I Hope the title of this thread is descriptive enough. My neighbor’s dog, Rex, has a horrible problem with his ears. His ears itch terribly, plus lots of white/black discharge and smell. Of course, he goes to the vet constantly, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to help him. We took him to our vet when we were watching him, but really there wasn’t a lot our vet could do either. My wife, who loves all animals, spends a lot of time cleaning his ears. She’s discovered that if she holds his ear up for an hour or so a day they dry out and he seems to get better. My neighbor is at his wit’s end and is very close to having the dog put down. His wife is dying and he really doesn’t have the time to deal with the dog. The dog is eight years old, but apart from his ears he is in good shape. He truly is a Good Dog, as you would expect a dog name Rex to be. My wife wonders if having the dog’s enormous ears removed, in a manner similar to what is done with Dobermans, would help with Rex’s problem. Does anyone have any experience/advice for us?
Curses, forgot to mention names have been changed to protect the innocent.
I have a sheltie with horrible ear problems. Some much discharge and irration that his ears started to swell and develop polyps. After numerous trips to the vet we finally had to have surgery done. The vet basically removed part of his ear canal and respositioned the ears so that the ear canal drained downward. Cost about $1500. Money I now consider well spent six months later. However, our sheltie did suffer some hearing loss and the ears are still really sensitive, but it was much worse before the surgery. On a daily basis I alternate rinsing his ears out with a saline solution and putting some medicine (don’t have the name with me) in his ears. I have to swab out the yucky stuff once a week otherwise it gets smelly. I also heavily trim the hair around his ear to allow air flow and to allow easier access to his ears.
I don’t know if removal of the ears is a good option… I’m not a vet. But shorting the ear canal and moving the ears really helped.
Good luck!
Short of cleaning the ear with Opti-calm or a similar cleaning agent, I’m at a loss as to what to suggest. Doing it daily may help. If there’s no infection as a cause, it’s hard to tell what’s causing the problem.
Cropping the ears of the dog, at this age, would be terrible trauma - I wouldn’t recommend it at all.
Maybe fellow dog folk will have other suggestions for you…
The best thing you can do is offer the owner the number of a golden retriever rescue group in your area. The dog gets to live, and the owner doesn’t have the added burden of cleaning the dog’s ears.
The Mercotan family has a 12-year-old golden with a mighty case of ear stench. I have, thank god, managed to avoid most participation in ear-swabbing duty, but I’m sure Qadgop would have some tidbits to share.
I had a Weimaraner that had the same surgery for ear infections, bur it didn’t help. He had psuedomonas bacterial infection that was resistant to the entire spectrum of antibiotics. He was a very good dog too, but I finally had to have him put down, he was so miserable. I hate doing the right thing.
My chocolate lab’s ears stunk, too, but without the discharge. They were pinkish grey, dry, and itchy. The vet said it was probably yeast and bacterial infections, gave us “animax ointment 30 ML (panalog)” and recommended we change his diet, trying to remove as much corn as possible. He was eating WalMart brand of dry dog food, and the second ingredient was corn. I switched to a burger type food, and mix it with the chunky beef in gravy canned food, both also from the WalMart brand.
About a week or so later, his ears showed drastic improvement, and we’ve been more diligent keeping them clean.
I am not a veterinarian, so this is not a diagnosis.
I am so not going to share our golden’s ear tidbits. Besides, Mrs. Mercotan has swabbing duty. I gotta stick my hands in enough gross human things.
Common ear problems are bacterial infections, yeast infections and allergic otitis. The bad smell could mean either bacterial or yeast, or you could have a mixed infection. Usually a dark brown discharge is yeast. A black crumbly discharge is often ear mites but that’s unusual in an older dog and I’m sure two vets would have spotted them, if they were there. The discharge is probably white & black because it’s a mixed yeast and bacteria, or there is a buildup of medications and the ear isn’t being cleaned out well. Is the dog on any medications? Does the dog have any other skin problems? Usually allergic problems result in a yellow waxy discharge along with a lot of thickened, reddish skin on the inside of the pinna (ear flap). These can be pretty stinky, too.
