Dog ear infection still painful after meds. What helps before culture?

As I'm sure you are aware of by now, cockers are extremely prone to ear infections. I'm glad you are taking Remy to the vet to get her the care she needs. In the meantime until your appointment, you could try using some of the ear medication she has been prescribed before if you have any leftover. This may give her some relief until Saturday. You can try to clean out the ear gently with some over the counter ear cleaner or some dilute hydrogen peroxide on cotton balls. I would recommend asking your vet about keeping a medicated ear cleaner on hand at home so you can flush Remy's ears 2-3x a week and any time after bathing or swimming. This may help to keep the recurrent infections at bay. Good luck.

Hello, thank you for using PetCoach. Oral medications (ie: antibiotics) do not work well for ear infections. Any medication to treat an ear infection should be used topically (inside the ear). Oral pain medication would probably be helpful but you would need to get those from your vet. In my opinion, if the ear is that painful you really should take him to your vet now for an examination so they can use the scope to look into the ear and also test the ear discharge to see what the infection is composed of (bacteria or yeast or both). They will also be able to see if the ear drum is intact. Some medications are contraindicated if the ear drum is ruptured. Cyclobenzaprine is NOT recommended for use in dogs. It has a very narrow margin of safety in dogs (and cats) and can cause significant central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular (CV) adverse effects. You should NOT use it. If you want to try to treat the ear at home, which I do not recommend, you can use this specific over the counter ear medication linked below. It is once a day and you do not have to clean the ear out first. It contains an anti-inflammatory (hydrocortisone) that should help with inflammation/pain. It is a small bottle so you will likely need at least 2 (if not 3) to do a full course of treatment. You must be sure to get the medication all the way down into the ear canal or it will not help much. If you chose to do this and there is no improvement in 4-5 days then you must take him to your vet for an exam. If he does seem to be improving then continue once daily for at least 14 days. ( https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zymox-ear-solution-with-5-hydrocortisone-125-fl-oz-2399174 ) Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Poor Snickers! Ultimately he will be okay until tomorrow, I am glad he is getting seen in the short term. I wouldn't recommend giving him any human medications because your Vet may prescribe steroids which can not be combined with things like aspirin. You can try some benadryl to see if it relieves the itch and calms him. Otherwise I would hold tight for a day. You could purchase an ear cleaner but your Vet will give you one tomorrow. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/ I wish Snickers a speedy recovery!

I'm sorry to hear that Nazzy's ears are bothering him! You did the right thing by scheduling him an appointment for him. He likely has an ear infection like you mentioned. A swab will need to be taken from each ear and examined under the microscope. This will let your veterinarian know the type of infection it is and which medication will be most effective for Nazzy. In the meantime, Continue cleaning the ears to keep him more comfortable. I do not recommend any pain or fever reducing medications. You veterinaian will prescribe something if necessary. If you start something now, it could interfere with the medications you veterinarian needs you to use. Allergies can make dogs more prone to ear infections so ask at your appointment if this could be the case with Nazzy. I hope this information helps!

Poor Canelo! Ear infections can be very painful. I would recommend asking your veterinarian about one of the long lasting ear infection treatments that do not require you to medicate them at home. There are a few on the market now, but here is one of the them ( https://osurnia.com/ ). We certainly don't want to ruin your relationship with Canelo, so I would recommend having your vet do all treatments until this infection is resolved. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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.

It may take several days to see improvement after starting medications. If your dog is extremely uncomfortable due to inflammation in the ear, you may ask your vet if an anti-inflammatory drug such as a steroid or NSAID can be prescribed to help with the discomfort until the ear antibiotic kicks in. If you haven't seen improvement and several days have passed, it is possible a resistant bacteria is growing in the ear and you may need a different medication.