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.

@Superlambaanana - no not a steroid.

It's a wound healing cream with silver sulfadiazine, it's for humans and available on prescription.
My vet tried this for my old girl after we had exhausted everything else (including diet) it worked almost instantly, but as soon as we stopped, the problems were back!

I've also heard mumblings that vets are very aware so many more dogs are now suffering from allergies than used to. It makes me think what's changed over the years, which is mainly kibble and possibly vaccinations? I don't feed chicken but it's hard to find a product that doesn't contain it.

@Superlambaanana your best off with something like this. I add fruit and raw veg, raw coconut oil (which btw is great for the ears) and supplements.

My older dog had recurring and awful ear problems. Needed sedating for ear flush. She also had such itchy feet she would chew parts of her pads off.
We switched to totally raw. Cut out chicken and also beef. The gold standard is to feed a new protein and only that. For some weeks.
She has been absolutely fine for years now. We feed dehydrated treats.

Sorry forgot to post the pic

Yumove digestive care has solved this problem for our dog. She has two tablets a day in her food and will even eat them on their own.

My westie had bad ears, found through trial and error that any fowl and beef and wheat would set him off.

He is now on Symply dried kibble... Lamb and sweet potato. Has the same stuff every day for the past 11 out of 13 years. Loves it and has no ear trouble.

I have had two dogs with awful ear problems, a Staffie and a small Bichon Frise cross. The Staffie suffered with itching and pain in his ears and also painful inter-digital cysts. I tried everything that the vet recommended, including a referral to the animal hospital in Bristol, where he had immuno-therapy injections and allergy tests and he was put on an elimination diet. Eventually, he was found to be allergic only to the storage mite which is apparently present in all dried biscuit food and once he stopped eating all brands of biscuit & ate only wet food, white fish to begin with, for about six months, he was so much better & only occasionally had the odd cyst between his toes.
Good luck in finding the root cause, it's horrible to see them suffer.

Ok. So thanks again for all the replies.

I'm going to take him off the Royal Canine. I was already nervous about it, despite it coming from the vets.

I've ordered a packet of the CI Tickety Boo food. I'll try using that on walks to see if it makes any difference.

I'm not prepared to go fully raw. The dog is a bit fussy and will only eat it when he's really hungry. I may be a bad dog owner but I like him to have some things that he clearly enjoys eating and won't say no to.

Have you considered ear mites? I didn't even know it was a thing 
My dog had, exactly like yours, a very persistent problem with one ear with all the same symptoms and nothing from the vet helped alíviate the issue.

Some ear drops from a local pet store for ear mites solved the problem within days. It was such a massive relief to finally solve this.

I can find the product name for you if you like? I hope you get it sorted.

Never take nutritional advice from a vet is my best advice!

I wonder why the vet lightly plucked my dog's ear then when she had a bacterial infection.

If apoquel worked a bit then you’re probably looking at allergies - I’d just get the allergy testing done tbh.

Intradermal allergy testing is fairly accurate and not hugely expensive, as far as referrals and testing goes anyway. My last dog had it done so my prices will be out of date, but, it’s was around about £500 for a referral to the dermatologist and testing where the same dog was 2.5k for a referral to the orthopaedic surgeon and MRI.

So hundreds rather than thousands and you’d have a better idea of where to go from there.

Yes please if you don't mind do give me the recommendation. I have tried thonit/ canker powder though which i think is also supposed to kill ear mites but I will try anything!

Did your dog have the problem in just one ear? I can't fathom why if it's an allergy it's only affecting one of my dogs ears and not both. Have asked vet and got vague replies which suggests they really don't know either.

Don't suppose the insurance covers this? Must check my policy.

My vet was pretty meh about it. As pp have said, apparently a lot of allergies are environmental and the tests aren't very accurate - so wouldn't let me know I need to get rid of something specific in the house, or remove something specific from the diet and apparently they may not even be very reliable.

Did you have a different experience- were you able to pinpoint a particular food or chemical?

My Cockapoo has suffered terribly with ear infections and dermatitis. We changed to fish only diet- butternut box and wainwrights superfood salmon for treats. Ears are much better but skin still itchy. We do clean ears once a week and use an antiseptic drop. We are not long back from holiday and my sister had dog. Skin was amazing on return. No change to diet so only thing I can think is environment. We've moved to non-bio washing powder, got rid of fabric softener and try and line dry or tumble (without the smelly sheets). Seems to have helped a bit.

Thanks. Would you mind coming back and updating if this works! Environment does seem to be a major factor but where the hell to start!

