Cockapoo ear problems

[Superlambaanana]

My adult cockapoo has had an ear problem for most of his life. One ear is fine. The other accumulates brown wax which makes him itch.

I've tried everything:
• Vet ear drops - with and without steroid ingredient.
• Vet antibiotics.

• Vet slow release antibiotics (only thing that worked, but only lasts 6 weeks and he's had this twice already).
• Vet steroids (dreadful reaction- had to stop after only a few days).
• Vet has also put him under anaesthetic twice to do a deep clean.
• Removed chicken from the diet.
• Apoquel anti itching tablets (worked a bit but obv don't deal with the root problem).
• Thonit powder.
• Daily cleaning with a baby wipe.
• Leaving it alone.

There is so much conflicting advice - clean daily/ don't over clean. One vet advises me to use cotton pads and clean into the ear canal, other says just put the ear wash liquid in and let the dog shake it out.

The poor dog is tormented. Especially at night. I'm awake in the middle of the night writing this because he wakes up to scratch the ear and then needs out to pee.

He gets some kibble when we're out walking (Royal Canine) and then some raw and cooked food for his dinner. I'm thinking of removing the dry kibble as my next attempt to find a solution. This has been going on for 5 years. I am desperate!

Thanks in advance for any useful advice.

I'm really surprised the vet hasn't recommended an allergy test. I would do that first before messing with his diet.

Definitely sounds like allergies. The usual culprits are grains, meat proteins, eggs and soy.

I’d start by asking vet for an allergy test, and in the mean time move him to a grain-free fish based diet. Harringtons and James Wellbeloved both do a salmon/grain free kibble I think - but Zooplus is a great website you can search for by ingredient so you can have a look there.

I was going to suggest allergies - my cockapoo had a very itchy ear and it was/is allergies.

Antihistamines in a low dose.
Make sure the fluff in his ear are always plucked when he is groomed, just in case he starts with a bacterial infection.

All advice from vet and reputable online sources, including Cockapoo Society is firmly that ear plucking SHOULD NOT be carried out. It's cruel and has no efficacy.

Following as we are having exactly same issue. Cleaned them last night as they were so smelly. She’s on cytopoint and apoquel. And hypoallergenic food.

Right, thanks folks. So allergies.

I have asked the vet about allergies before and was told to remove chicken from the diet.

Do those allergy tests work? A vet vaguely mentioned it once but didn't seem terribly convinced herself that it wasn't like the health food shop ones which are apparently a lot of old nonsense.

Grains and egg should be easy enough to cut out to see if that makes a difference. I don't think he gets soy in anything (will check). But how on earth do you cut out meat proteins?! I have to hide the carrots in his dinner as it is so I can't see him being a good candidate to go vegan 😊

Royal canine is terrible food. Go on All about dog food to look for an alternative. Not saying it will solve the problem but it might help.

When the ear smells it's got an infection. I'm afraid the only fix for that is a course of antibiotics from the vet.

You can get a hydrolysed diet from the vets which is suitable for protein allergies.

Im going to take him off the kibble altogether and bake some peanut butter treats instead. No... actually if grains are a problem... anyone got any grain free home made treat recipes? He likes the odd small treat when out on a walk and as a reward for recall. He'd eat anything in this scenario so it doesn't really matter what is or isn't in it.

There’s a product called stinky stuff for ears, might be worth trying that.

But isn't that dry kibble? Our vet sells Royal Canine. I don't really trust dry kibble. I read somewhere that an unprocessed food diet massively reduces the instance of cancer in dogs.

I had this problem with one of my two cockerpoos and the only thing that solved it was Thornit powder but I see you’ve tried that. How long did you give it?

I also agree that Royal Canine is awful food. Mine are on Ci Food and it’s great quality - you can choose the level of meat content. More isn’t always better for some dogs. Mine do best on the Tickety Boo range.

