Several weeks ago I noticed that Sophie the WFT had a red-looking ear.  I mentioned it when I took her to the vet during her tooth straightening treatment.  He prescribed Surolan drops twice a day, having taken a swab of her ear and looked at it under the microscope.  Since then he has washed her ear out twice, saying that he washed out gunge etc but we still don't seem to have cured the problem.  Although the ear looked red she it didn't seem to worry Sophie.  However, it was washed out again on Friday and since then she has been shaking her head and holding the ear down.  She is not due to see the vet again for 10 days or so but I think I will have to speak to him on Monday as I am getting quite concerned over what seemed to me to be a minor problem.

I wondered if anyone else has experienced ear problems and what treatment was used?  Would be grateful for your thoughts.

Thanks!

Try Thornit , I started to use this on my Labs and the one girl who had frequent infections and dirty ears improved 100% after a few weeks.

I use it in a regular basis now as a preventative measure

My goodness, what is it with Sophie and Dickie, their lives seem to be travelling along the same paths!

Dickie went one step further with his ear infection and had a ruptured eardrum, having treatment with Itraconazole orally (off-licence) as nothing could be put in the ear itself. The eardrum has healed but we are back to the vets tomorrow for a check-up now the medication has finished. I'm sure he'll have to have another flush as there is still gunk in there. At no point has he shown that his ear is worrying him. I've currently claimed over £800 for this (sigh).....

How is her tooth straightening coming along?

We have same problem here and on the same drug but also pred all to reduce inflammation in the ear canal so the natural fluids in the ear can flow as they should.we have had two ear flushes and numerous swabs taken showing alsorts including yeasts Am now under dermatologist as having seen ent vet as well I am advised that a lot of persistent ear problems are secondary infections and usually there is an underlying skin or immune problem but in dogs it may  only show in the ear. Fantastic !! Fortunately I am insured. I may be worth asking your vet for a dermatology referral ? Just to add I too have both dogs under a dermatologist now !! Think  are in collusion lol

When mine have needed treatment I have always been given Cleanaural ear flush and Canaural ear drops - Canaural drops are skin-penetrating antibiotics, antifungal and contain predisalone - as far as I know Surolan drops also have predisalone and an antibiotic in them, just a different antibiotic.  Have you been given an ear flush too?  Because the way I found worked best was to fill the ear with ear flush, massage the base of the ear to ensure it all goes down  - then I waited an hour and put the canaural drops in - that way the flush has a chance to clean out some of the lose debris, scabs and oozy stuff and then the steroid/antibiotic drops get down to where they are needed.  The other thing the vet told me is that even though it says two drops in the ear what they actually suggest you do is put the steroid drop pointy thing right down in to the ear opening (not further as it may hurt obviously) and then squeeze the bottle until you see the drops filling up and coming back out then stop, and massage the base of the ear to help it sink down. (I have a similar size dog to you - westie - so probably the same?). Then when the next dose is due I grab a wad of cotton wool and clean all the surface of the ear out getting some of the gunk around the ear opening off - and the start again with ear wash and then drops.  I've been lucky, doing it that way has cleared my dogs in around 4 days but I always complete the 7 days worth of the drops to be sure.

Maybe ask your vet about trying drops with a different active antibiotic in it in case the one in your drops for some reason she's resistant to?

Thank you all. I will ask  the vet about changing the eardrops as they don't seem to be doing much good.  Pedlee,  it is strange that both our dogs seem to be suffering with teeth and ears!!!  I hope Dickie though is now on the mend.  Sophie's tooth is now in the right place fortunately so that is one problem solved! 

One problem I am having though is my sheltie with her pointed little nose keeps wanting to lick Sophie's bad ear and I have to keep separating them.  The sheltie has always been a motherly type, wanting to wash/lick all my dogs' eyes and ears ......

With mine, I've found that ear problems are often solved by a change of diet.   Some diets seem to set off their ears almost immediately - certainly within a week or so.

