How to soothe my dog's chronic ear infection with scar tissue?

Hello, The surgical procedure to cure chronic ear infections in dogs is called a TECABO, which is a bit different than the tube placements they use in people. If you're interested in pursuing this, a consult with a soft tissue veterinary surgeon would be the next step. Here is a link to learn more: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952082 I hope this helps! Thanks for using PetCoach.

Unfortunately, some dogs do get recurrent ear infections, and from your description, it does sound like Taffy is getting another one. I would take her back into the vet for an exam. If ear infections continue to be a problem for her, I would consider doing a surgery called a total ear canal ablation and bulla osteotomy. This surgery involves removing the ear canal completely, thus eliminating ear infections. It is done on dogs who have continual ear infections where other methods of treating them have failed. It does leave the dog deaf in that ear, however. It could be that Tuffy is not at the point now where that surgery should be considered, but it would be something to keep in mind if she continues to have problems with recurrent ear infections.

Ouch, poor Remington! You are correct - most ear infections in dogs stem from underlying allergies. Allergy issues in dogs mostly cause skin problems and ears are skin, after all. The allergies could be associated with environmental issues (atopy), food allergies or flea allergies. I can certainly see the discharge and swelling in Remington's ear. Her excessive scratching obviously indicates that she's quite uncomfortable. Allergy issues cause dogs to itch, which damages the skin barrier and then leads to ear infections from an overgrowth of yeast and/or bacteria in the ear canal. There are no effective over the counter treatments for ear infections. At this point, I recommend taking Remington to her vet for an exam and ear cytology. Your vet will be able to look at her ear discharge under a microscope to determine the type of infection present, and will then prescribe an appropriate medication based on those results. Until you get to the vet, consider putting an e-collar (cone) on Remington to prevent her from causing further damage to hear ears. I hope this helps and that she's feeling better soon!

I'm very sorry that Joe is in pain. It's common for Cocker Spaniels to have chronic ear infections resulting in just this type of situation. I'm so glad you able to get in to see your local Veterinarian. The mediations he/she has prescribe should help some with the pain. If Joe seems restless and can't get comfortable, you'l want to call your doctor and verify that he's on the appropriate dosage and maybe ask if he can take a little more. Your doctor may also be able to prescribe a light sedative. Unfortunately, a vinegar bath probably won't do much. It's really a just going to take patience. The inflammation should go down within a few days and Joe will have some relief. Please keep us up to date with his progression. If you notice he's uncomfortable eating, you might offer a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice. Try to keep his ears as clean and dry as possible. While he's sleeping you can lay his ears open or find a way to keep them up so that the air will circulate. Yeast and bacteria love a wet warm environment. The more they air out, the quicker the healing. Please let us know if you have any other questions or if there's more we can do.

Hello, thank you for using PetCoach. I'm sorry that Lucy is having this problem. It is odd that the infection has cleared up but she still has sores on the ear flap. Is she scratching at the ears? If so, you really need to get her a cone collar to wear to prevent scratching. As long as she is scratching them, the will not heal. You can get a soft sided cone similar to this one: ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RV2VG7Y ) You can certainly continue to apply Neosporin and it should not hurt her. She is probably just very sensitive and expecting the ears to hurt when you touch them. If you can apply the Neosporin twice daily for one week consistently the sores should heal. If they do not heal in that time frame, you need to take her back to your vet to figure out what is going on or go to a different vet for a second opinion. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

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.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is likely an ear infection and I am afraid that there is likely an underlying allergy causing him to scratch a lot and continue to cause further trauma to the ear. I highly recommend that you have him evaluated as soon as possible as this is likely causing him a lot of discomfort. They would be able to diagnose this and start therapy. Medications such as steroids may help decrease the itch. You may use the e-collar to prevent further self-trauma. Best of luck!