My dog's itchy, smelly ears & discharge won't heal. What to ask vet?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Be. If you are being mocked by your veterinarian, then I suggest finding another veterinarian with whom you can have a better relationship. That is a terrible eay to feel! Apoquel and Cytopoint are two newer veterinary drugs that can help to mange seasonal allergies if that is the case. They control itching and can potentially help with ear infections. Diet should be evaluated as well as this can contribute to chronic ear infections. I hope this information helps!

Ear infections are very painful and usually need prescription medication to cure them. I recommend a veterinary exam and treatment. They will check the ear discharge to see if it’s from yeast, bacteria or ear mites. He may need medication to stop the itching in addition to ointment inside the ear. Ear infections can become chronic if not cleared up so please take him in for treatment soon. In the meantime you can clean the ear canal with a dog ear cleaner that you can purchase at PetCo and place him in a cone to he doesn’t scratch the ear which can make it worse. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Hoyle.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. From the pictures and your description, this certainly looks to be an ear infection. I would contact your veterinarian and schedule an appointment to have Harley examined. Your vet should perform an ear cytology to figure out what organisms are causing this problem. It may be bacteria or fungus or both causing this. Your veterinarian will be able to prescribe the most appropriate treatments once diagnosed. Most of the time an ear infection can be cleared up by using an ear flush and ear ointment inside the ear. Sometimes with bad enough infections and oral antibiotic, antifungal and anti-inflammatory need to be used. Again, your vet will know what's best for this particular problem. Before using any ear medications that you find over-the-counter, I would strongly suggest having a vet look in ear to ensure that your drum is intact because using medications in an ear with a ruptured eardrum may cause hearing loss or neurological abnormalities. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me with any other questions or concerns that you may have. I am also available via text or phone consultation if needed.

Hi there, It would be helpful to know what Elsa what tests were performed, what was diagnosed, and what medication she was prescribed. It may be that her ear infection is truly secondary to underlying inflammation from a food allergy (cutaneous adverse food reaction), and she may need a change in diet, or an environmental allergy and in need of chronic allergy medication to reduce her itchiness. Some dogs also require long term regular ear cleanings and topical ointment applications to keep comfortable. I would recommend scheduling a recheck appointment with Elsa's veterinarian to get to the root of her ear infections. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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.

I recommend purchasing a dog ear cleaner at your pet store and cleaning the discharge from his ears. Put some cleaner on a cotton ball and massage the fluid into the ear canal. Rub it around to loosen the debris and then wipe it out. Take a dry cotton ball to remove any cleaner left in the ear. I clean ears daily to start, then as the discharge decreases then clean only when needed. If Maxo has ear mites or a severe yeast or bacterial ear infection this will help but specific prescription medication will be more effective. When you can take him in to your veterinarian for an ear exam. They will look at the ear discharge under the microscope to determine the cause of the problem. Then they can give him the right medication. Ear medication often contains a drug to stop the itching as well as something to cure the cause of the infection and that would be more effective than just cleaning his ears. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Maxo.

That is quite weird. I don't know what it is either, but would have a foreign body (something like a piece of a plant wedged in there causing irritation), resistant infection, or even a tumor, on my list of concerns. I would consider a culture and sensitivity test to make sure it doesn't need an unusual antibiotic, and then either biopsy the area or go to a dermatologist for a specialist opinion.