Ear Yeast Infections

[AverageGuy]

Vet confirmed my dog has a yeast infection in his ears. He had been shaking his head and pawing at them when in the house. Treated it but like to avoid more in the future.

What ear maintenance program are any of you using for dogs that get a lot of water work? What product and how often? Thank you in advance.

Side note, his retrieve handling training had been off several days in a row last week including that Sat training day I posted. Started pulling his normally clean lines in the water to the right consistently (only one ear was infected) and less accurate responses to handling. I think the two were related. Any thoughts on that as well?

[Sooty42]

My older dog has always got yeast ear infections. She use to only get them late summer and fall, but now that she is older it is more chronic. I use Epi Otic ear cleanser as a preventative. I don’t have anything else to compare it to, but as long as I stay on top of the cleaning schedule it seems to help prevent infections. I now use the same cleaner on my pup every time after he swims to help flush out any water in his ears.

[Misskiwi67]

For early mild yeast only infections this can be instilled daily for treatment.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01EPAEA ... ref=plSrch

If it’s not working then you may have a mixed infection or caught it late enough you need a combination product with steroids.

[orhunter]

I kept a squeeze bottle of water, vinegar and alcohol in the truck and gave dog a shot in each ear after a swim. Seemed to keep it at bay.

[carramrod]

I know I've seen a lot of waterfowlers use something called purple stuff. I've used it from time to time. Mostly when we've been doing water work, I've had no issues with it.

https://www.retrievertraining.net/forums/showthread.php?19565-Purple-Stuff-Ear-Cleaning

[AverageGuy]

Thank you all for the responses.

For early mild yeast only infections this can be instilled daily for treatment.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01EPAEA ... ref=plSrch

If it’s not working then you may have a mixed infection or caught it late enough you need a combination product with steroids.

Misskiwi, I have TrizEDTA but have not used it on any regular basis. I used it couple of days last week when I noticed the symptoms but was too late by then. It seems to lack the anti-fungal agent in the product you linked to. Is the product I already own something that would be preventative maintenance and the product you linked to, something I would use when I see symptoms? If the TrizEDTA is good for maintenance how often would I use it?

[Doc E]

The most common cause of recurrent fungal ear infections is not enough "friendly" bacteria in the gut.
Supplement daily with a QUALITY yogurt and/or a quality probiotic and you're good to go.

.

[ANick]

Vet confirmed my dog has a yeast infection in his ears. He had been shaking his head and pawing at them when in the house. Treated it but like to avoid more in the future.

What ear maintenance program are any of you using for dogs that get a lot of water work? What product and how often? Thank you in advance.

Side note, his retrieve handling training had been off several days in a row last week including that Sat training day I posted. Started pulling his normally clean lines in the water to the right consistently (only one ear was infected) and less accurate responses to handling. I think the two were related. Any thoughts on that as well?

AG, I'll give your thoughts on handling issues arising from yeasties a, 'very likely' , rating.

I've fought the yeasts with my two prior pups as well the current lass, probably the worst being the last one. Dot only has a problem in her right ear, her left has never had the problem. Rather odd, but looking in hers, the 'topography' of her right is wildly rugged with lots of nooks and crannies . If I keep ahead of it with cleaning, Epi-Otic there's not a handling problem. If it gets a bit of a load built up she will be sensitive to a little water in it, head shaking, holding that right ear lower .. obviously distracting the heck out of her. Seems to be a strong interference, something on the order of having a couple of ticked off bees inside your bee veil.

Trimming hair on the neck below / around the ear to improve air flow helps, as well gets a little better cooling for the pup in general.

Do pay attention to the reaction of the pup. I got some off the shelf wash for Dot on a roadtrip once that didn't go well at all. Cleaned up okay, along with the normal 'shake and rub the ground', but where she normally settles down in a couple minutes, she was reacting more... adding in some whining. Another look showed hot red skin in there. Washed out with soap and water and then just rinsed like mad. Got back to normal pretty quickly after that.

G'luck with Mr. Potato ..

[flitecontrol]

Does your dog have hair inside the canal? If so, plucking it out regularly will help. Plucking is better than cutting, as the cut hairs tend to fall farther down the ear and are hard to retrieve. Also, plucked hair takes longer to regrow than trimmed hair. I've done this with a lot of dogs, and never had one show signs of discomfort from the pulling. Don't try to pull all the hairs out at once; grab some, yank, repeat. Forceps are useful for getting hair you can't reach with your fingers.

[JONOV]

^^What Flitecontrol Said^^
One thing that I have done that helped a great deal, was strip and trim the absolute snot out of his ears. I don't know how shaggy Spud is, can't totally tell from your pictures, but mine is a muppet. I went to a friend that shows GWP's and we put him on a grooming table and went after the head, neck and ears with a pumice stone. He looked like a different do when we were done, he even has two eyebrows now.

But really going after the hair under the ears and in the ears helps it dry a lot faster I think. I've similarly been swimming him a lot because its so dang hot.

The other thing, and I know this isn't "safe," but I'll drive through the neighborhood and let him stick his head out. I think the bat dog helps him dry them out. Totally ridiculous, I know, but that yeast needs moisture.

[AverageGuy]

Thank you all for the responses. I plucked the hair out of his ears and am going to start flushing them after swimming.

[mastercaster]

I've heard a fair bit about this product. I haven't bought any preventative products or medications for my griff before. I haven't even done any cleaning or plucking because she's never had an ear infection before but I'm starting to wonder if I should take preventative measures ,,,,,or just leave well enough alone?

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A ... LjjEk29ZRs

[jarbo03]

I have had great luck with the "Purple Stuff" mentioned above.