2 reasons - liquid in her ears and alcohol will burn on irritated skin
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Mary & Annabelle
Zippity Doodle, Zippyity ay, My O My what a WonderDoodle Day !

http://www.picturetrail.com/luvlabs

[annabelles mom]

one of our labs had probs with earmites, got med from Vet but I cant remember what it was, but it worked great - have you checked to see what your Vet has to offer?
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Mary & Annabelle
Zippity Doodle, Zippyity ay, My O My what a WonderDoodle Day !

http://www.picturetrail.com/luvlabs

[River Rat]

I already tried a pyrethrin-based product, but if I can use something that's more natural I would much rather. A lot of organic gardeners are warning about pyrethrins as pesticides; they're apparently not as benign as was once thought.

Leslie
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*\Portraits http://www.leslieficcaglia.org *\
*\Wild and Scenic http://mauriceriver.igc.org/ *\