Allergy testing for food allergies is hit and miss. Not least because it may not be an allergy, it may be an intolerance - the mechanisms for which are different even though the indirect impact can be very similar (e.g. ear problems). They would not show on tests.

Allergy testing for environmental allergies can be useful. Gold standard is to run them with two labs and compare results.

If one ear is slightly different to the other - for example a slightly narrower canal (which may even have been caused by a previous infection) it will be a bit more vulnerable to infections forever.

Trying to see if food is the cause means picking a brand new protein and a brand new carb - something the dog has never eaten before - and feeding ONLY that protein and carb for 6-8 weeks. e.g. horse and quinoa. Not treats etc on top of that. If there is an improvement then you can add one more protein or carb and test for 6-8 weeks. You keep going until you hit something that causes problems, then you go back a step and try something else. It it honestly difficult to do long term and takes months and months to do properly.

Or you could pick a truly anallergenic food, such as Purina ProPlan Hypoall. or you can pick a vegan food, under the hope that it is an intolerance (most likely) and is for a protein (most likely). Every day brands that label themselves as hypoallergenic but still contain meat will not be any good. You need one where the protein molecules have been broken down into their constituant parts so the body no longer reacts to them. Or one that does not have meat in at all.

You would feed solely this for 6-8 weeks and see what happens. Personally, I'd pick this option. Even if you don't want to feed vegan or 'vet food' for life etc, it can still be a good short term way to see if a meat intolerance is the cause.

When having an infection treated by the vet don't let them guess on an antibiotic - have them do an ear swab and test for the specific bacteria and what it is vulnerable before selecting one. Then swab test every 1-2 weeks to check it remains the right anti-b and do not stop using the antibiotic it until you get at least one clear swab test. They don't do all of this as standard, often, because they get push backs on the cost of it from owners etc. And because it's often not needed. But repeat problems suggest you need to do things right.

Don't pluck the ear but do get your dog used to having the inner flap clipped short (if not already) so you can keep as good an airflow as possible.

We got a positive for dust mites and a couple of related things and what they thought could be a false positive for like trees - something along the lines of it showing up more often than it should so unless someone actually had lime trees they ignored it.

So changed his bedding and medication and it definitely helped.

My understanding of it is that intradermal testing isn’t completely accurate because it does throw out false positives and they could have a rare allergy they don’t test for, but it’s not inaccurate in the same way that other “allergy tests” are.

And yes, should covered by insurance, it’s just a referral to a specialist, same as any other referral or testing would be.

I have two cockapoos. My eldest cockapoo suffered terribly with his ears from approx 18 months old. He is now 5. Over time we had tried ALL of the things that you listed in your original post. The ONLY thing that has 100% resolved the problem was being referred by our vet (finally!) to the dermatologist. Absolutely the best thing that we ever did for our dog. Fingers crossed, he has now had a clean bill of health for the past year since we were signed off from the dermatologist . No more ear problems! He is a different dog.He has regular drops twice a week in his ears and that’s it. Amazing!

There’s so much I could tell you about our experience with the dermatologist but too much to type!
Lots of the things I tried before this were actually feeding the problem but I didn’t know that at the time and was doing anything and everything to help my poor pup get better!
I’d strongly advise you to tell your vet you want your dog referred to a dermatologist.
Good luck… I really hope you can get it sorted as it’s awful to see your dog in so much discomfort.

He has regular drops twice a week in his ears and that’s it. Amazing!

What are the drops @RocketQueen21 - I'm just curious (nosey!)

SirSniffsAlot the drops are ‘Cortavance.’
We had to go through a very thorough and pretty extensive treatment plan for a few months until we got to this point of just using these ear drops. Twice a week on two consecutive days.

Purple ear cleaner will work for you.

I would also feed natural yoghurt, a small amount every day especially if he has had multiple antibiotic courses.

You need to ensure the ear is fully clear of any infection, wax, ear mites etc before changing any food. Gradually introduce any new food and make sure any ingredient change is easily identified so you can see what may be causing any return of the problem.

Many dog foods contain large abouts of pea flour, which was introduced into foods to bulk the food up as ingredient costs became higher, it is a known problem for many dogs.

Allergy could be an issue but it may not be if it is just one ear.

I use Cortavance too.
Its brilliant.
Vet said to use it at the first sign there might be trouble brewing (head shaking/scratching)
it works a treat, after about 24 hours the signs of a potential ear problem disappear.
my dog is a cockapoo too.