Finding a diet that helps with this can be trial and error though, and it can take some weeks to tell whether it's helping or not ;-)  Meantime, if there's no head shaking or redness, or other indication of a sore ear, just gunkiness and/or smell, I clean the ear with baby oil to help loosen and remove any debris.

NOT saying this is what you shoould do, especially if an infection has been diagnosed ;-)

I would agree dill but mine are all raw fed and have been since I got them 7 and 4 years ago so the usual things ie carbs arnt in their diet. Even the vet who wasn't keen in raw admitted that so I am in a bit if a quandary. The oo might fund as you suggest helps or to consider raw so eliminate carbs in particular so no fruit or veg.  We have had a number if different drops based in the bugs found in swabs all to no avail. Also been done as you suggested tinar. I am gioung this idea of secondary complaint and funding the primary cause will work but will need further testing for allergies,thyroid and who knows what

Food allergies can be a big contributory factor in recurrent ear problems

sadly I now know so were are trying to cure the ears and track down any allergies. In this case with two raw fed dogs grrr. I could however be environmental who knows at the moment

Ongoing but very irritating ear issues here too, he rolls and moans and groans whilst pawing at his ear. It's now reached the point that we can't clean his ears out or put thornit in as when he did have a bad infection it hurt and irritated them more and he became scared of anything going in his ear. We can't sneakily do it as he smells the powder or any meds a mile off and runs, barking and spinning. He had an anaesthetic a few weeks ago to check there wasn't anything foreign in there but no, nothing and in fact not even a lot of gunk! The vet and we believe its now a case of his inner ears and tubes being itchy due to his allergies, like humans get too sometimes and the redness and bruising is where he rolls on them and scratches them. Our pup also licks them which I'm sure doesn't help either.
Poor dogs, it's so miserable to see them like it isn't it.

Raw fed dogs can be allergic to different meat proteins     it's possible to be allergic to chicken,  fish,  beef or lamb. Or any combination of them

Sometimes it's worth trying a protein they haven't encountered.

With my extremely allergic Afghan X  it was any meat protein.   All his problems disappeared when in desperation I bought the Stella McCartney vegetarian dog food which was peanut and soy based IIRC

He also had major ear problems,  but that turned out to be a polyp on a long stalk which irritated his ear every time he moved.   He given a general anaesthetic for tooth cleaning and I requested they have a proper look in his ears at the same time,  as they were talking ear ablation.    One snip and it was cured!

His allergies continued though when the Stella McCartney food was discontinued.    I put him on piriton in the end as the steroid treatment wasn't worth the side effects.

having trouble trying a protein they haven't encountered at a price I can afford or is available atm. I am hoping the allergy  tests show something although I know they can be hit and miss otherwise I will do an elimination diet.
I no some who has a vegan dog due to allergies not choice and has done really well so we have away to go.
your poor dog elly so distressing

It's distressing for the dog,  and the owner

Makes you feel so useless at times

Back to the vet for Sophie's ear which is still not right,  holding the ear down which at first she didn't do.  Vet has now prescibed Otomax Ear Drops Suspension, 1 drop  daily and some Prednidale AB tablets.  He said today that there was pus in her ear as well as gunk  Vet also not that pleased with her tooth which has not moved into quite the right position so she will probably have to have another (smaller) gadget - they call it a "plane" put i to fiish the job.  Dogs - who'd hav'em??

same as the ones were are on + pred + another human steroid. back for ear flush next week are going from there possible ct to check what's happening with the aasprgilloisis which is one of the yeasts. still got the allergies to look at as vet thinks that the underlying cause of the reoccurrence of yeast infection. 
might be worth asking the same about allergies with your vet

Dickie had his check up yesterday and had more swabs taken. She wasn't overly worried about the gunk as there was no inflammation and the eardrum looked healthy. Once the results are back from the lab she'll decide on the next step...