Why are my dog's chronic ear infections not going away?

I am sorry to hear of Princeton's ongoing war issues. If you are concerned about possible medication side effects I would recommend discussing this with your regular veterinarian. I would also discuss with them the possibility of food allergies. Chronic/recurrent ear infections like you are dealing with for Princeton can often be secondary for a food allergy, a diet change may be what is needed for him. When considering a new food remember that the protein source is typically the thing that causes the allergy-look at Princeton's current dry food to see what the protein source is. You will need to look for a food with a protein source he has not been exposed to (remember that the chicken you feed mixed with his food is a potential allergen as well). Your vet can discuss any particular brands or products they recommend, and be aware that a food trial for allergies can take 6-8 weeks before any effect is seen. Also talk to your vet about culturing the material in Princeton's ears, if you haven't already. Sometimes the yeast or bacteria that is present becomes resistant. A culture will show what type of organism is present, and what medication is going to be most effective. Your vet can then help you tailor a new treatment plan to try and resolve the issue. I also recommend routine ear cleaning at home using a cleaning solution recommended by your vet. Keeping the ears clean of debris can help reduce the number of infections. Good luck-I hope you are able to get Princeton feeling better soon!

The discharge inside the ear needs to be cultured so you can know what is growing in the ear canal - what bacteria, yeast, etc. That way the vet will know what medication to use to get it to clear up. The ear may also need to flushed out under anesthesia. There must be an underlying cause. Cats typically don't get ear infections chronically like dogs. It is not likely to be a food allergy. More testing needs to be done.

These are definitively signs of a chronic otitis. Most common causes of persistent ear infections are: - underlying allergic disease (usually both ears are affected and other skin signs are present somewhere else); without resolving the allergy the disease will come back again and again; - resistant infections which requires more aggressive and specific treatment; - inappropriate treatment selection; Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Recurrent ear infections are often a sign of food allergies. I suggest you get a second opinion from another veterinarian. Recurrent ear infections are NOT normal and not just something some dogs get. It is important, in this case, that your vet does an ear swab, checks that under the microscope or sends it in to a lab to check which bacteria or fungi are causing these infections. It may be necessary to also check for antibiotic resistance. A diet trial with hypoallergenic diet may also be in order.

Poor girl. If the preliminary medications from your vet didn’t improve her condition, then it’s time to consider getting Xena a culture done of her ear to determine what medicaiton can clear things up. This is a specific test that will determine what medicaiton combination is needed to get rid of he infection. I also am not sure if your vet has tried Posatex ear medication yet, but this is strong ear medicaiton that can help with resistant infections. Also pain medicaiton (steroids work well for ears when they are really inflamed) can also be prescribed by your vet to help with Xena’s discomfort. Discuss with your vet about the above recommendations. Best wishes moving forward with Xena and her ears. Take care.

This is a very common problem with dogs. Especially if the dog has had several ear infections in the past. I would talk to your vet to see if they could clean his ears for you weekly. This may help to decrease the frequency of ear infections. Also ear infections stem from allergies so ou may also discuss apoquel, an allergy medication, with your vet to see if Skippy would be a good candidate. I have see some good results to help decrease the number of infections while using this medication. I hope this helps!

Poor Maggie! This looks like quite a severe ear infection, from what I can see in the photo. Normally, we would treat this by taking a sample of the discharge to look at under the microscope, to see what kind of infection is present - it may be yeast, bacteria, or both. Then appropriate medication can be prescribed to treat the infection depending on what is found. So that is how we would typically treat a current, active infection like this. If her ear infections are not responding well to treatment or keep recurring once meds are finished, then this usually indicates that the dog has an underlying allergy problem of some kind (either food, or environmental). The underlying allergy will need to be diagnosed and treated in order to get the recurring ear problems under control, so that's what I would focus on once the current infection has improved. Your veterinarian should be able to discuss testing and treatment options for allergies, including allergy testing and immunotherapy treatment, daily medication such as Apoquel or Atopica, and/or a food trial with a prescription hypoallergenic diet. You could also seek a second opinion from another veterinarian in your area, or request referral to a veterinary dermatologist, if your current vet doesn't have any concrete suggestions on how to proceed with this.