What ear medicine or wash helps my dog's yeast and fungal infection?

Yeast ear infections often need antifungal topical ear medications to help resolution. Most topical ear medications will also contain an antibiotic (not always needed) and a steroid, which will help with the itch the yeast can cause. I would recommend that you discuss the proper medication with your veterinarian. Many times yeast ear infections are caused by too much moisture in the ear (like after swimming in a pool or lake) or from inflammation caused by allergies (from fleas, food, environment, etc.). If Tiki has recurrent yeast ear infections, you may need to have her vet work up allergies as the primary problem. For minor yeast ear infections that aren't red, swollen, or itchy, you can try an ear cleanser to help remove the yeast. If you do this for a couple days and it isn't better, than she will probably need prescription medications.

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.

You are right that there are different causes of ear infections, typically yeast and bacteria (there are many types). Ear medications prescribed are based on which of these is the problem. It is also important for their ear drum to be assessed prior to starting medications. As well, some dogs need oral medications in addition to topical if the infection is severe. Being so young is also a consideration with certain drugs. The best plan is to have your vet perform an ear cytology and assess for an intact ear drum prior to picking the best medication that is safe for Nola. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Yeast infections are especially itchy, crusty, and smelly. Often a dog starts with a rash or with simple itching but the skin thickens to an “elephant” skin appearance. The itch is extreme and the odor can be especially troublesome. Parts of the body or the entire body can be affected. Malassezia overgrowth is particularly problematic where there are skin folds ("armpits," eyelids, facial folds, lip folds, throat latch, and especially between the toes). Treatment can be topical, oral, or both. Topical treatment is best used for localized spots of infection while oral medication would be better applied to larger infected areas. If the yeast infection is recurrent or if one wishes to supplement oral medication, topical and oral treatment can be combined. Oral medications are available through your vet. Shampoos such as Chlorhexiderm Max® or Malaseb® shampoo both strip skin oil and kill yeast; however, other anti-yeast products include Selsun Blue®, Miconazole® shampoo, Nizoral® shampoo, Douxo® shampoo and more. The pet must be bathed twice a week to start and the shampoo requires a 15 minute contact time (meaning do not rinse the lather for 15 minutes). It is important to realize that yeast overgrowth occurs in response to a primary problem be it allergy, seborrhea or something else. If the underlying problem is not controlled, yeast dermatitis is likely to periodically recur. It is common for allergic dogs to require some kind of periodic if not on-going anti-yeast therapy.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. You could try Zymox, which you can find online quite easily. However, the concern with just starting an ear medication without examining the ear canals is that you may be administering ear medications in an ear with a ruptured ear drum. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine Luna so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

All of the Zymox products that I found are to treat irritation and inflammation, so they wouldn't be very good at prevention or specific treatment of infection. The best preventative would be a good ear cleaner 1-2 times per week or after getting out of water. I like Dechra EpiKlean Ear Cleanser as it is gentle and helps dry out the ear and remove debris. If you think that Wes already has an ear infection, then he would need have it diagnosed by a vet and get medications specific for his type of infection. Once cleared, you can continue with normal cleaning to prevent further ear infections!

I would ideally recommend a veterinary visit as ear infections are often times a mixed population of yeast and different bacteria. Or ear mites may play a role as well. You can try using an over-the-counter ear cleaner every other day for a few days but if that does not cleared up a veterinary visit for ear cytology and medication is recommended. Epi Otic is a good general ear cleaner. . https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056EAKSM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apis_1501590855840 The home remedies that use vinegar or alcohol tend to be very irritating or painful with infected ear so I don't recommend those.