Constant ear infections

[Maryannmas]

My frenchie patch has been suffering from severe ear infections for over 3 months now. His ears were pussy full of a black tar like pus. We’ve tried different ear washes, ointments, antibiotics and now a steroid. Vet is finally doing a culture in him. He also gets occasional hot spots. Anyone else going through this?

 

[Frenchie Grrrl]

So sorry to hear about Patch's ears and skin. What are you currently feeding him?

 

[Squishy Walnuts]

I would look into changing Patch's food. It might be allergies.

 

[FroxerMom]

When we brought Daphne home she was already a bit over 12 months old and had an ear infection exactly as you describe. She was prescribed some medicated ear drops (I'd have to look through our bills to find the name). It wasn't until after I changed her to a frozen raw food that her ears completely cleared up. It was within a matter of just a few days. She has not had a single ear or skin infection since then (knock on wood). Her previous food was a chicken based kibble. I hope you get answers via the culture; however, you may want to seriously investigate food if this continues. My former vet told me point blank, that we would be bringing Daphne in often for treatment of ear infections because "it's just to be expected with this breed." He is/was against raw feeding, but as soon as I changed her over, she has not needed a vet visit other than a recent check up. Good luck

 

[2bullymama]

Agreed... it is probably food related. Our bulldog had constant ear issues, I switched to raw almost a year ago and he has not had any issues since


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[Maryannmas]

Natural balance chicken flavor but the vet gave me total canine to try.

 

[Frenchie Grrrl]

I had never heard of that brand, so looked it up on dogfoodadvisor.com and the one I found had only a two star rating and appeared to have chicken as one of the ingredients. I'm certainly not a vet, but those two things concern me. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong one?

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/total-canine-dog-food/

Edit: the chicken part concerns me because your dog was eating a chicken based food before (and doing poorly) and many bullies seem to have issues with chicken. I'd want to try a novel protein.

 

[2bullymama]

Natural balance chicken flavor but the vet gave me total canine to try.

Try to go grain free and chicken free.... how chicken is processed seems to cause lots of allergies/health issues for bulldogs.

Never heard of ‘total canine’ will need to look it up


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[2bullymama]

I had never heard of that brand, so looked it up on dogfoodadvisor.com and the one I found had only a two star rating and appeared to have chicken as one of the ingredients. I'm certainly not a vet, but those two things concern me. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong one?

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/total-canine-dog-food/

Edit: the chicken part concerns me because your dog was eating a chicken based food before (and doing poorly) and many bullies seem to have issues with chicken. I'd want to try a novel protein.

Yuk.. total canine is all filler


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[Cbrugs]

I would definitely try a higher quality food. When I gave Jax lamb, his ears got so inflamed and he would yelp when they were touched. I used Zymox Otic and stopped the lamb and no ear issues since.


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[Maryannmas]

Sorry it was royal canine. Should I try beef or lamb?

 

[Honeys Owners]

Sorry it was royal canine. Should I try beef or lamb?

I would try beef before lamb. But I would first try switching to a dehydrated raw or frozen raw before trying Royal Canin.

Your dog may also have environmental allergies on top of the food allergies, so you should try Zymox otic drops for a couple of weeks even if you do switch to the perfect food for your dog. https://www.amazon.com/Pet-King-Brands-Treatment-Hydrocortisone/dp/B0025YOJXS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541033459&sr=8-1&keywords=zymox+otic&dpID=51YWhYAqYKL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Maryannmas]

I’ve read from other posts that royal canine is not a good brand. Can you suggest another brand I could try after a raw diet.

 

[Maryannmas]

Thank you. His culture came back negative for bacteria. So it’s definitely allergic. Any suggestions for dry food after I try a raw diet.

 

[Honeys Owners]

Thank you. His culture came back negative for bacteria. So it’s definitely allergic. Any suggestions for dry food after I try a raw diet.

If you don't want frozen raw then dehydrated raw is a good alternative eg. Honest Kitchen, Spot Farms, Only Natural EasyRaw
Air dried raw is also good, eg. OnlyNatural MaxMeat . I'm not sure where it fits in price wise. Ziwipeak is a brand of air dried from New Zealand that is expensvie.
Freeze dried raw is too expensive to be practical.
In UK they also have cold pressed, eg. Tribal but I haven't seen it here.

Kibble is the cheapest, but also the most allergenic. The least allergenic brands include Zignature, Acana Singles, Carna4Duck (in Canada) amongst others.

 

[Honeys Owners]

Thank you. His culture came back negative for bacteria. So it’s definitely allergic. Any suggestions for dry food after I try a raw diet.

How's he doing? Did you switch foods?
I've been trying EcoEars ( from Amazon ) on my dog since it's a lot cheaper than Zymox, and it seems to be working quite well.

Label ingredients:
deionized water, witch hazel extract, denatured grain alcohol, vegetable glycerin, food grade Polysorbate 20, Boric Acid, tea Tree oil, ionic silver solution,organic mullein leaf extract, rosemary extract, fingerroot extract

 

[Maryannmas]

How's he doing? Did you switch foods?
I've been trying EcoEars ( from Amazon ) on my dog since it's a lot cheaper than Zymox, and it seems to be working quite well.

Label ingredients:
deionized water, witch hazel extract, denatured grain alcohol, vegetable glycerin, food grade Polysorbate 20, Boric Acid, tea Tree oil, ionic silver solution,organic mullein leaf extract, rosemary extract, fingerroot extract

Hi he’s doing better. I’m still giving him the Temaril and apoquel. I’m still feeding him the royal Canin hydrolizef protein food until I can figure out which other brand to give him. I tried the freeze dried and he didn’t like it. Thank you for asking!

 

[Maryannmas]

Hi he’s doing better. I’m still giving him the Temaril and apoquel. I’m still feeding him the royal Canin hydrolizef protein food until I can figure out which other brand to give him. I tried the freeze dried and he didn’t like it. Thank you for asking!

 

[Honeys Owners]

Hi he’s doing better. I’m still giving him the Temaril and apoquel. I’m still feeding him the royal Canin hydrolizef protein food until I can figure out which other brand to give him. I tried the freeze dried and he didn’t like it. Thank you for asking!

Glad he's doing better ! Try to switch him to frozen raw if you can, since that's the best kind for dogs with allergies. Royal Canin short term is fine but won't provide good nutrition long term. The temaril needs to be tapered off as soon as you can, since it contains prednisolone can never be abruptly stopped. Has your vet tried Cytopoint injection instead of temaril ? Some dogs with allergies can get away with just using Cytopoint, or Cytopoint plus apoquel for severe allergies. Although apoquel is not as safe as cytopoint, I think it's considered safer than temaril with longer term use.

My dog doesn't have severe allergies but used to lick her paws all the time and did get ear infections. Once I switched her to frozen raw, an oral antihistamine, organic virgin coconut oil, turmeric and pepper, fish oil, water kefir, the paw licking went away, She has one ear that was damaged in a fight, so it droops down and tends to pick up infections easier, so I still have to give her some kind of ear drops like Zymox otic, or EcoEars, on a maintenance basis long term.