You might consider switching to Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated raw food that gives the benefits of raw food with the convenience of a kibble. You just add water & wait 10 minutes & feed. Cindy(Rhodes) put me onto it & Leerburg sells it (if you can't find it locally-check their websites) & I use it as an addition to my all raw diet that my GSDs are on. It has two formulas that don't contain any grains. ( & 1 that does) One has chicken & the other turkey as the meat bases. I give my dogs about 1/4 to 1/2 cup a day along with ground raw veggies & meat, meaty bones & fish. My female ( a Leerburg pup/just 2yrs old) & my 3 yr old male have always been on raw. You might want to look into it. Just a thought...kibble no matter how good it is supposed to be...even the best ones & they are VERY few are not as good as feeding raw. If you do the research, & plan well, feeding raw if not that difficult. But you have to be comittted to it & feed it properly(nutritionally) or it can do more harm than good. Good luck with you dog.

 Quote:

.....as soon as they start to mess with their ears and I see the redness, one dose and we are done until next time.

Good for you, because this means you have learned that you have a dog (or dogs) whose ears need to be examined regularly. This is the only way to catch chronic infection (yeast OR bacterial -- all kinds) quickly and administer medication. The original poster is experiencing her first, and now will know to look into the dog's ears routinely for any signs of inflammation or excess material.

Since you have experience in this area, you probably know the method for using such products, which does *not* involve cotton swabs at home. It's basically floating the debris (if there is debris) out with ear wash before administering any medication. The ear wash is mooshed around in the ear with a gentle massage and then the dog will naturally shake his head to get it out, loosening and shaking out material which would otherwise keep the medication from reaching the inner part of the canal. (All this is assuming that the infection is in early stages and the dog is not in pain.)

This page (and many others) does a good job of describing the method:
http://www.drjwv.com/care.php?view=ear.php

With that addressed, if the infection turns out not to be a one-time thing, I would then start looking for the underlying cause. I've learned that most (maybe all) recurring ear infections have an underlying cause, and it's often allergies (most common type: inhalant).

Hypothyroidism and a couple of immune disorders are much less likely causes, but are possibilities.

I'm not a health professional. This is just the result of personal experience and research.

This last bit is *strictly* anecdotal, and I can't present professional backup: I've had good luck with giving an excellent non-commercial diet to dogs with persistent ear infections. This site is loaded with info about raw feeding and Leerburg also carries a great pre-made dehydrated equivalent, which I learned about here:
http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/showf...rue#Post4151278

Good luck, and if you want guidance to info about elimination diets or inhalant allergies, please PM me and I'll give you some good saved URLs.

I should have added that I feed the ones that contain no grains. When switching to raw or any new food it should take place over a period of a week or two. Gradually increasing the new food & decreasing the old food. This allows the body to adjust to the new food with a minimum of digestive upsets. You might want to add probiotics & enzymes for a while when switching to raw to support the dogs digestive system until it's body has an opportunity to make it's own digestive enzymes to digest raw food. FYI...Sometimes dogs that switch to raw from kibble, go thru a detox period with some eye tearing & ear problems etc, but after the inital detox no longer have any of these problems. Do the research to be sure that feeding raw is right for you & your dog.

 Quote:

I should have added that I feed the ones that contain no grains. When switching to raw or any new food it should take place over a period of a week or two.

Great points, and also sorry I doubled up on your mention of the Honest Kitchen line. I guess it got posted while I was typing! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Just wanted to amend my earlier post wondering if knocking Remi out was necessary. In the first post, it wasn't stated that he was vocalizing or shaking his head. I was just thinking that if it was a relatively minor infection (discharge, etc.) he might not have needed anesthesia. I tend to be overly cautious about anesthesia, though. Anyway, I agree that it's pretty mean to thoroughly clean out a dog's ears when they hurt that bad already, and in this case, anesthesia was necessary. Just wanted to clear that up. Hope he feels better soon.

 Quote:

....I tend to be overly cautious about anesthesia, though...... in this case, anesthesia was necessary.

I'm 100% with you on that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I read somewhere (sorry I can't produce it) that almost 10% of canine vet visits (besides well-animal checkups, etc.) were for ear infections. I think it's good that this comes up occasionally on web forums, because it's pretty easy to catch them early and because they can cause so much misery and damage when they're undetected and untreated.

