I have a customer who has a white boxer and has to clean his ears daily. He's feeding good quality kibble (Evo red meat large bites) with a little raw and supplements. I had some issues with my own EB's ears before changing diet, but this boy takes yucky ears to a new level. The owner says it's worst in the warm months, and the dog has goopy eyes every morning in the summer as well. His vet (predictably) gives the dog Prednisone, and some prescription drops which I can ask him about tomorrow. But I tend to think it's an allergy from pollen, etc. Supposing I'm right, how would you deal with this dog? And for that matter supposing I'm wrong, what are your thoughts?

He is the only dog in the house, but lives with the owner and wife and three cats. No issues with munching out of the litterbox. I carry ear cleaning pads, and he uses them, but they are just an astringent in a plastic container, and I'm not convinced he wouldn't be as well off with paper towels. I really like this guy and his wife and love his dog, and would like to help them find an answer. Not expecting a magic pill, but between the search function here and Google, I've yet to find a solution.

He's leaning towards a beef allergy, but the fact it is an issue (though lessens) during the winter, and a daily chore during the summer makes me think it's something he's breathing/in contact with. And he tried Evo's chicken formula for several weeks and nothing seemed to change.

thanks for any ideas in advance.

Are there grains in that food? I remember reading something connecting grains to the presence of yeast in the body- yeast being a big component in ear issues.

Maybe that will ring a bell with someone else and they can elaborate?

Do you know what kind of ear crud it is? I have a dog here that literally shoves dirt in her ears at least 3-4 times a week.

I have a dog like Melissa's. In the winter months she has only a small amount of wax and it is such a small amount I only clean maybe once a month. I didn't notice a difference with diet, but only because it is dirt and not wax overload or an ear infection or mite type crud. What does the crud look like? Goopy brown, coffee grinds etc?

In the summer, I could clean daily. I am pretty sure the other dogs take turns shoving dirt into her ears as some sort of a sick "game"

Steroids with no diagnosis is not doing the dog any favors. Yikes.

That kind of daily problem indicates something that needed treatment long ago, such as yeast and/or bacteria. Ear infections have a trigger, and the trigger is often an allergy.

Food allergies are by far (BY FAR!) the least likely. Less than 10% of allergies in dogs are food allergies.

This owner will want to get the debris 'scoped and find out what it is. If the vet really is simply RXing Pred and doing nothing else (yes, I do understand this is what the owner says and we don't really know), then I'd change vets in a heartbeat.

Despite no diagnosis of "ear infection" in the post, I'm afraid that's where you are going to find all the info you were looking for with "search." Sadly, there are dozens and dozens (probably hundreds) of threads.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=10&Number=278436&Searchpage=1&Main=26367&Words=yeast&topic=0&Search=true#Post278436

BTW, I'm afraid third hand is not going to reap any great responses from us, because we can't ask obvious questions, like is the dog itchy, how bad is the itch, what part of the body, what is the med and is it eye or ear, is there any odor in folds or ears or paws, and much more.

I'd recommend that the owner join here so no suggestions that are way out of line are made for lack of some huge key piece of info.

I gave him the link to this site, hopefully he signs up. His name is Matt, so if Matt from WNC pops in, that's the guy. He was in the shop today and I wrote down the meds. One is Epi-Otic Advanced, it looked like a cleaning solution (.2% salicylic acid), but had a prescription label on the bottle. The other was Qualitest A/B Otic drops (if I'm reading my handwriting right).

There are no grains in Evo, for what that is worth. I deal with a ton of ear issue dogs at my shop, and while I am overly fond of this dog, I'd like to provide more help for everyone. I'll check those links; thanks, everyone.

Epi-Otic is an ear cleaner that is supposed to be sold only by Vet's hence the RX label. I have used it before, not one dog that I have used it with tolerated well. I'm assuming it must burn d/t the ingredients and have used other cleaners without that reaction.

I know a lot of people that supplement with coconut oil daily for chronic ear prevention and swear by it, post examine by vet. you. Hope he joins..

I sent Matt this thread's link via email. He said today he'd look into Leerburg, but isn't free enough to "start threads and devote the time to keep up with every reply. And I give Mojo hooves, and some folks really frown on that." He's promised to check in, so let him know he won't be grilled and have to defend the his dog's treatment, folks! Hope you're reading this, bud. You know Mojo is one of my fave dogs that comes into the shop!

As allergies go, what percentage of dogs would you think have a chicken allergy? I've had Shortie on foods with no chicken after her ear issues, by my own vet's recommendations. So that's a bowl of limited ingredient kibble + raw veggies and non-poultry organ meat. Her teeth and coat were much better when raw chicken was the bulk of her feeding. I've been really tempted to introduce chicken and see if her ears get bad again. If this jug-headed, affectionate, hard-working monster (until she overheats) was yours, would you re-introduce raw chicken? FWIW, it's not as if her ears are near perfect now.