ear infection

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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 11th, 2006, 10:17 am

Tallulah the bull terrier has been treated for an ear infection since last week. Twice a day she gets a cream, and once a day it gets flushed, although there is no residue anymore, her ears are squeeky clean. However, she is still rubbing them a little, shaking her head, and walks with one ear down (she has to do that on purpose, they normally are straight up.)

When I put her on meds I switched her diet back to Innova. Her coat within days started looking dull, , and she started gaining weight. So I just yesterday put her back on raw, but with beef rather than chicken. i am going to stay on the beef diet for at least a month. I have a few questions.

One, and it may sound stupid, but if a dog is allergic to chicken, are they allergic to eggs as well?

What is a good way to get bone on a beef diet? Are ribs the best bet? And how long before I should start seeing a lessening of symptoms? I do not want to keep switching her diet. On the chicken raw she looked fabulous, had energy, but got the ear infection. On kibble, she has a dull coat and bloats.

Also, I have to kennel Tallulah and my dal whippet mix from Friday until Wed. Is missing the meds going to make it so the meds are less effective once we start back up? I do not trust the kennel workers to be able to medicate her. They are cheap, and do a decent job, but they are not the most dog savvy people in the world, and Tallulah HATES having the meds in.

My vet wanted to see her again, but she is expensive AND she is young, so she thinks we have to order every test in the book, and each test is pricy. I am not made of money here. :rolleyes2:

Well, thats all I can think of now.

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Postby mnp13 » April 11th, 2006, 10:20 am

How long was she on the chicken before the ear infection?
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Postby Maryellen » April 11th, 2006, 10:21 am

it could also be air allergies- like grass, etc...
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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 11th, 2006, 12:14 pm

She was only on the chicken for two weeks, but my husband thought the ear infection may have been going on longer, he noticed shaking of the head for a while. We have had a lot going on with the animals, (new dog, amputated toe, flock of chickens killed, dog passed away) so I do not trust that I even picked up on it. It has been a bad year.

She was allergic to the chicken and rice kibble we had her on for a long time.

She is allergic to the long grass, but she has not been in it, and she only got a belly rash from that.

I can easily and fairly cheaply get all the beef i need, so i thought that would be a good protien to start on.
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Postby Malli » April 11th, 2006, 12:15 pm

what ME said :)
Its called Atopy, and its a lot more common then people think. The dog could be allergic to mould, pollen, dust, dust mites, grass, etc, etc, etc...

when I get the money, I'm looking at getting a scratch test and blood work done to narrow down what my dog is allergic to (we're almost 100% its not food related)

not saying you have to get all these tests, just thought I'd mention our reasons :)

And I'm definately not made of money either :P

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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 11th, 2006, 2:41 pm

would benadryl effect food allergies?

I am wondering if at a month she still seems allergic, I put her on benadryl and the allergies clear up, then I can rule out food allergies?
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Postby katiek0417 » April 11th, 2006, 3:41 pm

dogcrazyjen wrote:would benadryl effect food allergies?


I have a wicked peanut allergy and my allergist once told me that if I eat peanuts and don't have an epi-pen around, then I should take benadryl (at least so that I have enough time to get to an ER. But I don't know if it just blocks the immediate histamine response or if it would be longer acting?

Although, I have had hives before from the iodine in seafood, and the doctor told me that benadryl should've helped....
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 11th, 2006, 3:46 pm

I'm allergic to bee stings & such & benadryl has saved me more than once. It is slower acting than the epi pen but before that came along was all we had. They both work the same but ht eepi pen is immediate where the benadryl takes a few minutes.
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Postby Malli » April 11th, 2006, 10:09 pm

an Antihistamine (e.g. Benedryl) will clear up most allergic reactions - food or otherwise (i.e. ones that don't kill you!)
Unfortunately putting the dog on antihistamines won't tell you much, because they will also help with inflammation from other causes, like if the dog were itchy or sore from a yeast infection or the itch and swelling from a skin infection. However, it will help the dog feel better :)

You can also give Chlortripolon, but I'd ask your Vet. about the dose. Oscar can have 2-3 4 mg Tabs 2-3 times daily and he weighs about 75 lbs...

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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 12th, 2006, 10:17 am

So maybe if I can get her over the ear infection first, then take her off the benadryl? Her ears are not any better. :cry:
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Postby Malli » April 12th, 2006, 1:00 pm

hmm...

this may sound like a stupid question but... you finished the full course of the ear meds right??

There may be a different treatment regimine that can be tried

Oh I just realised that you asked this earlier, so, in answer to your questions, it usually takes 4-6 weeks for you to see a visible response to a new diet in the dog, sometimes as long as 3 months.

Oh, and it will be bad to stop the meds. Your best bet is to get the kennel people to try anyway. Most likely there is an antibiotic in the medication, and we all know the issues surrounding not finishing an antibiotic treatment. Maybe explain that you're a little overprotective and would they just humor you and watch you do a treatment with her...

