# Any advice for Itchy ears?



## WonderPup (Mar 23, 2011)

My standard poodle Saleen has itchy ears. She has had recurring ear issues (yeast infection) for the last 18 months. We've been on and off and on again with the meds and ear treatments and different cleaners and home remedies. They come back. Screams food allergy to me so we have changed diets (kibble) and that helped a little but not as much as I would have liked. So we're starting on raw since I agree that raw is better and having done it in the past anyway I know that I CAN do. She isn't eating 100% raw yet, she's still eating kibble but not together with her raw. 

Right now her ears look and smell pretty good. Better than they have in a while actually no sign of yeast, no swelling, no redness, no smell, no discharge. They are however itchy and I am worried that she's going to scratch the insides of her ears and cause additional problems. I need something to help sooth the itchies for now. I know that's treating a symptom and not the actual problem but we've gotta do something while we try figure the rest of the issue out once and for all. 

Any advice? The ear cleaner I use in my grooming business says it's good for "itchy smelly ears" but has no effect at all on Saleen's ear other than as a general cleaner. I saw something at tractor supply with cortisone in it would that help? It's kind of pricey for the size bottle it is but I'd buy it if she needed it. Even if I need to order something that would be OK too. I just don't know what to use. My vet kind of shrugged me off this morning and didn't really make any helpful suggestions only to say she doesn't have another infection. She seems to think it's a habit and thus a training issue. I disagree. If one of us touches her ears she leans in and wants to rub it on you and would stand there until the world ended so long as you were going to rub her ear. It's kind of driving me crazy... I can't stand the sound of scratching and licking - haha I'm soooooo in the wrong profession!  Anyway I'm pretty desperate for it to stop and I'm sure she would appreciate it too  

Any ideas?


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

What are you feeding? since yeast feeds on sugar, its best to eliminate carbs and starches from the food. Raw would be ideal since most kibble has some form of binder in it which is usually grain or potato. The only food that comes to mind is Nutrisca which is made with chickpeas and is low in glycemic index, theres also horizon legacy but its hard to come by. 
As far as ear cleansers, I really like zymox, it comes highly recommended. 
Amazon.com: Zymox Ear Cleanser With Bio-Active Enzymes, 4 oz.: Kitchen & Dining


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Zymox cleaner works really well. I recommend it also.

Like Unosmom said, you need to eliminate carbs from your dog's diet. My dog Emmy was plagued with ear infections for the first 2 years of her life. I switched her to all raw and haven't seen an ear infection since.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Duncan is a breed that doesn't shed and has hair that grows in the ear canal just like a Poodle. He too had a few back to back ear infections when he first came home. Along with switching to a raw diet (which really helped) I also started cleaning his ears with this solution: Cocker Spaniel Ear Cleaner Recipe - Ear Infections

All I do is use the wash and clean his ears about once a week and I really don't pull the hair out anymore, either.

He hasn't had an ear infection in months and months.


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## WonderPup (Mar 23, 2011)

She has been on several different kibbles. Diamond Naturals, TOTW, Blue buff., chicken soup, solid gold. She's been eating the Lamb and rice formula of diamond naturals lately and then my husband accidently bought the chicken last week so now we have chicken as well. It's not the greatest food out there but it fit what I needed for at the pricepoint I was able to work with at the time. Now everyone else in the household was doing so well on it we just left it alone even when we had the cash to get higher grade food. Now we are doing raw but have been going more slowly for Saleen. Tonight she had a raw meal. My main issue with feeding raw is the morning feeding which is hard for us, I'll get over it though and into a new routine for her. I guess we'll just switch her over now and leave the other three on half and half. I am waiting until I get a good freezer so I can buy in bulk otherwise this is to expensive a way to feed for our family.  Should be getting the freezer next month I hope. 

Anyway I will order the zymox, and hope that helps to stop the itch. I can't imagine how annoying it probably is to have itchy ears. 

I have already used the homemade ear cleaner on that cocker site as well as a variation on it with the purple stuff that I forget the name of just now. It didn't work as well for us  Plus for whatever reason Saleen FREAKS if I use a vinegar based cleaner. Even with infection free and healthy ears she gets all kinds of bent out of shape about it. I can use anything else but not that. She is a weird dog I guess. She just HATES vinegar, won't even come into the kitchen after I've cleaned with it lol.  Goober. I once spritzed her with vinegar (by accident) and she went nuts. It's not like I shot it in her eye or anything, just got a little on the back of her neck. You would have though I had tried to kill her.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Khan was plagued with yeasty black gunk in his ears. Switching to raw completely cleared things up in a matter of a couple weeks. He does still have a flair up every now and again. (he also has environmental allergies) so whenever I see his ears start to get a little red I use Zymox. I usually only have to put it in once, and they are back to normal. It's great stuff. Has a long "shelf life" too, so it's great for the occasional use.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Zymox works great. Shellie my golden has itchy ears, I added Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to her diet (2 T per day) and that has really helped. She had an infection that wasn't going away and it really helped to add the ACV. Neem Oil is a great anti-itch as well.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

