# Urgent Ear issues



## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

I have a Solid Black Shepherd with Brown socks who was a rescue dog. He was 5 when we got him. He's 9 now. He has always had issues with his ears since we got him. I do my best to always keep them cleaned out but sometimes he gets into things and I am not sure what he rolls in or runs through but he gets some pretty nasty stuff in his ears. My issue with him right now is that his ear developed a swollen spot on it down near his head on the front edge of his ear. At first the spot was about the size of one of those Toni's pizza rolls for lack of a better description. well now the swelling has increased all the way to the tip of his ear and it's sore to the touch for him now. I called my vet when it first happened and he said it sounded like a "hematoma" and that it would go away on it's own, he went on to say that it was either from him scratching too intently or shaking his head too violently. 

Since it got worse I took him into the vet to have them look at it and he said that all it would do is make a really big mess if he drained it and his ear would never stand back up again. In fact he went on to tell me that it would eventually crumple up like a boxers ears do. He's always been such a handsome well toned dog, I just can't accept that something like this would potentially take away from those looks. 

I spoke to a friend last night who has always had huskies and he said that his dog had the same issue and when he took it in to get her ear checked out the vet drained it and said that if he hadn't have brought her in when he did, the injury could have eventually killed her because of the blood in there getting contaminated and causing her a lot of problems. 

This is my second Shepherd, but I have had dogs all my life and I have never heard of this before. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this and what if anything could or should be done. I am just not happy with the "just let it be" philosophy that my vet has and I also am not really excited about the idea that his ear will never stand back up again. 

Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated as I am now in alarm mode with this issue based on what my friend was told about his husky mostly. 
HELP!!!!!


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Our clinic always treated hematomas. Drain them and then sew in a stitch here and there (there are actually plastic molds that can be attached by the vet) to keep the ear from filling again.

You MUST treat the cause.... whether it is a bacterial infection or a yeast infection and then you need to find out what causes that.... could very well be allergies.

If I had a dog with an ear hematoma and I called the vet and the vet didn't feel a need to see my dog, I would find a new vet.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Hi there. I think you need to get a new vet. Hearing a vet say that something will "make a mess" so shouldn't be done would have me running for the door. 
A competent vet can drain and tack the ear. It may not stand completely but it won't "crumple." 

Once you have this problem under control you need to get to the root of the ear infections. The stuff that looks like dirt in there has nothing to do with rolling or getting into things. It is either a yeast or bacterial infection. Chronic ear infections are usually the result of allergies or some other immune system issue like a systemic yeast infection.

So step number one is to find a new vet!


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

I would second the "get a new vet" opinion.


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

that's kind of what i was thinking too. 

this fella also has isssues with gnawing his fur off his butt and the vet says it's just dry skin and told me to use Gold bond on it. 

that does absolutely nothing for it and he gets little bumps all over like dried up zits that just form over night some times and the vet had no answer for those either. 
The dog had none of these issues when we got him and I know he's miserable but I gotta do something for him. I think i am going to find another vet. That seems like the smartest thing I can do for him right now just for starters


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Your dog has allergies. Those are all symptoms of allergies. What are you feeding him?


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

Not sure how helpful this is to you, but one of our rescues had severe ear issues when he was found - he is susceptible to yeast infections and there is a special cleaner that has to be used to keep his ears clear (he is my parents' dog - do not have the name of the product handy). This was obviously a recurring problem for him because his ears have so much scar tissue from old hematomas they are almost 3/4 of an inch thick. Please get another vet to look at him - he must be so uncomfortable.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Treat the ear infection first. (as well as the hematoma). If the dog is shaking and scratching that much, he is MISERABLE.
Then start looking into 1.)allergies and 2.)the possibility of parasites (fleas, mites, etc.)

Good recipe for ear treatment (but you need to have a vet look at the ear BEFORE applying it)....
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/ears.html


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Yep to all the above. fighting this with Duchess now. She's 12.5 never had allergies before, now suddenly she does (not food, switched proteins -no grains at all, still problems) anyway she had a hematoma, put cortisone in it after draining. month later ear filled back up, this time pus. she's now on antibiotics 3x/day for 2 wks. since benadryl/claritin/zyrtec haven't done anything to relieve her symptoms, we're going to have to put her on prednisone and keep her on it. 

Vishnu was allergic since the day we got him at 2 yrs old. Zymox cleaner, and ear ointment (google the name zymox cleanser) my vet got me hooked, don't need a script, helps keep ears cleaned out, but you will need to find out what the allergy is. Food is the easiest thing to try. I would go to a grain free formula and start there.


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

here's a previous thread:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=900388&page=6#Post900388


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## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

agreed new vet and everything else


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

well I have always fed all my dogs Maximum Nutrition which is supposed to be (I am finding out now) walmarts version of science diet. It's always worked great for the dogs I've had in the past. This one loves the stuff too. In fact it's hard to keep them out of the bags. I usually use that brand or like here lately if that's not available I'll get Purina one. I try to be careful not to get him something that's just all full of fillers and other unhealthy junk though those may still be and I am just unaware. Cost is kind of an issue too so it's always been what ever the local walmart carries. 

The issues with the "allergies" you all are mentioning only started when we left for one week about 2 years ago. He evidently got Nervous and wound up gnawing all the furr off his hind end. When we came back, so did the fur. After that he would gnaw it away from time to time agian. 

He always had issues with his ears but keeping them cleaned out at bath time was (until now) good enough. I am a responsible pet owner so i am going to get him taken care of and squared away A.S.A.P. 