Has your Vet tested for Yeast in the ears?? Perhaps if its not getting better its a yeast infection...

Depending on what kind of allergies she has, you may be looking at keeping her on antihistamines for the rest of her life, at worst, a low dose or Prednisone intermittently or some other anti-itch steroid. But yes I would wean her off the Benedryl once you think her ears are better.

What I do is: if I see itching that is more then normal for a few days, we start on a dose of Chlortripolon to see if that will clear it up. We also do medicated baths (I use a shampoo called Pyoben, with Benzol peroxide) to take care of any infection that way. If the itching continues or worsens, or if his skin starts to become inflamed, I'll take him in to get looked at, or start him on Pred. (my Vet. gave me a huge stash of it to use at my discretion)

HTH?

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Postby mnp13 » April 12th, 2006, 1:29 pm

Yeast relys on damp warm places to grow. With the lab I grew up with we used a half and half solution of rubbing alcohol and vinegar to keep them dry. It helps a lot.
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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 12th, 2006, 2:30 pm

Ok, sorry, she had yeast in her ears, not a bacterial infection, although there was some present. She is on MalOtic, which has gentamicin sulfate, betamethasone, valarate, and clotrimazole. Her ears are very wide open prick ears, so you can't get any better air circulation than that.

http://www.pitbulltalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=1467

Top pic, left

She is getting this salve twice a day, plus cleaning once a day. Here ears LOOK normal, but she is still shaking her head and such. Nothing is coming out of her ears when I clean them, so i didn't know if maybe the ointment and or cleaning solution is causing her to shake? I do warm up the cleaning solution now and she doesn't seem to mind it as much, or she isn't in as much pain as she was. Maybe I need to stop cleaning them for a few days?

Her coat is back to normal, and she is no longer bloated since putting her back on raw. The effects happen over a few days with those two symptoms :| She bloats very quickly-it isn't really huge, but I can see the difference.

Again, she looks good, but is still shaking her head.

Thanks for your patience, I have never dealt with allergies and ear infections before.
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Postby Maryellen » April 12th, 2006, 3:07 pm

its possible there is a little bit all the way down in her ear that hasnt come out yet.... which could explain the shaking..... have you cleaned her ear with a liquid solution by filling her ear up and then squishing it all around to get the loose pieces out?? i have to do that with jesse.. fill her ear w/ the liquid, then squish squish squish all around her ear, by the base, and just squish away so that you hear the liquid making squishy noises, then i wipe off with a tissue, then let her shake.. that usually gets the stuck pieces out
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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 12th, 2006, 3:49 pm

Yes, that is what I did this morning. Nothing came out. Maybe I need to get a flashlight to see if there is anything left?

I just spoke with a dog person locally, who told me to wash the ears with epsom salts.
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Postby Maryellen » April 12th, 2006, 3:51 pm

if nothing came out she could be shaking it just to shake it.. jesse will shake her ear like mad, and when i look in it its clean.. then a few days later , it will start.. with the pollen blooming now she could have a nasty allergy reaction.. i dont know about the epson salts though, i would stick to the medicated stuff the vet gave and hold off on the epson salts for now.....
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Postby Malli » April 12th, 2006, 4:42 pm

I wouldn't use epsom salts either.

Oscar will shake his head for the next 5-10 minutes after an ear clean, and after I put anything in his ears... so if that is what shes doing then its probably just a reaction...

I would keep cleaning the ears...

I'm not sure about the bloating, I've never heard of that as an allergic reaction, but I'm not a Vet. either...

How much longer does she have on the medication? Fungal infection are hard to get rid of, I'd keep her on the meds for as long as the Dr. said...

Oscar and I feel your and Tallulah's pain, we've been there, him all itchy and smelly, me all frusterated

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Postby dogcrazyjen » April 13th, 2006, 9:45 am

I noticed she is not shaking her head during the day and in the morning before the meds. I am kenneling her for 3 days this weekend, so I am going to have them NOT use anything in her ears. When I get back, if she is still showing signs, then I will know that there is still an infection and we will go back to the vet. If not then I will know that she just hates the feel of the meds. Her ears are clean enough to eat out of right now!

The local trainer who told me about the epsom salts told me to go on California Natural as well. I told her we are on raw, so why would kibble-any kibble-be better than raw? She just said it worked for her.

She also thought my dogs needed carbs, because we need carbs. I didn't feel like arguing with her, but we are not dogs, and dogs do not have the teeth for grain. She supported her claim saying dogs graze, and i didn't want to burst her bubble but grass tips are not grain, they are vegetable matter, grain is the seed heads. And I do put broccoli or spinach in their raw diet. Ah well. Can't please em all!
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Postby Malli » April 13th, 2006, 12:48 pm

nope everybody has their own methods, beliefs and thoughts on everything, especially dog related!!

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