The vet some weeks ago advised putting in malacetic aural ear stuff into my dogs everyday for 2 weeks as he showed a yeast growth and was very itchy on his body and around head but has been like this for a long time (started apoquel). He hates having it put in but the itching is still present (apoquel finished last night)  but to be honest I haven't done it everyday as it seems very excessive. I've done every 3rd day and then using cotton wool with it soaked on in between and this has been longer than 2 weeks now, but brown stuff is still present. I've changed his diet so he is on no wheat or gluten or any red meat, he's just on fish and potato food with itch eeze added, he's had this now for 4 weeks, so a few more weeks yet to see if this helps. Previous to this he was raw fed and itched.

Is it healthy to keep filling up a dogs ear with cleaners everyday? Its like just pouring water in and surely can't be a good thing?, would it not affect hearing and feel really horrible like your ears are blocked with fluid all the time?

Our hound has auto immune & suffered dreadful yeasty dry ears. Gave up using veterinary cleansers along time ago as even reaching for the bottle could clear the room of dogs before the cupboard door was closed & also being astringent more than likely stung.  Have tried many things over the years, Thornit powder was a great success but with dry ears latterly caused further irritation. Recently had great success with cleaning the ears out as required with Aloe Vera gel (probably every other day), & although not keen on steroids (he's not allowed them anyway due to eye problems) an occasional squirt of Cortavance. His ears haven't looked this good for years.

I have one on immunotherapy due to environmental allergies and the reactions and infection that show.in her ears .it works well but we still , as expected have to use topical.treatments on occasion. we have been under a specialist for three years and during that time we were  having to use almost daily at some points . Have u consider a referral it certainly was out turning point although not quickly. possibly looking at immunotherapy maybe an idea .it's is not right for all especially if the dog is over 5 and about 70 % successful . I have had to deal.with my dog hating  the sight of me even going to the cupboard the drops were in and it's not nice but had confidence that it would be temporary .belive me I think we have been given things that haven't even been invented at times as it depends on what was  happening in the ear as to what is needed week by week . We use cortavamce and another a coupe of times a month ATM and for now we are ok .she still.sees.the vet every few months to have thorough check and change anything that's needed and will do for.life I expect

Finding the cause is the main goal but I see you're already working on that.  Linc gets slightly yeasty ears, they were much worse but are vastly improved since I worked out the worst triggers for him (chicken far and above anything else, also pork).  I think there's still a small trigger in his diet but tbh, it's not a priority to sort as his ears are very almost fine.

I clean them with Zymoz Otic, it's an enzymatic cleaner and works really well.  I got it after seeing the worst case of ear infection I've ever seen - I cannot accurately describe how horrific it was - be cured with the treatment product (there are treatment and cleaners).  It was astounding.  Manky, very manky but astounding!  Everything was just brought up out of the ears and then the ears themselves settled down.  It's not cheap, as it has hydrocortisone in it, but it's brilliant.  I use the non-HC cleaner but in your situation I'd go for the HC stuff.

My ESS had itchy ears that did not clear with cleaning. They were a bit better with Thornit but was only cured by using Advocate.

thanks

If I had him tested for auto immune what does this involve please and what is the treatment?

He has been itchy for many many months and ears have always been a bit of an issue, he scratches around his head a lot and chest and under chin. I just feel with all this time of the malacetic aural it should all be working by now and must be stripping the ear of normalness. The scratching normally is when he wakes ups at any point in the day.

The vet had suggested removing his ear canal which sounds drastic. He never seems to get an infection it just yeast I think. I have tried thornit in the past and quistel but neither seem to do much. He is a clumber so has big floppy ears and no air can get in!

I haven't done any spot treatment since October so could try that again I suppose. He is a more sickly dog but mainly with his limbs (several ops), never gains very much weight and looks much smaller than my other clumber.
He's on long term metacam, 2 years now and gabapentin so steroids is a no no unless I stop the metacam. He has steroids autumn last year for his knee and he never scratched once, it was brilliant.