I'm still dabbling some on most days. Did it daily for a fortnight at the beginning. The only thing i think it has had an impact on is the movement of the wax. Weirdly it seems to come up the ear to the top canal in bigger lumps since Ive started the canker powder.

I just looked an Ci do an allergy formula - they’ll send you free samples if you pop them a message.

https://cifood.co.uk/allergies

Ask your vet for some flamazine (human anti inflammatory cream) and dilute with distilled water as ear wash.

Did work well for one of mine...

I would also recommend removal of hair in/ around the ear canal. That's because if you put stuff into the ear regularly you create a lovely warm moist environment for bacteria. It will be difficult to keep clean and dry, creating a vicious circle.

And check for allergies.

Oooh thanks!

My young Labrador had itchy skin until we swapped to a fish-based diet. Read labels carefully as a lot still have chicken in. I spoke to our dog food seller who knows more about dog (and horse ) nutrition than the average vet. Dog is on salmon and rice made by Pero, sold under a local farm shop label.

@Superlambaanana it is, but if you have a dog with allergies they can't be fed a normal diet unfortunately.

It's a bit like having a human with gluten intolerance and saying that they can't have GF bread because it's too processed.

Yes, the dry diet isn't ideal but it's better than your dog suffering and being in pain for the rest of his life.

A hydrolysed diet doesn't need to be permanent either btw - just something you can use temporarily and if the infection/issue disappears then you can start to rule out the cause of it.

Yes I do trim the hair under the ear. Apparently plucking irritates the skin and causes rashes and infections.

Is flamazine a steroid? He reacts badly to steroids. I already have a wash with an active ingredient which is a steroid but I try not to use it more than about once a fortnight.

I have two cockapoos and they are raw fed. Never once suffered with their ears. I'm on a cockapoo fb page and every other post is someone complaining about their dogs ears.

He gets raw food made by a local farm shop. He does also get cooked food and a handful of kibble on walks. I am tempted to go fully raw, but there is conflicting evidence that it's the right thing to do and he loves a sausage now and again or a bit of cooked ham!

Following as the last three dogs I've had have all had this problem (all diagnosed with atopic dermatitis - even allergic to dust 🙄 - I was told allergies were the reason - spent a fortune on first dog doing immunotherapy and had to inject her every month with cyclosporine. Did this for a year - very minor improvement, but eventually tried Apoquel which did stop the itching. Bet said allergies to diet much rarer than allergies to the environment.
Second and third dogs both on Apoquel - I didn't bother going through the expensive allergy tests as they weren't much use in the first dog's diagnosis.
Apoquel does work, but the dose sometimes needs increasing while it bankrupts you in the process.
Regarding the ear smell, my dog's ears have the foisty smell constantly. I've had them checked twice in the last six months by the vet and he said there is no infection. I also read somewhere that you can use Canesten in the ears so I've tried a small amount of that but am wary of blocking up the ear as it's a cream.
I get my Apoquel on prescription, as it's much cheaper online and I'm insured so can claim it back. Paying upfront is the stinger though - £435 for a 12 week course from the vet in one instance. How the pharmaceutical companies get away with this I don't know, but that's another thread.

Cockapoo owner here with one who has ear problems relating to allergies.
Totally agree with one other posters have said regarding the kibble, remove from his diet. We did this around five years ago and noticed a massive improvement. I then put our dog on raw which made seemed to clear up the ear problems overnight. We then transitioned him onto Butternut box cause he started refusing the raw food. We had no problems for 3-4 years and then summer of last year his ears started playing up again and his skin became itchy and inflamed. The vet recommended Royal Canine which I wasn't happy about at all but my husband said we needed to follow the vet's advice. Well what a surprise I did nothing for our dog. We went to see another vet who was brilliant and recommended we removed chicken and beef from his diet and looked at more exotic meats. Now our dog is on Simpsons wet food, and a couple of other varieties of canned food which offer Wild Boar, Venison, Kangaroo etc. It's cost us roughly the same as Butternut Box, which is around £40 per month to feed a 7.5kg dog. Good luck