[Jacob B]

My yellow lab is 2 1/2 and I’ve been battling ear infections with her forever! I’ve taken her to numerous bets and have tried numerous medications including
:quadritop ointment, positex, and a few more ointments that didn’t work ..prednisone which this worked and cleared but I’ve heard from many people not to use this soon as she stopped using it came right back ? we clean her ears daily anyways we’ve tried diamond lamb and rice food and a few others that the vet have told us to try…. Please any help is appreciated

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Jacob –

Chronic otitis in dogs can have numerous causes – many of which are secondary (meaning the otitis is in fact a symptom of another underlying issue).

If you’ve been battling ear infections for as long as you have I’m sure your vet has already looked into this, but just in case, has a scraping from the ear been examined to check for yeast? Malassezia is a fairly common type of yeast that can infect the ears.

Has your dog’s thyroid been checked (especially would recommend having this done if the dog is overweight). Hypothyroidism can predispose dogs to chronic otitis.

Have you tried a grain-free diet? If not – I’d recommend trying a grain-free diet with a novel protein source (think rabbit, buffalo, kangaroo, etc. – something your dog hasn’t eaten before). Keep her on this for a couple months and see if things clear up.

Supplementing with multi-strain non-dairy probiotics, enzymes and coconut oil probably wouldn’t hurt either.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of what could be causing the otitis, however it may give you a few avenues to explore as far as getting to the root of the problem.

[Jacob B]

Yes a scrape was done and yeast was indeed found but I can’t recall the word he used but the only things I’ve been told was there was a surgery I could do or try diets I’m just new to this whole diet thing as I’ve never had an issue with other dogs… Which diet would you recommend starting with also where to go about getting it
Thank you so much

[Shasta220]

What are you feeding currently? My lab battled Otitis for many years. This was before any of us knew what dog nutrition was… She constantly had irritated ears. All the vet did was prescribe drops and washes to “neutralize” the problem.

One day, it got so far out of hand that her whole body broke out in raw spots. We had to keep a sweater and a cone on her to prevent biting/scratching. I bought her a better food and, no lie, all of the problems disappeared within a month!

She’s currently on a grain free food (I’m testing to see if her doggie dandruff is a grain allergy or not. It’s not itchy, just a little flaky now), but pretty much everything that had no corn, wheat, or soy was fine for her to eat.

[Author]

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