Prevention and Treatment of Canine Ear Infections (Otitis Externa)

When your pet gets an ear infection, it can be difficult to treat and resolve in later stages. Most commonly affected are dogs with long ears that prevent air flow through the ear canals and dogs prone to allergies. Dogs that have long ears tend to trap moisture inside the ear canal. Moisture and warm temperatures provide ideal environments for bacteria and yeast to populate. Ear infections are characterized by brown exudate in the ear canal, foul smell originating from ear canal, red and thickened ear flap.

So how is an ear infection diagnosed? Well, first off, your veterinarian will obtain a smear of the debris that is in the canal. The doctor will then perform what is called a cytology. This is a laboratory procedure that will show if the debris is predominantly yeast, bacteria, or both. In many cases, the dog has an ear infection secondary to allergies and is caused by yeast accumulation. In more severe cases, the dog will have populations of both yeast and bacteria. Ear infections are treated with anti-fungal or anti-bacterial medications. Conofite is commonly used to treat a yeast infection whereas Gentocin is commonly used to treat bacteria infection. If the dog has a presence of both, the Conofite and Gentocin are used in combination with one another.

T-8 Keto is an ear flush that is fairly new and has been very successful in resolving ear infections. What T-8 Keto does is it breaks down the cellular wall of bacteria, allowing medication to penetrate the bacterial cells much easier. The flush is done prior to administering the medications. Your veterinarian can provide you with more information on these products. Now, that is if your dog already has an infection. What if they are prone to infections? What can you do to prevent severe ear infections from occurring?

As was mentioned earlier, moisture is your enemy in ears. If your dog is a big swimmer, make sure the ears are dry on the inside. You can use drying lotions in the ear that evaporate the water or use cotton balls to dry the inside of the ear out. If you can get your dog to shake his/her head, that will also aid in getting the residual water out of the ear canals. As preventative, you can also buy a combination of ear flush and drying lotion. Doing this weekly will help prevent ear infections if your dog is prone to them. If your dog has ear infections secondary to allergies, consider talking with your veterinarian about allergy medications to help prevent the symptoms associated with allergies. Lastly, make sure you are correctly administering the medication. Most pet owners do not know the proper way to treat infected ears and will treat for the course of medication and will complain that the meds did not work. You must massage deep at the base of the ear canal to ensure you are bringing that debris out from the inner canal.