My poodle's ears STINK

[moontamara]

and I mean bad!!!! I'm actually going to the vet tomorrow for Casey's (toy poodle puppy) third vaccination, and will ask the vet about the ears. However, the vet usually cleans his ears herself with something and a Q-tip and warns me not to do this particular thing at home as I may hurt him. Is there any safe way I can clean his ears? I actually think Casey might have a slight infection, as my husband was helping me give him a bath (this is my husband's first pet) and somewhat carelessly doused his head with water a couple of days ago, and the smell seems to have been worse since then. He also seems to be itching, but that has been an on again off again problem, as I've been searching for the right food for him. He's pretty sensitive, so it seems, and it's hard to find what we need in Korea. I just read an old thread about smelly ears, but it was a year old and the suggestions were by people who aren't around anymore so I don't know if I can trust them. Is a 50/50 vinegar/water solution safe/helpful? Thank you!!!

[glasslass]

Moonie, there was a recipe for an ear wash posted a couple days ago by Mastifflover. I haven't tried it yet, but I printed it out. It's under "Puppy Ear Maintenance" in the General Forum.

When Casey is groomed, does the groomer pull out the hair inside his ears? Poodles have hair that grows inside the ear canal which needs to be gently pulled out. Don't use any tools to do this. Just pull a little bit at a time with your fingers. It comes out quite easily and is like a little fluff, not regular hair. Puppies don't like it the first couple times, but will quickly realize it doesn't hurt and then will just ignore you when you do it. The key is doing just a bit per each pull. Don't pull too much at a time. You'll quickly get the feel for how much is enough and how much is too much. I wouldn't do this while they're inflamed however as they probably are sensitive right now. It's important to keep the hair out of his ears and to trim the hair on his face right up to the ear. This allows for good air circulation. I constantly check Den-Den's ears as he's sitting in my lap, in the car, or wherever. The hair doesn't grow fast in his ears, but my mom's neighbor's poodle seems to get a lot of it. It seems to vary, poodle to poodle. I check inside Den-Den's ears for color, if it's normal or pinker than usual.

[sujean]

I have a dog that has chronic ear infections and has bad allergies due to fleas. Initially we thought he was having an issue with his food. However, after experiments with food, we have found that Nutro (can be found on-line) keeps his coat healthy. We now know that his allergies is to fleas. one little bite and he turns beet red! so now we are just religious about his flea medication and bath time.

But I digress. Regarding his ear infections: his ears smell, violently shakes his head and he also has large amounts of black gunk that comes out of them. (this leaves nice black ear juice remnants on our wallls!) we used a solution we found on-line (part alcohol, part, gentian violet solution and part boric acid). this solution did not seem to really do anything but clean them out.

We have recently started him on Opti-Clean (found at the vet and online) and this is supposed to "lift" the gunk out from his ear canal to the surface where by then you can clean them out (without having to use q-tips). this is what we are trying now. it also has a slight amount of alcohol in it for the drying effect. This solution also does not make our dog whine b/c of the low alcohol content. (he hated the gentian solution!! plus it made his ears bright purple!)

We have also read abouta rpodcut called Zymox. We have heard good things but we can only find this online (from petmeds.com). We did not have time to wait for his ears so we are trying the opti-clean until our zymox arrives.

hope this helps!

[mastifflover]

I did post it the recipe a couple of days ago if you cant find the thread, pm me and I will send it to you. Never use a q-tip only use gauze or soft cotton and only clean the outer ear and not inside past wher your finger reaches, the cleaner will bring all the guk upto the top of the ear. Be very gentle if his ears are red and inflammed. There might be an infection in there if they smell that bad have the vet look at them and clean them when you are there and he might need and antibiotic.

[moontamara]

actually, I did see the recipe but am pretty sure I can't find all the ingredients in it here in korea anyway, going to the vet in a little while, and i'll soon know if it's an infection. so washing his ears with a product from the petstore (but not with Q-tips) is okay? good to know! thanks all!!!!

[moontamara]

It's a yeast infection I'm sure it's my fault for not telling my husband to be careful of his ears. Also, I should have made sure that we dried his ears properly after his last bath... my poor little poochie!