Just got off the phone with another vet and they said that it will be almost $450.00 to get this corrected and if I don't get it taken care of soon he will go deaf and his ear will crumple up. Now the fun part, trying to figure out where we're going to get that kind of money to get him taken care of Now! any way, thanks for all your help I really appreciate all the hints and Ideas, they were very helpful.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Good Luck! You may want to look into....http://www.carecredit.com/practices/veterinary/
Not sure how affected they are by the "credit crunch" but a friend used them for an unexpeted vet bill and it was 0% interest for 60 days.
For food, you may find that by spending a little more, you save on vet bills. I went through this exact same thing with a dog. He did have food issues and although the Natural Balance I found to feed him cost more, we never had ear infections or skin-itchies again. http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/allergy.html
I did find other allergy foods that worked, but for the money I like NB. You can find it at Petco.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

The local walmarts foods aren't the greatest and are typically fillers. None of them are grain free. 

$450??? wow, my vet charged me less than $100 to drain and for the cortisone injection in the ear. Stress and sep anxiety (chewing when you left, stopped when you came back) is diff. than the ears and the gunk. 

http://www.entirelypets.com/zyotenso.html?ysmcpn=zyotenso&ysmchn=YAH&ysmtac=PI

Get the cleaner and the otic with hydrocortisone. This will help naturally get rid of the ear infection. Won't stop it from coming back until the under lying cause is treated. It won't help the hematoma either. That still has to be addressed separately. 

Petco has some natural grain free foods. I have mine on Taste of the Wild, you can find it at alot of the Tractor Supply stores. It's grainfree as well.


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

Might have to try that one out too, one of the local low cost vets here said there is one here in Tennessee to try also. browndogfoundation.org so maybe if one can't or won't the other will. already applied to the one I just mentioned will take 24 hours to find out. **** if they don't guess i could always sell a kidney or something lol. gotta get my boy taken care of I know he's miserable. That ear just looks painful looking at it. 

Thank you again all of you for your support and ideas, I really appreciate it and now i know what has to be done at least.


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

Here are a couple more possible sources of assistance:

http://www.aahahelpingpets.org/

http://www.Angels4Animals.org

http://thepetfund.com/


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

ok just for giggles I tried some prednizone that we had laying around and the ear stopped swelling any more it had gone to the tip of the ear and covered about half of it toward the back of his ear. He was taken for a ride and i believe a combination of the prednizone and the cold air on his ear helped out because today it's not as swollen and has infact gone down a little and gotten much softer to the touch. 

It also doesn't appear to be as sore to him today so it's a positive step in the right direction, he's going to a different vets tomorrow and we'll see what they say. I'll post the findings here when they decide which is the better of the ways to go for him. trying to opt for a non surgical method of resolving this if possible, don't like the idea of my buddy getting cut on if there is another less invasive way of handling this.


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

New vet, better care. they still didn't drain the ear because as she said we could go to all that trouble and the ear still not stand up so we chose not to go through that route and put him through the trauma of the surgery and having to be away from us all night. last time we had to leave him at the vets he was completely nuts after just a couple of hours of us not being around so I can imagine what it would have been like after a whole night of being away from us. 
The vet gave us more prednizone for his ear and some anti-biotic drops for his ear also to help decrease the infection that he does actually have. I was rather embarrased to see her pull a clump of gunk out of his ear. I thought we did a better job than that of keeping them cleaned out. 

This vet actually addressed all his issues at once the ear infection, the skin issues the whole 9. We are now feeding a non grain, non beef food in hopes that will address and cure the skin irritations and several other issues we weren't aware before that food intollerance caused. the cheap foods aren't worth all the trouble they caused. Now we are spending a few more dollars for food but all 3 dogs should all be a lot better off because of it. 

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

That is super news. Hope he feels better soon. Also sounds like you finally found the right vet!


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## daddytech (Jan 23, 2009)

ok A little update, the vet gave us prednizone, and some stuff for his ear. he had a yeast infection in his ear also and we were given a bottle of ear medicine for him to help with the infection also. 

I was told not to be affraid to clean out the ear and shown that I actually could put my finger down in there with a cotton pad and clean it out and not to be affraid of hurting thier ear drum because as far as the ear drum it's self it's way down in there and back at an angle so chances of actually impacting it are rare. 

Since we gave him the prednizone and the ear wash for his infection his ear eventually went down and has almost totally stood back up on it's own. We have been massaging it a little at a time every day to help it stand back up, but only as much as he is comfortable with. 
The Vet Also told us "DO NOT USE THE Genecian Violet treatment on ANY dog's ears" due to the alchohol content it will not do anything but irritate and burn the dog's ears. no concern was voiced about the other ingreedients however. we were told just for a washout of his ears to use a 2 to1 vinegar and water solution. 

So far he's a much happier puppy, we also changed his food regiment that day, we've been feeding all our dogs the Call of wild all natural non grain food from Tractor supply and they all love it. it's a little bit more expensive but being that one of them is suffering from food intolerance they are all on the same food. 
our shepherd now has all the fur growing back on his backend again now too, it started growing back almost immediately and he now has a full coat again only a couple weeks later. 

Thank you for all of your help and suggestions and helping me decide the better way to go with this situation. I think I have determined a little better what to look for in a vet now also. I think from now on before I take any of my dogs in I am going to use this situation as a sort of interview to find out how compitent they are as a vet and how much they actually care about the animals they are treating. 

thanks again 
Jim


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