Advice and help - ears!!!!

CorvusCorax

CorvusCorax

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Please help!

Our male GSD has had a recurring ear infection (in the left) over the past few months. He is a year old.
The first time we took him to vets, they said it was mites and sent us home with drops.
The next time they said 'here, have different drops'.

I just came home from holidays last night and his ear was awful, totally scabby on the inside, thickened, discoloured, and with heavy yellow pus on the inside and out.
He has lost hair on the outside of his ear and it is flopping over.
He is also losing hair on his toes, just under his eye and on the fronts of his back pasterns, if that makes any sense. This area is also scabbed.
He was at home, Mum looking after and she said it had never been that bad.

This morning vet gave good clean and an antibiotic, said she will take him in for swabs on Monday and that his ear canal is open, which is a good thing as my mate's pup had his ear canal removed in the end (same vet)

They say the other hair loss is an allergy?

Some points-

-His sister is kennelled next to him, on the same surface and goes on the same walks as he does. No problems with her ears or feet.

- This vet told my friend (the one with the ear-canal-less dog) that his problems were all allergy related, but couldn't tell her any more than that.

- We are presuming it isn't mange as we would all have it, surely? Even though it looks so angry.

- Mum thinks he might be allergic or has taken a reaction to dirty water as he is always in rivers and streams?

Any advice or help is appreciated, he is obviously uncomfortable, he has been such a brave lad when I have had to clean it out, I just want him to be better, he is such a good natured handsome boy and I hate to see him out of sorts. I actually burst into tears when I saw him yesterday.
I have had dogs my whole life, my mum for almost 50 years and we have never seen this in a GSD before.

HH xxxx

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Sorry to hear about Boydogs ears. We had something similar in a bitch a few years ago, she was constantly getting ear infections which obviously caused her a lot of pain. Vet eventually sedated her to have a good look and found that her ear drum had been quite badly damaged at some point , not sure how as she came to us at 9 months. We never really cured the problem just had to monitor carefully and be ready with the ear drops. The bald/scabby patches do sound like an allergy, Ushi had this type of thing when she went to live with Mum, vets thought it was an allergic reaction to the carpet. When she came back to live with me it cleared up so think he was probably right. Not really a lot of help to you I know, sorry. What bedding is he on - could it be something to do with that? Seems strange it has recently flared up, maybe your Mum is right with the dirty water theory -hope the swabs on Monday give you some answers.
 
Hi Mum! I'm going to be nosy and say what dog was that, i don't remember one coming to us at 9 months with dodgy ears?! Hope everyones ok at home.
H xxx
 
It was Mikki - Dunja's sister - you were only about 2 when she arrived so she was probably always here to you. All ok here apart from Vannah being a pain, see post in careers. xx
 
I do remember mikki, the one who didn't like pepper. never realised she was dunja's sister tho. have seen post in careers, glad my beautiful pony is keeping you active! by the way, i was up at 8.30, just haven't got round to working yet, ooops. H xxx
 
Although you are pretty sure it isn't mange, a simple thing to try is Stronghold. As you may know, it is a topical drop treatment applied to the back of the neck like Frontline, and like Frontline it treats for fleas, but unlike Frontline it doesn't treat for ticks.

Anyway the reason I suggest it is that Stronghold treats for mites and sarcoptic mange. It's such an easy routine monthly treatment that it would just be worth trying, in case it sorts out your dog's problem as it did for my dog when she had a bad skin condition, especially her ear, toes and tummy.

You can get Stronghold from the vet on prescription.
 
Hi guys, thanks for the replies.

The top picture was taken about a month and a half ago, this time it has flared up really suddenly.

B - The vet has given him Frontline in the surgery a few times but I will ask her about Stronghold tomorrow.

MM - He is in on stones/gravel with a heavy-duty plastic kennel with no bedding, he just keeps taking it out and dumping it outside and then going back in again. The runs are being flagged next week so we will see if that makes a difference.

I was up at C's club today, he said he has never heard the like of it in any dog. Took Bella, her first time watching protection work and she was a bit overawed by it all, she kept trying to hide behind me every time the 'criminal' cracked the whip!

Anyhow, hopefully tomorrow will give some more clues and I will also mention about the ear drum and a possible allergy to mites, which has also been suggested.

HH xxx
 
There is a good small animal vet that is equidistant from this one, I am seriously considering it, we will see what tomorrow's outcome is.
He is only young, I hope this isn't going to be a regular thing

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Well he was left in at 7.30am after we were asked to bring him in early.

I just phoned them and they said they are only taking the swab now and they were having diffs because he was 'hyper'. Of course he is, he's been in a cage for hours.
I asked if I should come down to settle him and they said they had just sedated him and wouldn't let him home until he comes round, which will be late afternoon.

Argh!!!
 
Hi. We have a different breed of dog to you ( mini dachshunds). they have floppy ears and in the summer we always seem to get problems with ear mites.and its a real pain. A friend of mine gave me some powder called Thuja.she gets it off e bay I think. Its homeopathic and since we used this powder, no problems whatsoever...not even redness inside the ear.and its quite a cheap thing aswell.we have a lot of dogs....treated them all at the same time. end of problem this year for us.
 
Have been following your post and waiting with baited breath for a good conclusion. Your boy has the same coat as one of mine (Mika, who has just had a haematoma removed and suffers with mites).

Have you tried Thornit? My vets agreed that the Canaural and other drops from the vets arn't always effective. The Thornit has dried Mika's ears up completely and stopped all the aggravation. It can also be used on bottoms and toes to the same effect.

Looking forward to hearing that the vets have found the problem and he is now sorted!
 
Hello....I picked him up yesterday and he was still totally out of it but I decided he'd be better at home - even though dozy he nearly dragged the vet through the door to get out and then I had to lift him into the boot, not fun!!!

They ended up taking biopsies of his ear, legs and feet so I understand why they sedated him, but he had enough to put a donkey under...I had to leave the poor lamb in my car for two hours to sleep it off, then lift him out again.
I fully expect stitches to be self-removed by tomorrow!

They say they will get back to me by Friday about the results.
I mentioned Thornit to the vet and she said she hasn't heard of it and will read up on it.

He stayed in his box most of last night and today. He was looking like a wing-nut the way he was carrying his ears!
I am in the Republic now and won't see him again until tomorrow (I am driving home for two hours, walking them and driving another 90 minutes to work!!!) morning but apparently he was coming out to say hello earlier on, so hopefully he is just feeling a wee bit sorry for himself.

Sorry for the essay, it's like having kids!!!!
 
Rang the vet today who says he has pyoderma.
He is also showing up allergic/resistant to the antibiotics she was giving him and she wants to change them.

I have looked up pyoderma and the causes and it could be any of them....

We are keeping the ear super clean and cleaning out missy-moo's ears as well (she was starting to get a bit scabby herself).
My problem now is the stitches, where they took the skin away...he is a real outdoorsy type and a rascal and it is so hard to keep him away from water.

My method is to just chase him round at the end of each day, grab a leg, give it a wipe and let go, that's the only way it doesn't end up with him dumping me on the ground and jumping all over me (his new favourite game...)

Would anyone recommend buying Thornit off the internet? Which is the best site?
 
Hopefully now the vet knows what it is she will be able to find somethign to help him. I have heard of Thornit but wouldn't know the best place to get it I'm afraid.
I can sympathise with trying to keep the stitches clean and dry, when Buffy had stitches in her tail she seemed to spend all her time sitting in muddy puddles
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Hope you see some improvement in the lads ears very soon.
 
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