Posted on 01/21/2011 2:41:39 PM PST by Nachum
We have a black lab/golden retriever mix. We noticed that there was a smell coming from our dog's ears recently. After inspection, there was a lot of black ear-wax like discharge on the inside of her ear. She is not digging or scratching at her ears, but there is the discharge and smell.
After doing some research, the consensus seems to be that she may be suffering some kind of ear infection. Do the FReepers here have experience with ear issues? The site I linked to generally speaks of a remedy of apple cider vinegar and water in the ear.
After a long week of politicking and Obamanations, why not talk about something important- our pets. :)
Black earwax usually means ear mites. The “black” is the mites. The Vet needs to clean them.
usually secondary to chronic moisture, like playing with or in water.
Can usually treat with an antifungal, like clotrimazole. However, you should really get a vet to look in there with a scope and be sure there are no foreign objects or debris or food allergies as an underlying problem.
Probably not a good idea to start treating without looking in there first, as some remedies will actually make the problem worse, much worse, like a ruptured drum and a middle or inner ear infection, which you really do not want your dog to have.
Thanks for the link.
Yep. Bad smell. She doesn’t scratch though. I will be taking her to the vet for sure now. I can see it now. Ear infection. Ear cleanings. Pills drops.
My Rott/Chow mix Sandy suffered ear infections and yeast infections. Sometimes it got so bad she could barely lift her head. I always took her to the vet and she got the antibiotics and otimax drops. Plus cleaning. Her father also suffered from this. Please take your baby to the vet ASAP. I lost my baby because right after leaving the vet I overlooked something with her and she was gone the next day.
For that I will NEVER forgive myself. They can’t tell you what is wrong. Please don’t wait!.
My dog (11 yr old lab mix) gets brownish/black stinky stuff in his ears. I gently clean the outer parts of his ears with Q-tips and sometimes dribble a bit of diluted apple cider vinegar in them and let him shake it out outside. My vet has not been concerned about the gunk, so neither am I.
Just be really, REALLY careful not to bend the dog’s ears or squeeze them...they can get hematomas, which are nasty. A hematoma is a massive inflammation of the ear skin flap. Jack (my dog) has had them 3 times and they are expensive and painful to fix. And no, not because I cleaned his ears or put in a bit of vinegar!
Of course, if you’re really concerned, if it gets worse, or think it may be something more serious, see your vet. Could be an ear infection or ear mites. Good luck!
Vets are way too expensive. Most people are now performing their own minor treatments for common aliments.
The eardrum needs to be visualized and deemed intact before you put anything into his ear.
Ear mites?
My cat had this. Got some RX from vet. Cleared it up.
My first thought was ear mites, but you should really take the dog to the vet.
There is a telltale dark discharge and strong odor.
I did not get good results from the vet. He tried to convince us to use a very expensive chemical like the flea medicine that is put outside on the dogs neck. It failed miserably!
We finally went to Pet Meds, they sent us a very powerful ointment that we placed in his ears. Also a very necessary cleaning fluid that deep cleans the infection and promotes healing. (Reasonable price too!)
It took months and painstaking dedication to get this cleared up, we also had to swab out the infection with Q tips several times a day, but it worked! We have not had a problem since. His ears are now very healthy and he is much happier.
Ask Pet Meds what they recommend, that's what we did. Also, keep your dog away from other dogs and places where he can be reinfected. It is highly contagious and if you don't get it taken care of soon, it can damage the dog's hearing.
You can also do a search on Wikipedia under Ear Mites and it will describe the symptoms, also recommend a good treatment.
Good luck!
She does need to see a vet to find out what is the problem: infection or mites. After the problem is cleared you will need to clean her ears periodically.
I’ve owned a long-eared breed over the past years that are prone to ear infections. I’ve tried all kinds of cleaners from the vet and over the counter. The best one is Derma-pet ear cleanser. You can purchase it either through your vet or over the web. Just do a web search for it.
Once I started using this the dogs never had another ear infection. I used it about twice a week as a preventative. On the dog I have now I use it once a week. She is five years old now and has never had an ear infection.
If you go to DermaPet’s website
http://www.dermapet.com/prod-09.html
There should be a tutorial somewhere there to show you how to properly clean a dog’s ears.
