Don't bother mentioning Thornit to you vet they will reject it immediately, the RCVS even tried to get the selling of it banned! However, I can assure you it will most definitely help. I had a grooming customer who had terrible trouble with their springers ear, I sold them a bottle of Thornit and it cleared it up immediately, they had spent a fortune at he vets trying to get it sorted. Just buy a bottle, follow the instructions and hopefully you wont look back!!
Becky

Thanks I just worry that because it had apparently gone and now come back if there is something else going on the vets have taken swabs and they found e coli like I said and gave us stuff to treat it with no mention of mites etc. It is not itchy but became painful when the infection was really bad, it smells really odd the vets have never had the same before. Appart from the possible but unlikely link to food the only thing we can think of is there being something buried in the skin in his ear.

My itchy dog used to suffer terribly with ear infections, and one time, they did the flushing out under GA, found nothing, and they thought they might end up having to scrape some of the bone away if it was infected, and re-arrange his ear draining system to keep them free from infection, but thankfully, they didn't have to do any of that, but we did have to stay on ab's for about 3 months in all to get rid of the infection completely. He had the ab ear drops too which I suppose your dog has already had?

I'm now a stickler for keeping his ears ultra clean on a weekly basis, by inserting that Cleanaural from the vets and touch wood, it's worked fine for many years without any infections, but a lot of wax comes out when I do it.

I don't think it's safe to use this though if your dog still has infection in there, so you'll probably have him on ab's for a very long time to clear the whole thing up, otherwise, it just keeps coming back like ours did. All the best, it's very, very painful for them I do know that much.

Thank you thats useful maybe once we have cleared it again we will have to clean ears weekly but there is that niggling thought worrying if there is something wrong with his ear.






Ok I hope this helps explain what has been done so far.

First we noticed a head tilt, then his ear started to smell.

We took him in the vets they just gave us some ear cleaner stuff but the smell kept coming back.

Decided to only see the vets best vet (Martin) Sid got put on anti inflamitories and antibiotics.

When ever we ruduced the ammount it kept coming back.

So he was on tablets for many months (lost count).

We then very gradually reduced tablets as the infection seemed to have cleared.

To make certain it had gone after coming off tablets he was given medicated ear drops for a few weeks.

Gradually we reduced ear drops and for the last few weeks with no ear drops he has been fine - no smell - clear ears.
We thought we had cracked it but no

I've had exactly the same problem with Dexter. Constant ear infections and irritations for twelve months. He's been on anti biotics, anti inflammatories, and on three occasions had to have an anti inflamm injection.

I haven't read the other posts in this thread yet so sorry if repeating things but here's what I've done:

I changed food several times, put him on half raw, then totally raw recently. That did not help.

Finally it *seems* (hope am not tempting fate by saying this ) to be under control and the two things which have changed are:

1 - I clean his ears once or twice a week. Make sure you get advice from the vet re this.

2 - have now had to take him off the totally raw and put him on Wainwrights Wet Trays. He also has a bit of raw meat once or twice a week, an egg every week, fish once or twice a week.

Have they swabbed the ear to see what type of infection there dealing with.
Dice gets malassisia pachydermis and its treated with a different ear drop to normal and he gets an anti fungal tablet (cant remember what it was called).
If I was you I'd ask them to swab them and at the same time clean them out.

Dexter did the 'head tilt' too - is your dog shaking his head a lot also...?

My vet said that as a last resort, there was an op he could do which would probably help. He said that some dogs are simply prone to constant ear infections because the shape of the ear 'encourages' bacteria etc etc.

Although kibble and treats may not have caused problems in the past, it is possible that the ingredients change slightly and we are not told - and that something is triggering your dog's ear problem.

ALLERGY TESTING

Has the vet suggested this at all?

I realise that as it's an infection they might not but our vet did say it was a route she would consider if Dex got any more ear problems.

edited to add:

Great suggestion in the previous post by MORGANSTAR - has the vet actually sent off a sample of what's in your dog's ear???

If not, you might want to mention this?

My views

Most ear problems stem from a yeast build up, therefore I usually recommend removing all grains and other starches from the food as of course they produce sugars which feed fungi.

Just because your dog has e-coli in his ear does not necessarily mean it is the cause of his infection, if you do swabs on most animals anywhere you will find e-coli and e coli comes in various forms, some far more dangerous than others.

I have found the most effective ear cleaner is Quistel, as it is non oily.

http://www.quistel.com/information/i...age=earcleaner

In the interim you can clean with sterile saline solution (I use saline pods the sort used for contact lense wearers or eye wash for FA purposes); I always have these to hand for washing wounds, ears, eyes, etc as it cannot irritate and is safe and, unlike most antiseptics, does not damage tissue.

Thornit is quite useful, and you can get a chemist to make it up for you.

As it is not a licensed veterinary medecine the vet cannot dispense it.

However the ear MUST be dry before use and it should not be mxed with other products.

Another thing worth looking at is adding probiotics to the diet, but via capsules rather than yoghurt.

Yoghurt does not usually survive the stomach to the gut.

Get a probiotic that does not need refrigeration and contains at least 3 bacteria and has BILLIONS of beneficial bacteria; Healthspan do an excellent one which has 5 different bacteria and 20 BILLION of the stuff! per capsule

http://www.healthspan.co.uk/pre-prob...6965-c131.aspx

These "eat" fungus.

Another route to examine is Hepar Sulph, a homoepathic treatment for yukky ears.

I used all of the above on a rehomed dog who had chronic ear problems and I mean chronic and he never suffered from them again.

None of the above can be harmful.

HTH

Very interesting, I shall be getting some Thornit as recommended by several people and also the items mentioned by SB.

Thanks some really ineresting stuff there. So I will try and keep gains / starch out of his diet and I'll have a closer look at the other things suggested.