Gentian Violet.Have it also.I feel your pain.Have been working on ears for about 2 years.Just went to a new Vet this week.There are no signs of yeast any more just 2 kinds of bacteria 1 being very hard to kill, just my luck.I am doctoring again 2 times a day.My Turtle hates her mom.I won't bore you with what I have as I have put it in another thread and it doesn't sound like that's what your problem is.My dogs are dark brown gunk smelly and raw.Shes also on Prednisone, oh boy.But like you I had to stop the itch first so I had to do it.I have never tried zymox I may have to look into it.I'm just hoping that if I can get this cleared up and now that I'm feeding her PMR it will never come back.

Also don't you people know that carbs aren't usually the problem it's the protein source!That's what the Vet told me.I just looked at her and said I had been told to take her off carbs and we just left it at that.I think the look on my face must have said a lot because at one point she said you are going to do what you want anyway.I wanted to say yes mam I am, but I didn't.She asked me if I had heard of what ever it is that Science Diet has for allergies and I said no I hadn't (was a lie, just a little one) I don't know much about it, I just wanted to say I'll never feed Science Death......But I was nice.


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## WonderPup (Mar 23, 2011)

"Science Death" I had to LOL at that, good one. My vet and I have a running joke that plays out every time we have a litter of puppies. Around they time they get their first shots the clinic gives out these cute little puppy packs with samples and such and one of the samples if of course science diet since the pack comes from Hills. The doc knows I won't feed it and he's opened minded enough to understand he doesn't know everything there is to know about nutrition. He makes a big production of pulling the little dog food samples out of the packs and saying Oh look what you've got, how lucky. Here I'll go ahead and put these where they belong and save you the trouble and then dumps them in the trash. Funny thing, HE doesn't feed S.D. either  

I really hope the raw food helps her and I REALLY REALLY hope she doesn't have some major chicken allergy that we discover. I don't have a reason to think she does but ya never know. Anyway if her body decides it's allergic to chicken we are really going to be in trouble b/c chicken is going to account for a lot of my raw food :/ b/c it's what I can get for what I can pay right now. I took the plunge and even though it's going to be more expensive I have decided she can switch over to all raw food sooner than we planned. The other dog's are going to HAVE to have some kibble meals though until we are able to get a freezer. I can't afford to have five dog's munching down on what I can find here in small packages at local stores. Once we get that freezer though we'll be in business


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

WonderPup said:


> I really hope the raw food helps her and I REALLY REALLY hope she doesn't have some major chicken allergy that we discover. I don't have a reason to think she does but ya never know. Anyway if her body decides it's allergic to chicken we are really going to be in trouble b/c chicken is going to account for a lot of my raw food :/ b/c it's what I can get for what I can pay right now.


I spent the first 11 years of Chelsy's life feeding her all venison 'allergy' foods because I thought she was allergic to chicken. Then I found out she can eat 'real chicken' , and 95% chicken canned foods just fine. I also thought she was allergic to all fish but so far she's had real sardines and tuna without any problem. I think a lot of the allergies with kibble are actually some other ingredient in the food besides chicken, since there are so much stuff in most of them. Since she has been eating 'real' meat and 95% meat canned, she hasn't had any issues at all, and before that the poor dog was a mess. 

My dogs eat mainly chicken also because it's the cheapest. They get beef and pork when I find the big mark-down meat at the grocery store. Right now I don't have the freezer space to stock up on any co-op or mass amounts of food so I only stock up on the clearance items when I come across them and then buy chicken about once a week at the grocery store.


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## WonderPup (Mar 23, 2011)

That's encouraging. I have heard several times from other poodle people who really aught to be experts in the breed say that lots of poodles are allergic to chicken. I have hear that dogs that are allergic to chicken dog foods can eat real chicken just fine. Who knows why for sure. I tend to think it probably has something to do with what else is in the food or how it's made. *shrugs* my grandmother did have a dog who was most definitely allergic to chicken in any form - go figure lol. It would be just my luck ....


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## Boxers&Pom's Mom (Jan 17, 2011)

I was told in here and is working wonders for me the Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar. When Cassie paws or ears start itching, I just dilute a bit in water and with a cotton ball clean it and dry it after with a Paper Towel. The itching goes away and she get back her light pink ears and paws.


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