Like many canine ailments, they can be caught fast if there is a routine inspection of the dog (including sniffing for odors around the ears and mouth) by the owner, gently running the hands all over to check for cuts, lumps.....even ticks. Not only is it a great early-warning system -- it also makes it a lot easier on the vet when the dog is accustomed to being touched, especially around the ears and paws.

This has kinda turned into a topic about allergies in away. so now im gonna ride on that and ask a question. i have a 1yr DDR GSD dog. i recently took her to a military vet (i'm stationed in japan and IMO most military vets suck)and she told me my dog had a food allergy. My question is how can she tell a food from a inhalation allergy. i have a couple of friends who have dogs and said since they moved here there dog has also developed allergies. she had me switch to eukanuba allergy that has kangaroo meet in it. like always she also had an ear infection. she tried to tell me to pay like $400 to run a test to see everything she has an allergy to and then like another $200 every 3 monthes for a shot to counter her allergy. i politly told her she was outta her mind. I don't know, can somebody elaborate a little on this for me.

Onthe topic of food allergy vs. inhalant allergy, I have discovered a bit of info on this.

I have a dog that has been puzzling my vet as far as reasons for her itchiness...it's been a long and confusing trip and I am not sure I believe those allergy tests are the answer. (only because one of my friends had these tests done on her GSD and got a GIANT list of things he is supposedly allergic to and ruling them out did ZIP to help him) I think "allergies" are merely a symptom of something seriously out of whack with your dog.

First thing I did was run a Thyroid panel on this dog and sent it to Dr. Jean Dodds. Normal.

I had been playing around with her diet for her entire life, and finally put her on 100% beef(ground beef bone,beef muscle meat and beef liver) with NO veggies or anything. Remember that grains and some veggies feed yeast, so if you dog has a yeast problem the food you are feeding (which would be just about every kibble out there) is just adding to the problem.

I had the chiropractor adjust this dog (Ed was rolling his eyes at this point) but the interesting part is that the day after the adjustment, in the areas of her neck and lumbar region where she was out of place, the developed large 'welts' and the hair fell out in those places..it was strange. I worked as a vet tech for 15 years and know a staph infection when I see one, so we started this dog on antibiotics for 3 weeks (Baytril) She is also on Salmon Oil (8000 mg/day, a very high dose for a 60# dog) Vitamin E and 50mg of Hydroxyzine twice a day. Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine, Benadryl does nothing for this dog so my vet wanted to try it.

My vet also told me if it was inhalant, the antihistamine would not do anything to relieve her itchiness. I thought that was a much cheaper way to rule something out than extensive testing. She also said that some dogs need to try several different antihistamines before finding the right one. Fish oil, specifically Salmon oil used with antihistamines helps about 40% of the dogs with itchy skin. the antiinflammatory effect of Salmon oil is IMO and easy way to help your dog out...

My dog is now about 90% better, but it's been a long road. She may also have a combo sensitivity to some foods along with inhalant irritants. I will start trying some additional foods later, after she is 100%.

I also bathe this dog with oatmeal shampoo made for pets, at least once a week. I see a reduced itchiness right away after bathing her. This dog has had more baths in her short life than all the dogs I have ever owned put together. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> It's a pain but it seems to help so I will continue to do it for as long as she needs it.

The bottom line is that an allergy or ear infection is a sign that the immune system is stressed or supressed. Don't just treat the symptom, look at the big picture for your dogs sake.. Try to avoid steroids if you can and DON'T let your vet vaccinate your dog while you are there for the exam! I am shocked and disappointed at how many vets do this..but that's a whole nuther subject! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Cindy

I posted sometime back on my dog's severe allergies & this looks like the place to bring it up again.

Since I started raw diet he was tested again & he is almost (cured) I am still giving allergy shots but he is much better on the airborne side too.

I know the allergy testing & shots are expensive but are worth it to me but I've been known to give a couple thousand for a pup before LOL

 Quote:

I know the allergy testing & shots are expensive but are worth it to me but I've been known to give a couple thousand for a pup before LOL

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />