Nico has been staying at my folks for about three weeks now and is having a huge allergy flair up. I imagine there are probably some fleas in their carpet along with who knows what else lurking that is irritating her.
She is finishing up her heat cycle and i strongly suspect some of her skin issues are hormonal.

we upped her Omega 3 and 6 and are doing benadryl along with a fresh spray down with frontline, so that should help her fleas.
We also gave her a good scrub down with oatmeal and sulphur shampoo along with daily rinse downs to help soothe her skin.

But her ears are also really bothering her. Loki usually grooms her a lot, licks her face and ears, and just generally dotes on her..... and I think that may have been masking an underlying ear infection. without that daily grooming ritual her ears got stinky and gross pretty quick.

There is no drainage and it doesn't smell like infection, more that nasty sweet but rotten yeasty smell. So while I was on the phone with her last night I mentioned to my mom it was likely a fungal/yeast as she is prone to it in a bad way and I would bring her drops over.

In the meantime last night she took it upon herself to put some monistat on a cloth and wipe down the inside of her ears with it
last night and then again today.
She said it did help with the head shaking and itching though so Yeast is the most likely target at this point.

I took her the Zymox drops but wasn't sure if I needed to wash them out somehow to remove the residue of the monistat before starting the drops?? I dont want to introduce any water or extra moisture or do anything to further irritate her ears.

Any ideas?

Hi. This may not help a dog, but it did help my cat who had yeast infections in his ears..he was FIV positive. The doc said to use real vinegar (Braggs or something with mother in it),or some white distilled vinegar, shake it really well and mix it 50/50 with water (I mixed it 1/3 and 2/3 since his was very flared and scratched up and it can be painful to some sensitive animals). Use a cloth to wipe out ears and soak a q tip to get it drenched and drop the mixture in the ears. On a dog, you could use an ear dropper, drop about 4 drops into each ear and gently rub at the the base of the ears. This will take care of the yeast infection and itching. After it is cleared up, weekly application will keep it at bay. BUT! I would first suggest going to vet to make sure there isn't a "stick tight" lodged deep in the ear or some other foreign material. (This occured on 3 times on a dog I owned years ago).
Hope this helps. AND, if it seems as if he IS sensitive to the solution, please stop. You will know in 24 hours if it will work at calming down the yeast.
Jo

Edited by Jo Harker (10/28/2008 04:36 AM)
Edit reason: mispelling

There is a major reason for not diagnosing this yourself, even with yeast familiarity (me too).

Yeast is often hand-in-hand with bacteria.

The vet needs to swab and examine the debris, sooner rater than later.

The head-shaking stage is past the time when the ears would have been better off treated. A dog with allergies and a history really needs the ears to be examoned regularly and treated at the first sign of redness or debris, long before head-shaking happens.

I'm not criticizing at all -- heaven knows anyone with an allergic dog has been there. It's just that I've learned how not to let inflammation become infection and not to let a yeast infection of the ears (skin) become systemic.

A yeast infection in full swing has often allowed bacteria to gain a foothold along with it.

Hi Jennifer,
I have a recommendation for you. I have a really nice spray called "Peace and Kindness" which is a clear colloidal silver at 30ppm, which means that it will have good enough strength to kill any yeast or bacteria in the dogs ears.
It has a long list of uses: hot spots, scrapes, open sores, ear infections, fungus, bug bites, burns, parasitic infections)viral and bacterial, ringworm, dermatitis, yeast infections, seborrhea, skin irriations from allergic reactions.
It is by Chris Christensen. I was lucky enough to find it at our local pet supply called 'Canine Commisary'
But you can go to this website I got off the bottle:
http://www.chrissytems.com
or
CCsystems@aol.com
It is all natural and non-toxic. I would give this a try as it is a wonderful product.
Good luck,
Joyce

She has had systemic yeast infections in the past due to overuse of antibiotics and steroids and it was horrible and took months to get rid of, she was a very ill dog for a very long time.

She has an appt. thursday morning to get her ears checked, even though I already know what they will do...flush them out and give her oral antibiotics. Which means lots of yogurt and acidopholous on top of needing to treat the ears with Zymox or something to take care of the yeast.

So until thursday I found some Zymox ear cleanser to go along with the drops that I used this morning to get the last of the Monistat out of her ears. I about fell out of my chair when my mom said she smeared her ears with that stuff. I understand the logic but with a dog as sensitive as Nico its scary to put anything untested on her skin or in her ears!!!!

Any chance that you could see a holistic vet? I would hate to see you have to use the antibiotics again and sometimes there are homeopathic remedies that can replace traditional meds.
Connie is the best one for this kind of help, she would know what is best.
Sorry you are having to go through this Jennifer.
Let us know how it all comes out on Thursday.

The homemade remedy called "Blue Power Ear Treatment" has worked extremely well for my dogs. (you can google that phrase for many sites that talk about it.)

The basic recipe is:

16 oz. Isopropyl Alcohol
4 Tablespoons Boric Acid Powder
16 Drops Gentian Violet Solution 1%

Mix together in alcohol bottle and shake well.

A squirt bottle (such as for hair dye) is a great applicator for this concoction.

The alcohol cuts and dissolves crud but is mostly just a carrier for the other two simple medicine ingredients--the gentian violet is an herbal antiseptic, and the boric acid powder is an antifungal.

Works great, and the ingredients are dirt cheap. A few dollars worth of ingredients available from most drugstores will make enough Blue Power to last for years.

http://www.liquidhealthinc.com/prodInterior.php?prodID=32

Thanks for all the ideas and support, She is getting visibly slower and older at this point and I want her sunset years to be comfortable and happy, I hate to see her not feeling well!

She seems to be doing better, this is a minor allergy outbreak compared to the total immune shut down we have dealt with in the past.


I think alcohol would set her on fire right now, but I will look into that blue powder mixture as a preventative once she is feeling better.

I have been doing Sulphur 3x and Pulsatilla 6x on top of the Zymox drops and fatty acids which is her usual course of homeopathy and generally seems to help. The homeopathic vet is in another city, but if we can't get this cleared up within the next week or so we will make an appt.

I have used colloidal silver on external owies before but never thought about using it in her ears, I will do some research and thinking about it.
Right now the zymox seems to be doing the job, it really is good stuff and her ears smell much much better.
My mom is also giving her keifer three times a day right now, instead of once, which will help with any yeasty problems.
And we are Solid gold feeding Wolfking which is buffalo and salmon with zero grains and very little starch,which should also help. As well as no more using bread and peanut butter to give her benadryl..cheese only!!

Thanks for the link Roger. It appears that this one contains both the Blue Power ingredients as well as colloidal silver.
I may try some in the future.

Jennifer, I hope that your dog turns the corner and heals very soon. Keep us updated as I would like to know how your treatment continues to progress.