Red Hot Ears

Hi all, a bit of advice please. Pippin (Lab) has been to the vets this morning 'cos his ears over the weekend have been hot, making him shake and scratch. The vet said it was to do with the hot weather and hay fever season, She gave him some tablets called Prednicyline (sp)?? 5mg saying that its not so much his ears getting hot, but because he's scratching etc. he will get secondary infections

I have searched the web for information on this with different spellings but have not got it right so.....

1 Does anyone know the correct spelling and what they are and
2 Any suggestions as to how to keep Pips ears cool

Any advice would be grateully received, many thanks, Ashlady x

Ashlady it could be Prednisolone, Jake used to get them when his skin flared up - he had a meat protein allergy. I think they are an anti inflammatory steroid - but could be wrong

I'll have a look now, thanks Het

prednisone is one i found try that in search PredniSONE
The drug prednisone is used to treat allergies, inflammations and autoimmune diseases. Reduces swelling, pain, and redness associated with inflammation.

Examples include treatment of bronchial and lung diseases, skin diseases, intestinal diseases, spinal cord and brain diseases, and diseases of the blood.
Drug Side Effects:
Adverse effects include increased thirst and appetite, panting, vomiting, restlessness and diarrhea. Prednisone should not be used in pregnant animals, since it can induce labor

Just looked and the physical description of the tablets matches perfectly, your a star Het, thanks AL x

Hi Ashlady, Have you thought of trying the Piriton for this? Personally, as you know, I try to avoid steroids if at all possible.

Thanks for your time DM, looked those up too and it says that predisone is turned into prednisolone in the liver? so looks like they are kinda the same thing, many thanks again, AL x

Hi Annie, didn't know what they were until the dogwebbers came to the rescue. Pj has to take Pip to the vets 'cos he's sooooo protective of me, he puffs up and growls at all the other animals when I'm there, but doesn't bat an eyelid when Pj takes him. Tia on the other hand is the perfect lady and sits good as gold!!

So I never get the full information on Pip unless I ring up and get an earful 'cos she's got to repeat herself

She's given 60 tablets, to be taken in decreasing amounts, but if you can remember Lily the Staffy who came up in the lumps on Pets, we both use the same vet and she gave Silvia Piriton for Lily, so I'm thinking that if they would be ok for Pip, maybe she wouldn't have given these??

She is an incredible vet, so I think I will go with these this time, but if he has any more problems after that, I'll brave the waiting room and talk to her myself. See ya, AL x

Hi Ashlady, In the past, Oscar has had loads of steroid treatments for his eczema and I found that while they worked when he was on them, as soon as they stopped, the same problem came back. I think other people have found this too. I was also very concerned at the possible health issues with repeatedly using steroids.

I'm reading a book at the moment on natural health for dogs and cats and it says "the most difficult cases to treat are those previously dosed with a lot of cortisone or its synthetic forms (prednisone or prednisolone). These suppress symptoms such as inflammation and itching but are in no sense curative". Mind you, having said that, Piritons are perhaps doing the same .

Anyway, just wanted to make sure that you knew Piriton was an option. I don't of course know if there is any reason why Pip couldn't have had them but I know I was never offered them at the vets - they always reached for the steroids and I've had loads more success with Piriton and worry a lot less about using it.

Hi Ashlady,this seems quite a common problem with a lot of dogs in the summer months and prednisolone is an effective treatment usually, but as Annie18 said it is only a preventative not a cure.Another optoin you could try if you are not keen on using the steroids is homoeopathic treatment. I don't know a lot about this sort of treatment but know a lot of people that swear by it. I think you can get a homoeopathic form of prednisolone and the people to speak to are Ainsworths in London. They have a animal advisor on hand and i hear they are very helpfull. They have a website www.ainsworth.com and there phone number is 020 7935 5330. Could be worth a phone call....All the best...Cheers...Ian..