labrador - ears - any other ideas?

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harrietSJ

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Hi all -

Our 4yo lab has had infections/excess wax in her left ear for years now with various ear flapping/discomfort on and off. Her ear just doesn't seem to self clean and kept getting infected as yeast/bacteria accumulated with excess wax also...

6 weeks ago she had a lateral ear canal resection as there were kissing lesions at the very top of the ear canal which when she flapped knocked together causing more inflammation etc etc... The vet didn't do a total ear ablation as that was unnecessary at this time, and in theory should have sorted the problem as he also straightened out the ear canal so no u-bend...

However... after about 3-4 weeks she started flapping and being very sore again, the lesions on the top of the canal which were resected were healed - she went in last week, sedated and ear canal cleaned out as there was excess wax in there, quite a lot of excess wax - nothing under the microscope in terms of nasty things but definite inflammation of the ear canal also - seemed OK for 4 days then started flapping and head tilting again

I took her back in today, and yet again there is excess wax in there... no bacteria or yeast - and she has yet another course of steroids to calm down the inflamed ear canal.

I just am wondering why this would occur?

If anyone has ANY suggestions (anything to try!) before we potentially have to put her through the ear ablation surgery as if there is any way to help this without more surgery that would be preferable without continuing any discomfort for our girl

We have done the allergy route already, elimination diet etc etc... which didnt work. Right ear is clean as a whistle.

Thank you very much if anyone can suggest anything. All this sedation, steroids, antibiotics is not good for her ongoing and so any tonics/vitamins etc recommend also would be helpful too..
 
My dog was tortured with his ears and the best thing was the Epi-Otic ear wash - it's meant as a prep for medicated drops but it cleared everything up. He is also on a low-protein diet and anti-histamines.

I would advise you not to have the ear canal removed or tampered with - my friends OES had this done, his ears are still terrible after the procedure.

It may also be genetic...my dog is inbred on two males known for skin/allergy problems. Oh well!!! If I knew then what I know now....
 
Sounds like a wax problem - if you find a cure let me know as I have frequent problems with wax build up in my own ears. I use almond oil to thin the wax so it can be wiped or syringed out.

What exclusion diets did you try? I had a Glen that was allergic to chicken & cattle - that included eggs & dairy.
 
Also used epiotic wash to great effect on an ESS. Big wodge of cotton wool,liberally squirting of epiotic onto c.wool &a good,thorough (but gentle!) wipe round the ear. I did it periodically anyway,even if no symptoms-it kept trouble at bay!
 
I have a rottie x collie who looks more like a lab than anything else and also has suffered ear problems this year. He had an infection in his left ear which took a good 6 weeks to get on top of, was fine for about a week and then got the infection in his right ear. He had 2 different antibiotics plus the epiotic cleaning stuff. He is now clear of infection and I just use the cleaning stuff once a week. So far so good and no more infections or wax build up.
 
My lab had to have his ear flushed twice,the smell was awful but they were not bothering him, the yeast infection is now at bay, we now keep on top of cleaning with malacetic and epiotic.
 
Canaral may be the remedy which i use for my Lab who has also been plagued by ear problems stemming fom yeast.I also try to avoid too much swimming as this seems the main cause.Canaral keeps the ears dry and prevents yeast infections.You need to get it from the Vet though.
 
How long did you try the elimination diet for? Did you use truly novel foods (stuff he's never had before), might be worth going into further detail of what you tried just incase.
 
i am pretty sure the vet did the same thing to my cat, who had the same problem for years. it was unsuccessful. :(

my friend's dalmatian bitch has the same issue. both ears are waxy, but one is worse than the other. the only thing that made a big improvement was when she had a male dal, who would clean her ears for her. (very sweet... but sick!) unfortunately he had to be pts, and since her ears have flared up again. :(

she now uses ear drops, but i don't think they make much of a difference. :(

she now has a cauliflower ear as a result of so much head shaking. :( caused the blood vessels to burst and the ear to fill with blood. the vet drained it, but it came back, and was then left to subside on its own.

that's probably not any help in the slightest... but from my experience, its a chronic issue that never really leaves. :(
 
my lab has problems with waxy ears too. we use a wash- just squirt it in a hold/rub the ear for 20 seconds then let the dog shake. it seems to help but not a long term solution!
 
Thanks all - unfortunately we have used every single ear drop/cleaner on the market over the years, all the ones which have been mentioned in the post anyway

Elimination diet - for about 2 years on and off. Then gradually introduced items one at a time, then found a hypoallergenic food (salmon and potatoes) which then made her ears bad - now she is on raw food - raw oily fish and seems to be doing well on this but does lack energy.

The ear wax is building up, again, no nasties as was swabbed and we are leaving the ear alone in terms of potions. BUT she is on steroids this week as there was inflammation in the ear canal again. I just wonder if there are chronic changes causing this non-self cleaning/excess wax...

Any ideas?! Thank you
 
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