An ear ablation is the surgery that removes part of the ear canal (not the pinna). It is rather drastic and not necessarily a cure all.
Does this dog swim at all? It sounds like it needs a good regular cleaning with a drying solution along with the proper ear medication. You can make or buy a “snood” that you can put on the dog to hold the ears up until they dry since that seems to help. Be sure to get a drying solution and if the dog swims you should use the drying solution after every swim. Massage the base of the ear well, let the dog shake out the cleaning solution and then wipe up any debris that comes to the top.
Vet Tech for 21 years and used to own 3 Goldens and 1 Golden mix and have cleaned lots of ears over the years.
Were I involved with this dog, Casey1505’s suggestion would be the first thing I did.
The second would be the cleaning plus drying with snood suggested by Wile E. The snoods described are mostly used by Afghan Hound owners. They do look a little strange, but they don’t seem to be too uncomfortable, and the Afghans (one of the silliest dogs, thanks to overbreeding for both head shape and coat, just like Irish Setters; no offense intended to owners of either of these beautiful breeds) seem to tolerate them quite well.
The third thing I’d do would be to start giving the dog a healthy serving spoonful of yogurt (plain or vanilla only; you can buy it by the quart at reasonable prices) with his food, once daily. AFAIK, dogs don’t have adverse reactions to yogurt (as opposed to milk and some other milk products); I gave the last of my Danes daily yogurt, and she lived many more years than I had cause to hope or expect (of course, that wasn’t the only factor in her longevity). You’d be surprised how much the regular ingestion of yogurt tempers the pH of bodily orifices (possibly excluding the mouth, which has the most complex microbial ecology in the entire body), and how much this alters their microbial ecology.
Thanks for all the advice. We ended up taking the dog to the vet this morning. He shaved up the ears and cleaned/dried them. The dog will be on oral antibiotics for the next couple weeks and will require frequent application of OtiMax. The vet discovered what appears to be some sort of tumor on the dog’s leg and recommends removal/biopsy. There is a two week recovery. Talking it over with my wife, we are going to volunteer to keep the dog during it’s recovery. I asked the vet about the snood, he felt the dog was too old for it: it would be traumatic for the dog. My neighbor was rinsing the dog’s ears with an alkalizing solution of some sort, as well as a three-times-a-week cleansing solution, but those were maintenance things that didn’t really do anything for his problems.
Then it’s obvious that alkalizing ain’t what’s needed, right? 
I reiterate the advice to give small daily doses of yogurt, which isn’t expensive, and which will mildly acidify the orifices. Dogs’ skin is significantly more alkaline than ours; that’s the main reason why you NEVER, EVER use human shampoo on a dog. One of the possibilities is that - especially with an older dog - he’s picked up some human flora (whether normal or pathogenic) that just love a more alkaline host.
You could try this, it’s called blue power ear treatment.
I’ve not used it, but I know a number of people who swear by it, particularly those with Mastiffs, who tend to have ear problems. I actually keep meaning to get around to mixing some up, because my Neo tends to get smelly, yeasty ears.
I was a vet tech for almost two years and left the field two years ago. We had wonderful success with a product called, IIRC, Zymox Drops. Instead of being anti-bacterial or anti-septic (which can be painful), it is a lysosomal enzyme that “eats” the dirt, wax, and crud that yeast and bacteria consume and grow from. There was a second formula that contained a bit of hydrocortisone as well, for some pain relief (instead of pain inflicting!). The product was used 2x per day for 7-10-14 days (with NO cleaning afterward - it needs to stay in there to break down the dirt) and then a maintenance dose of once per week, ten days, two weeks, or whatever worked was administered. Best of luck!
Anyone know why the vet gave this dog antibiotics?
As a human female, I know what antibiotics do to me and my yeast production. Is it not the same for dogs?
I would go with the yogurt idea if it truly is yeast.