Thor's ear infection HELP

[jessica0309]

Thor just turned two. He has never had any ear problems before. His ears do not smell, I check them often... they never have had a bad smell. Two weeks ago he came in from outside before his bedtime, and he was shaking his head like crazy. Came out of no where. He wasn't doing head shaking before this. I took him to the vet the next morning and she gave me Mometamax and doggy benedryl. After two weeks of Mometamax, he is still shaking his head and trying to jam his paw in his right ear. I don't know what to do. Obviously, my vet is a quack, as she wants me to keep giving him the Mometamax even though the insert says not to give him anymore after 7 days...

Maybe it is yeast, not bacteria? I also switched his food about two weeks before the head shaking started.. he was eating nutro natural, and now he has blue buffalo. I was reading the bag and blue buffalo has yeast listed as an ingredient. Nutro didn't contain yeast, so maybe this is why he is itching? I went and bought him grain free natural balance last night (no yeast in the ingredients). Hoping this will help him. It's also gotten super hot here in Chicago, maybe he has seasonal allergies? Has anyone else had any of these problems? Any help is appreciated. I am going to find him a new vet.

[Cam Atis]

Probably ear mites?
Ear swab must be done by vet tp verify. Stop tha ear drop you are using. 1st because it has no effect. 2nd, it sounds like it is corticosteroid so dont use longer than necessary.
Please look at the ear and see if something is lodge. A tick might have attached herself.
Or a cerumen hangs that it is irritating her, thus head shaking.

Allergy Is not developed overnight.

Clean her ear

[Tippsy'smom]

My Jasper suffered from ear infections caused by yeast and bacteria... It was caused by his food (turns out he's allergic to beef...he use to be on kibbles n bits because I couldn't convince my parents to change his food). We switched him to Taste of the Wild Wetlands formula back in September but obviously, there's the recall on it now, so we've switched him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck and so far he is doing great on it... I suggest switching back to the food he was doing well on, and maybe seeing a different vet. Our vet gave us 2 different solutions to clean Jasper's ears with (one we were told to use everyday until it was gone and the other, we were told to use everyday for 14 and then wean it out to once a week, that one we're about out of now... It's been 8 months), and we got an antibiotic, too... Jasper also didn't start shaking his head until the infection was really bad... Chows are so stoic, they hide their pain.

[Rio]

Rio does head shaking but not constantly, this usually occurs after being removed out of a garden hedge (what he thinks he can see through thick undergrowth is beyond me!) I usually ask to see his ear and he will let me then if nothing is visible he gets a good ear rubbing (right down to where his ear meets his head) this usually does the trick.

[SleepyFilipy]

Back when we had Cindy she had to be treated for an otitis after a trip to the beach (she loved to jump into the waves... Although she couldn't swim, go figure )

The first two vets said "ear mites", but since we always checked her ears, we took her to yet another vet and finally found out about the otitis, luckily in time to avoid surgery.

Are you sure Thor didn't get some water into his ear while playing outside?

Hope he gets better soon, so he can go back to smiting frost giants

[Rory's Dad]

Not to sound like a vet, because obviously i am not. But what do you hear when he shakes his head? Does it sound like fluid? This should be fairly easy to detect. Ear Mites will also leave a trail of dark, grainy deposit, so you should be able to inspect for that. Can you rub the ear base and either give him some relief or get a pain reaction?

These are questions that your vet should be asking. At your dogs age, i wouldnt think it to be an issue, and by all means, i dont want to cause additional stress, but we lost our 9 year old Chow almost a year back due to a tumor. He experienced tumors, and the 1st sign was the almost incessant ear scratching and head shaking. He would hold one side much lower than the other.

Again, please dont freak, because at your dogs age, this Highly Unlikely.

[jessica0309]

My previous reply seems to have gotten lost. Oops.

It definitely wasnt mites or ticks. The vet swabbed his ears. She looked at the swab and diagnosed bacteria. I never saw her actually look at it under a microscope, but she claimed she would to verify. We used the bacteria drops for two weeks.. And it seemed to get better but not completely fixed. There was never a bad smell from the ears. After lots of research I think it is a yeast problem. Or maybe water?

The head shaking is still happening but it is less frequent. It was really bad the first night but improved using the bacteria drops and benedryl. It didnt go away completely though. It does make a noise when he shakes; is that fluid??? What should I do?? He could have gotten water in his ear while my husband was watering the lawn. Thor also rubs his face on the grass. Maybe he is itchy? We have a new ear wash to use and Thor lets me massage his ears and my husband sneaks the ear wash in. Hopefully we can have this problem fixed in a week using this new ear wash. If not, I will take him to a new vet. I also switched his food to grain free natural balance limited ingredient diet. It doesn't contain any yeast; the blue buffalo I bought last month has yeast as an ingredient.

Thanks for all the tips!!

[Ursa's daddy]

The problem with getting water in a dogs ear is that it can lead to infection. The various products available at the drug store to use for swimmer's ear in humans is suitable for use with dogs. All this material does is remove residual water. You can use this along with a ear syringe to help clear your dog's ear. These products ONLY remove water and help to clear up the ear canal and do nothing else, so realize that these will not stop an infection.