Quote: Betty Landercasp

IMO some big dogs shake their heads to align their lips (or perhaps throw lip goobers on my walls!)
Has he been scratching his ears?

This has nothing to do with the topic, but this post made me laugh out loud! Kaiser actually managed to get a string way up on a picture on the wall, I was really impressed!

Sorry for the diversion

I do sympathize with the problem of ears though, big boy has intermittent ear problems, and I know it drives him mad, I have changed his diet, and the incidents are fewer, but my god, it is so sad to see when they suffer, I use easotic when it flares up, and it does help relieve the itching, but this time of the year, the problem is exacerbated by the pollens in the high grass, I bathe them off when I get in, just to reduce the scratching.

Took him to the vet today while I was at work. I had a hunch if something was in there it was the left ear as he seemed more irritated by me looking I that ear yesterday. Diagnosis:

Super irritated in both ears.
Lots of yeast-like build up.
Left ear suspicious of foreign body.
Could not evaluate eardrums do to crud/swelling.
Sedate to probe/remove poss foreign body, crud and flush clean.


It was a foxtail covered in wax in the left ear. Way down inside. They yeast could be an allergy or skin related issue. Keep an eye on it. Goes back in 2 weeks for check up.

He got all of the yeast, build up, and the foxtail out.

Gave us cephalexin and hydroxyzine and some flush.

Havin a run of bad luck with this pup lately. Depressing. Cant help but feel responsible, maybe if we would have checked sooner or known more it wouldnt have gotten so bad... Doc said he had to have been in pain. Not once did he seem in pain other than shaking his head we wouldn't have assumed anything was wrong.!

Advice was given to remove all foxtail type bushes from property if possible (he laughed as he knows that's impossible where we live).

Lesson learned: check and double check ears when we get back from our walks.

The thing is he is ALWAYS on leash where we walk, always have an eye on him while he is sniffing around on leash etc., and he still managed to get something in there. Really thought we were managing him quite well. Guess it can happen that fast.

Thank you all for the advice.

Head shaking just about always means something in the ear is wrong. I'm really glad you found it.

I couldn't see the yeast or swelling in the pictures.


BTW, about feeling depressed: you DID seek help. You posted here and got responses and you followed them. You DID take care of the dog and get him relief.



Having had quite a bit of yeast experience with dogs over the years, I'll throw it out there that I would probably be proactive here and get the anti-fungal shampoo.

Yeast can get a toehold very fast, and go from the skin inside the ears to the skin elsewhere. Also, you mentioned an odor .... and he is on cephalexin now. You should be aware that antibiotics can increase the odds of yeast overgrowth (long story short is that they kill good bacteria as well as bad, altering the microorganism population of the skin and giving yeast a clear playing field). This isn't to say not to give the antibiotic (not at all to say that), but to say that vigilance and being proactive will help a lot.

"Proactive" for me means flea control (flea allergy can trigger both ear infections and broken skin from scratching), frequent anti-bacterial/anti-fungal bathing, and frequent checking inside the ears.

In a couple of days, now that his ears are clear and after the inflammation from the procedure has subsided, you can get a good look at what his ear canals look like without swelling and yeast.

I have all my fingers crossed for you; I've had more dog-yeast-infection experience than I would like. I completely sympathize.

About the meds....kinda why I posted the names of what we got. I'm new to all this and not sure what is necessary or not.

Also curious if u can overdue antibiotics as he was on them for the staff infection on his mouth also.

You mentioned the odor and cephalexin.... Is the odor from yeast spreading? Also, after talking today his coat is a tad on the greasy side. Soft when pet him but a "film" on your fingers/hands afterwords.

We are learning here as we go what is normal and not.

Flea allergies... I gotta find something to combat that. Advantix has always worked for us in he past, but din this round. Yard is sprayed and the amount of gnats and flies are 99% gone...hopefully the fleas are too.

What is frequent bathing? So now we go from not bathing often to bathing frequently.

I will look in the ears to see what "normal" is.
Thanks!

The vet saw a bacterial infection, I am sure. (I would expect there to be one, with that embedded foreign object.) So the antibiotic was/is necessary. (You know never to stop an antibiotic protocol before it's used up, right? That would happen only if the vet decided for some reason to switch antibiotics.)

Yes, yeast causes an odor and the film on your hands. You do need the medicated shampoo, from this info. Right away, IMO.

Your vet probably has Chlorhexiderm Max or Malaseb.



Bathing, including using a textured washcloth all over, with shampoo that kills the yeast and also removes the oils that feed the yeast, is important.

It's left on for a while after you lather it up.


Bathing also removes pollen and other allergens that the dog's coat collects; otherwise, he spreads them all over his bed and the carpet, and he breathes them in 24/7.

Bathing drowns fleas.

Bathing is a major tool in the dermatitis toolbox. I wouldn't wait for two weeks to get the shampoo.


Did the vet do a skin scraping? (Probably not, because it probably didn't come up about the greasiness, right?)



BTW, the kind of yeast that causes most of these dog-skin infections is Malassezia pachydermatis. If left to build up, it eventually causes thickening and darkening of the skin so it looks like elephant skin.

BTW, you are feeding raw, right?

If you were not, I would suggest that you consider it. Even though food allergies are BY FAR the least likely allergies in dogs (first is flea saliva and second is inhalant/environmental; food is a DISTANT third), a balanced fresh diet is another tool in the allergy toolbox.

GREAT NEWS regarding the foxtail awn being removed. If you had not taken your dog in to the vet the ear would have turned into a MESS. Good for you to 1) notice a problem 2) fix it!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

GREAT NEWS regarding the foxtail awn being removed. If you had not taken your dog in to the vet the ear would have turned into a MESS. Good for you to 1) notice a problem 2) fix it!

+1

Absolutely.

Yes on the raw!

Yes, will continue antibiotic until gone.

Good to know about greasy coat and odor related to yeast for future red flags.

Will check for shampoos tomorrow. Do the pet stores carry it also? Or is it a prescription type shampoo?

How often do you guys normally bath your dogs? I was always under the impression, less is better.....or is it different with these issues?

Textured washcloth....got it. Something to scrub real good?

As far as pollens and other allergens getting on his bedding and carpets, does just weekly washing and vacuuming take care of that?

No skin scraping, the only thing that has been scaped was the soars on his mouth last week for mites which came back negative. Should we get a scraping, and what would it show?

We don't want any elephant skin!!!!!!

One more thing on the ear cleaning. For the flush, she assumed I knew so he didn't explain. But I assume its like you said, fill'er up, fold over ear, message and let it go?

And proper ear maintenance.....if it looks and smells good...don't touch it? No wiping out or anything?
I just re-read the thread and noted Connie had pretty much stated no normal ear cleanings unless you see reason too. So with that being said, is it safe to say that you can go a very long, long time without ever cleaning a dogs ears if they are healthy?





Edited by Mychal Scott (05/20/2013 11:38 PM)
Edit reason: Re-read thread

 Quote: Mychal Scott

So with that being said, is it safe to say that you can go a very long, long time without ever cleaning a dogs ears if they are healthy?

You could go the whole lifetime of the dog and never touch them if there isn't ever a problem. Nature designed the ears to take care of themselves.

Some dogs need their ears monitored and treated occasionally their whole lives. I'm hoping in your case it was just the antibiotic use maybe combined with some seasonal stuff that brought it on.