Peristent ear infection in dog

[Tiredemma]

4th visit to the vets this evening as my dogs ear infection does not seem to be clearing.
Constantly itching/shaking and area is inflamed.
Does anyone have any natural remedy recommendations? I cant keep paying out £140-£150 a time for medication and consultation and am keen to explore other avenues if these are not working.

What breed is your dog?
Has he hairy ears? If yes you need to remove it.
Does he swim or play in the wzter?
There is a liquid ear cleaner (forgot what it is called) you could try to clean it.

Firstly try Thornit powder.

After that I'd be looking at what you are feeding - grains in foods can exacerbate things like this so I'd look to go grain free, if not raw.

Try Thornit powder. Twice a day for 5 days, then twice a week. This cleared up my dog's ears when nothing else seemed to. You can buy it online from Amazon- about £6 or so, I think.

That seems to be three times the price of anything I've ever paid here for the same!

Do you clean the dogs ears? Are there any ear mites being identified? Is there anything stuck in the ear that's causing it?

we have had this problem too - 4 years! got very fed up with vet and we no longer are willing to have expensive "procedures"

it seems to go from infection to thrush and back again!

he is on a special diet

I put sudocrem on to reduce inflammation- very effective!

God bless thornit powder our labrador and spaniel both had need of it at different times.

we also tried thornit - yes recommend it - or even medicated talc!

he just has very narrow ear canal so repeated problems

We tried thornit but it didn't work. What finally worked was a white vinegar wash- not a problem after a weeks worth and nothing since. Issue going on for years as well.

Thornit powder is great, as is www.stinky-stuff.co.uk/products/soothing-ear-drops/

My spaniel is really prone to dirty waxy ears. I buy cleaning stuff from Viovet and use either of the above, works for us.

Hi, I’m sorry to hear this! Ears can be very troublesome. Please please don’t pluck your dogs ear hair. It’s painful and can lead
to further infection. Has your vet taken a swab of your dogs ears to ascertain what/if bacteria/yeasts are the cause? Given the history you have provided I would be looking at anaesthetising your dog (provided pre-GA bloods are okay and your dog is otherwise healthy) and thoroughly cleaning out both ears before installing a long acting antibiotic anti yeast product in line with the culture and sensitivity findings from the swabs taken. This way you’re more likely to get a targeted response and the right treatment initiated. Failing that some recurrent ear infections can sometimes be down to food allergies or intolerances. These are quite uncommon but can account for approximately 10% of food allergies. (So around 1/10 Dogs who have skin or ear conditions can be attributed to food allergies) In this instance another blood test can be performed to ascertain which foods your dog is allergic to but the best way of working it out is to do a food elimination trial. This is usually eight weeks where you try and only give them a specific type of protein and carbohydrate source which is usually fish and potato-based. There are some extremely good and reliable ready-made diets from Hills and Royal Canin which will be able to help you with that. Please don’t be persuaded to buy off-the-shelf products that claim to be hypoallergenic. The
Manufacturing process in non prescription diets doesn’t reliably provide the type of solution that your potentially food allergic dog may have. Please do this with the guidance and support of your veterinary surgeon. I’m really sorry you’re struggling with this and feel sad for your little dog. Ear infections are really sore and can really make an otherwise happy dog miserable. I think you need to have a really good chat with your vet about where to go from here, and you may have a longer road to recovery than just a weeks worth of antibiotics etc. Also it’s worth bearing in mind that pain relief is important to keep your dog comfy (non steroidals are most commonly prescribed for this sort of issue although if your dog is on steroids to calm the ear inflammation then your vet will most likely choose not to add in pain relief of the NSAID variety) Again, sorry you’re having to go through this. Skin and ear conditions make up a vast percentage of the cases I see and they can be very difficult to get on top of, or face recurring issues. Hopefully you’re insured and they can help with some of the costs?
Please feel free to PM me if I can be of any further help. (Sorry if this reads a bit all over the place- just putting kids to bed)

Another Thornit user here, swear by the stuff. Also go grain free or feed raw, this can make all the difference. Can I ask what breed you have as some breeds have a lot of hair in their ears and that can cause the ear to become damp and inflammed.