The vet cleaned his ears quite thoroughly and pulled out all those little hairs you were talking about, Glasslass, and put some cream in there, and now he's on medecine, for a month!!! Does that seem normal? It seems pretty excessive to me, although I do trust my vet.

Any thoughts?

At least my little guy doesn't have a cough anymore!!! This seems quite mild in comparison to that nightmare!

[glasslass]

What kind of medicine did they put him on? A month seems like a long time. Antibiotics are usually for 10 days. But I'm not all that knowlegeable about meds.

Has he had a haircut yet?

[Goldenmom]

Just a side note. Cut away ALL hair from in and around the ears. The ears need to be able to get air into them, to help clear up infection. I have to use a solution once a week on my 7-yr old ears, as a precaution.

Heather

[mastifflover]

I hope the antibiotics are only for 10 days more seems excessive.The drops I can understand using longer. I have been dealing with severe ear problems and Buddy was never on antibiotics for more than 10 days at a time. Fortunately he has had surgery and his ears are 100%. This has been going on for 8 months. I have spent literally 2000.00 on just his ears.make sure to finish the antibiotics even though the ear infections seem to have cleared up. Make sure the ears are always clean otherwise it becomes a breeding ground for infections. By the way Boric acid powder is used to kill cockroaches and genitian violet is used on ants not to worry they are all safe to use in this solution.

[moontamara]

I don't know exactly what it is -- they always give me the medecine in powder form (and they mix medecines together too) and I never know what's what. It's a similar story when I go to the human doctor too. Kind of strange, eh? I have medecine for a week, and then I'm supposed to go back. If I understood her correctly, she we'll give him more medecine at that time (maybe just if he needs it?)

Casey has had his feet and face clipped at the vet's office, and I've been giving him trims at home on the rest of his body. I'm hesitant to get him a real haircut yet, as I know what he'll come home looking like. However, I'll now pay special attention to the inside and outside of his ears. The vet also suggested putting his ears inside out when he's near me, also to get air in there.

$2000 on ears? I sure hope you mean Canadian dollars! Geez, I felt hard done by because Casey's ears will probably end up costing as much as $100.

Thanks again all!!!

[glasslass]

All they need is the face & neck to the collar line, paws, and base of tail. Then just keep the rest an even length and fluffy. It's not difficult if you get good electric clippers. Leave a full moustache and short beard. Just girls have clean faces!

This is how he should look in all his poodle glory! This was my toy when he was about 3 months old.

[moontamara]

ahhh!!! SOOOOO cute! not that different from Casey, but Casey's kind of tall for his age and he's "ah-pu-ru" which is how Koreans pronounce "apricot!
"

[Luba]

Check this out

it's a remedy my friend who breeds cocker spaniels uses all the time
he says it works miraculously

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=6311

[mastifflover]

Adding a note to Lubas post use it outside because the genitian violet stains.
and yes 2000.00 canadian dollars just on ears.

[loveyadogs]

where in canada can I buy
Zymox please

[bendyfoot]

Go to your vet and ask for a NON-alcohol based ear cleaner, and get instructions on how to use it properly.

[loveyadogs]

oh I spoke to the vet, they wont do that.

[bendyfoot]

Well, if the ears are that bad, then perhaps it warrants an examination. There could be a yeast infection, ear mites, who knows...if you just slap in any ol' ear medication/cleaner in there without knowing the problem, you could be doing more harm than good and prolonging the discomfort/smell.

[loveyadogs]

he is allergic to flea bites.My MIL has a cat that was not treated and my crew went to dinner, he has a reaction , same with summer time, even though he is on a flea plan he still has the reaction to the bites, his ears get bad and we use the drops , this happened aagain now and vet is aware of past historysilly fleas.
I heard great things about this drops and wanted to know if we can buy them in canada, thats all my question was asking. he has saw vet.

[bendyfoot]

http://www.healthypets.com/zymoxhcmain.html

Looks like you can have it shipped from here, there may be other places. It's OTC, so you wouldn't need a prescription. Looks like Zymox has both a non-steroidal and steroidal version. You may want at least to ask the vet which would be better.

My guess, since you're dealing with what sounds like an allergic/inflammation issue and not a bacteria/yeast/dirt issue, something with the steroid might be more effective (just IMO, I'm not a vet).

Why not get the same drops as last time, did they not work?