Dry Ear?

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Postby SisMorphine » February 21st, 2011, 11:28 pm

So Blue has a dry ear. Yeah . . . I know it's weird.

A month and a half ago he had ear infections. Like Wally used to, Blue gets them when there is a drastic temp drop. I know what an ear infection looks like (and smells like) and this isn't it.

One of his ears is dry. Closer to the edges of the ear he has dry skin and is flaking and sometimes scabbing.

And I had a dog who had edge of ear issues due to malnutrition and this isn't the case.

This is literally the inside of his ear flap being flaky and gross. Has anyone ever dealt with this? It's only one ear, not both, he doesn't seem to favor one ear over the other in general, though will sometimes rub the dry ear against the couch.

Ideas? Anyone? In all my years of dog ownership and working in the field I've never seen this before . . .
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Postby mnp13 » February 21st, 2011, 11:41 pm

maybe saline to put some moisture in the ear? Or lotion to keep the skin from being flaky and scabby?
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Postby plebayo » February 21st, 2011, 11:44 pm

Does it look irritated or just dry?

Sometimes we see ear infections where the ear is red and irritated and flaky and dry - it's just a different kind of infection.

If it's just on his ear flap you might be able to put lotion or vitamin E oil on it to help with the dryness. You could also try bathing him in a hydrating shampoo and make sure to saturate the ears [just not inside obviously].

This forum had some ideas on possible crusty issues:

http://www.dogster.com/forums/Dog_Health/thread/439075
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Postby SisMorphine » February 21st, 2011, 11:55 pm

Just looks dry. I work in the field, used to work at a multitude of vet's offices, and it definitely doesn't appear to be infected. Just extremely dry. I guess I'll just start moisturizing it and see what happens. Really no one else has seen this before? Damn my dogs are weird ;)
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Postby iluvk9 » February 22nd, 2011, 6:19 am

How about just old fashioned vaseline on the dry part? It is thick so it will stay on better.
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Postby SisMorphine » February 22nd, 2011, 8:39 am

I just slathered it with Eucerine and he acted like he was an actor in a Shakespeare play being murdered. Dramatic.
"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France
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Postby call2arms » February 23rd, 2011, 1:08 am

Poor boy, we all know moisturizing is only ok for girls.

Is it just really the edge? Like it's dry and slightly scaly and if you pick at it some hair will come with the scaly stuff? He couldn't care less for it, not rubbing/scratching?

Jack has that a little on the tips of his rather large ears. A bit of it started bleeding a couple of years ago, during winter time. Had to have it cauterized while he had a dental, but except for that it's never been an issue. Vet sait it may be from slight frostbite?, but had no idea otherwise, didn't suggest diseases or allergies or parasites of any kind. So we just let it be.
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Postby SisMorphine » February 23rd, 2011, 1:28 am

It's not on the edges of his ears. I had a dog who had scabby, scaly, crusties on the edges of her ears (Wenchy/Gertie) and it was due to malnutrition (starvation). This is definitely nothing like that. It's literally just absurdly dry skin on the inside of his ear flap, and now it's flaking off in chunks (or rather, I'm picking his scabs . . . gross). I guess I'll just keep slathering him with Eucerine and see what happens. Expecting plenty of dramatic encounters in the next week. LOL!
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Postby call2arms » February 23rd, 2011, 10:08 am

Oh, I've defnitely seen bacterial infection that looked like that, but generally they also had pus deeper in the ear canal, and I really doubt that's Blue's case.
You can always have a cytology done to make sure nothing lives in there, but... weird. :|
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Postby TinaMartin » February 23rd, 2011, 10:22 am

Tell Blue to stop being a drama queen. Charles says its ok for boys to moisturize. Sorsha gets dry ear edges from the cold but nothing on the flap its self.
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Postby SisMorphine » February 23rd, 2011, 10:24 am

call2arms wrote:Oh, I've defnitely seen bacterial infection that looked like that, but generally they also had pus deeper in the ear canal, and I really doubt that's Blue's case.
You can always have a cytology done to make sure nothing lives in there, but... weird. :|

Yeah if the Eucerine doesn't make a dent in the next week I'll have the vet look at it. It's just weird it's only one ear!
"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France
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Postby TheRedQueen » February 23rd, 2011, 11:36 am

Try the Burt's Bees Res-Q ointment...works wonders for my dry scaly spots...and the dogs leave it alone due to the stink...;)
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