Ear inflammation caused by allergies???

Comments

• Losech

  August 2011

  What formula TOTW does he eat? Shibas are commonly allergic to poultry and if he eats the duck kind he might be reacting to that. Some are also reactive to beef. My Shiba can't have cooked chicken in large quantities, no what or corn at all and only small amounts of potatoes. TOTW uses a lot of taters who that wouldn't work for Conker.
  
  Has he been having the ear problems since before he started raw? Have they gotten worse since he began? What I'd do to figure it out would be to fully switch to raw (if that's what you are going to do) once the kibble runs out then do an elimination diet if he is still having problems.
  
• dlroberts

  August 2011

  The brown wax makes me think immediately of a yeast infection. Sometimes it will ball up into little balls that look like coffee grounds. It isn't a sure thing, but it generally indicates a yeast infection. I'd do the culture (it's quick and painless) to rule out that out first. It seems a bit strange to me that your vet would prescribe so many powerful drugs when a simple, noninvasive, and inexpensive test can help with the differential diagnosis.
• ttddinh

  August 2011

  @Losech: He eats the Pacific Stream variety. Because he is a foster, I cannot switch his to fully raw because his potential adopter may not feed him raw. He had ear problems before the raw, I just found out the ground turkey may be the problem so I am going to eliminate it.
  @dlroberts: THANKS! We will probably end up doing that if the ear does not clear up soon.
• WrylyBrindle

  August 2011

  My dog Reilly had the same problem- yeast, brown gunk, red inflamed ears. Vets gave us all kinds of eardrops, but the root of the problem was diet. I removed all wheat & corn (she was eating Nutro in those early days), and she has not had a recurrence in years. This is difficult to go over with regular vets because they treat symptoms (hence the eardrops), and they will want to do official allergy te$ting, or an elimination diet where over many months you feed one thing and then slowly add in the new ingredient and see if thats the allergic one. I think you are on the righttrack with raw and grain free. It can take a while to get all traces of the allergens out of circulation in the dog, I have heard, tho. PAtience, I think you are on the right track.
• JessicaRabbit

  August 2011

  Ruby has chronic ear infections and LOADS of allergies (food, and environmental). I stopped using prescription ear drops over a year ago. I switched to an enzymatic drop that worked as well if not better.
  http://www.zymoxotic.com/
  
  I also started to really monitor her diet. She was already grain free. She is allergic to chicken and eggs. We have her on Orijen 6 fish formula kibble (one of the ONLY grain free egg free kibbles out there. Lots of grain free but most still have chicken byproducts). It does have super high protein so we cut into that a bit by adding a few chickpeas to her meal.
  
  After reading this article
  http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yeast_mini_course.htm
  (which gets a smidge whacky toward the end, but has a few interesting points) I stopped adding sweet potatoes to her food. I realized that the high sugar content in sweet potatoes was likely contributing to her yeasty ears. Switching to chickpeas made a big difference.
  
  A non scientific way to check if it's yeast is to smell their ears. Cheesy smell typically means yeast. Cheesy feet too.
  
  This time of year is tough for Ruby. Here in Southern New England it is grass pollen season and Ruby is super allergic to grass. So this time of year it is an up hill battle fought with Benedryl and ear drops. So take some comfort in not being alone.
• jan3t

  August 2011

  I have had two dogs who had ear infections and for both, their ears cleared up once I eliminated the food that caused it.
  
  My current dog was fed raw, and developed allergies to what ever animal I fed her - and it finally just got too complicated. I tried feeding foods with unusual meats, but she just kept developing allergies to them all. She has been eating a food in which the proteins have been emulsified to amino acids for about five years, and has been almost allergy free. She can now tolerate a handout or occasionally sneaking another dog's food, but if it happens several days in a row she starts the auricular ooze, pink inflamed face, pimples....and gas. Then we're all screaming for mercy!
• ttddinh

  August 2011

  THANK YOU ALL for your helpful suggestions!!! Zeus' ears smells really bad--like cornchips almost...but he doesn't seem to bite/chew on his feet.
  @JessicaRabbit--I am using the zymox drops, they seem to help quite a bit.
  I am thinking about adding some apple cider vinegar to his diet (to help with yeast infection?) Has anyone done this before? If so, could you suggest a dosage? Zeus weighs 33 lbs.
• ttddinh

  August 2011

  Also, BOTH TOTW pacific stream formula and orijen 6 fish contain sweet potatoes, does anyone have any recommendations for a kibble that does not contain poultry or sweet potatoes?
• JessicaRabbit

  August 2011 edited August 2011

  Have you considered home cooking? That might be a good option for you. I have added cider vinegar to Ruby's regimen but she hated it so much that she would in fact run away from it. We tried diluting it. We tried mixing it in peanut butter. Event tried pouring it over dried fish. But she is a delicate flower.
• tjbart17

  August 2011

  Koda had the same yeast infection at four months old. Turned out the treats my neighbor was giving him had corn in them. He got it. We cleared it up. We saw her and he got it again. I gave her some homemade jerky to give him.
• ttddinh

  August 2011

  Thanks guys!!