This product will keep the PH in the ear acidic to help prevent infections. And I am not affiliated with the company in any way. I have just been using it for years and so have many other owners of this type of dog.
Sounds like a fungus. My Bichon has had a few episodes and the vet prescribes ear drops. Don’t try home remedies.
One of our bassets has this problem- it almost looks like a brown tar and is very thick. He has an autoimmune disorder and I figure this is related to that. When we bathe him (once a month or more if needed) we use an ear wash. Do NOT use cotton swabs. For some reason, they cause more wax to be produced. Several times a month, I use a thin wash cloth on each ear that I rinse with warm water and wring out well. I very carefully clean out what I can get to and switch to other parts of the cloth so I don’t spread the ick. I then take a dry washcloth and dry his ears. He used to be stressed about getting his ears done but I pet him for a long time and give him treats so he is fine with it now.
What dogfood do you use? We do not allow wheat, soy or corn. Many dogs are allergic so this may contribute to his ear wax. Since our dog was diagnosed with cancer, we now use Blue Buffalo Basic Turkey and Potato. They actually appear happier since we switched. They definitely have more energy.
Good Luck!!!!
She could have an infection , or she could have ear lice.
Dose she shake her head a lot vigoroously, you know the fwappa , fwappa long shake? If so , liely an infectio of ear wax.
Try some warm baby oil, and some long cue tips to clean out her ears comletely, getting all the ear follicles completely clean.
Then check her in 24 hours. You can see then if its an infection bccuase the discharge will be coear but mucous like, or maybe a bit pussy. .Then you know its infection.
If you see meore dark ear wax the next day after cleaning, its ear wax build up and her ears can be douched gently with warm water.and then repeat the cue tip cleaning.
The ear infection, if mild, can be treated with a mild solution of hydrogen pyroxide rinse, using a douche gently.
Keep rinsing her ears and cleaning with cue tips every day
and the infection should clear in a weak.
If the infection turns septic, the smell is REALLY rotten, and you have to take her to the vet immediately for antibiotics.She also will growl if you try to touch her ears if its a bad infection.
If its ear lice you need to get a special kind of oil from the Vet to treat them.But essentially its the same process, daily cleaning with oil and cue tips.
It looks good. Thanks!
He’s a very tall hound dog.
: )
Take the pup to the vet for the first round anyhow.
If it's a bad/persistent case, your vet has a lot of options. There are ear washes, ear drops, etc. Here's what we did:
My chocolate Lab had the persistent ear crud, waxy and dark. Fungal. We went at it from both sides of the problem - topical and diet. There's a cluster-bomb type eardrop called Otomax - has an antibiotic, steroids, and an enzyme in it to break up the crud. Do this OUTSIDE the first few times. You put in a few drops and then massage the base of the ear to work it in well. Dog will probably shake and scatter droplets of the stuff all over. Same goes for ear wash. The Otomax bottle says not to use ear wash, if your dog's ears are really FULL of crud you might want to use the wash to clear things out, then switch to Otomax. Do NOT use Qtips. Leave that to the vet. Just use a cotton ball or tissue to wipe the surface of the outer ear. If you simply can't resist, at least keep the Qtip vertical so it doesn't turn the corner to the eardrum, but all you're going to do is jam the stuff down in there and make it harder to get out. Resist temptation.
As for the inside aspect -- most ear issues are related to skin issues, i.e. allergy issues.
We switched the dog first to AvoDerm, a dog food designed for sensitive skin. It has avocado meal and fish oil etc. in it. It worked pretty well, but what really cleared her up was switching to a non-grain food.
There are several good ones - Evo and Blue Buffalo come to mind, but we settled on Taste of the Wild because it is no-grain but has a lower protein content than most no-grain foods, and the Lab is an old dog (11 in March) so we don't want to overload her with protein. TOTW is made by Diamond, which had the Chinese melamine episode, but I figure once burned twice shy and they're going to be VERY careful about their sources from here on out. Diamond other than that one instance has been a pretty good dog food company.
. . . just my two cents. Go with what your vet says - he's seen the dog.
Sounds like yeast infection, and a vet visit is in order for the proper meds. My mini poodle is prone to them as he has floppy ears. It is more common in dogs with floppy ears than pointed ears.
Great advice. Thank you so much. It is the “black discharge” with a ‘funky bitter smell’. She doesn’t complain at all. We just smell it.
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