I don't see how removing the ear canal will help with the itchiness.  And the fact that he is itchy in other areas - and the stopping of the itching on steroids - makes me think allergy.  Hopefully the new diet will stop it but you must remember that ALL food is important and will have an impact, treats and all!

Has he had fish or white potato before?

One of mine got really sore ears after a course of antibiotics for something else (rattle following kennel cough that was probably not bacterial but he was only 5 months old so vet wanted to treat with ABs anyway). His ears only smelled slightly and no real discharge but he would yelp when they were touched. He was given ten days course of some antibiotic and antifungal drops then a similar regime to the one you described with malascetic. I felt the same about malascetic but I did it and it worked. I think I did it daily for two or three weeks, then every other day for few, and gradually reduced until I now only use it after I pluck and every 2 or 3 baths (poodle bathed every week or 2). It happened again after he swam in a particularly dirty river. However it does sound like something else is goimg on for your dog when mine had a tendency to thrush and simple ear infections. We've had no ear trouble since switching to a completely raw diet but I do tend to use the malascetic wash more often if his ears look pink or are being held flat against his head (his early discomfort signs)..

He hasn't had a total fish and potato diet before but has had raw fish and potato separately in the past. His raw diet which he's had since 12 weeks old I only stopped so as to cut out all red meat.
His treats are just fruit or fish based and wheat and gluten free.

He's be scratching again tonight but he's only been on the stricter diet for 4 weeks and I know it takes up to 8 weeks to see any affect if any, and the apoquel finished 2 days ago.

I'll continue with Malacetic aural stuff, I can understand why he does a runner when he sees me get the bottle as I'd hate having my ears filled with fluid everyday! The brown stuff in his ears is still the yeasty infection then??.  don't most dogs have some sort of waxy brown stuff in their ears? My other dog has it but isn't irritated by it, he gets the cleaner too though!

Mine both have brown earwax all the time. The only way I can tell there's a problem is if the ear canals are wet (make a squishy sound when pressed gently from the outside which is nearly impossible to do if they are sore and not very definitive when using wash every day!) or by other obvious symptoms like head shaking, scratching or holding the ears differently. I don't think brown stuff is necessarily an issue unless it is copious, foul smelling or purulent.

Mine run when they see the bottle come out too although they probably also associate it with the other dreaded ear powder bottle and realise a plucking is on the cards. I dont pluck often, never pluck bare and only remove what is growing from deeper inside the ears and not around the opening but it's still not very nice for them.

Ears should always be pink and clean-looking and should not have visible brown earwax in them. 

Thornit has always been my go-to product and has cured several ear issues in dogs I've worked with.  I've known dogs the vet was wanting to put under GA for an ear cleaning, be fixed by Thornit... It doesn't fix every single ear issue, but about 80% of them.

Unfortunately thornit never worked for him.

I've put more in this morning and then cleaned with cotton wool and there is minimal brown on the cotton wool so I think its better but doesn't stop him scratching. trouble is if I don't keep doing I guess it will come back.

It sounds like, as others have said, there's an underlying issue so whilst you're cleaning it, you're just keeping on top of the symptom rather than addressing the cause.

Allergies sound quite likely, as others have suggested.  I would see if you can get him allergy tested at your vet, and also experiment with what you are feeding him - reducing it to the simplest and fewest ingredients possible and seeing if it improves and if not, try different simple ingredients...

Advocate works on ear mites, so a dose of that could be tried too - although I'd have thought the Thornit would work if it were mites, but it might be worth a try.

Removing the ear canal?    Did your vet actually suggest an aural resection which might do the trick.   But have you had your vet do a swab, culture and identification which may mean the correct AB can be used.

I had my vet check in my hound's ear the other day - he found no infection but a lot of wax and recommended it be cleaned, using a commercial ear cleaner, twice a week.

She swabbed it and they looked at it in house under microscope and said yeast.

Yes she said remove ear canal but I'm not doing that.

I'll see how the next 4 weeks go on just fish & potato kibble and only fish treats or fruit treats.

We were in this situation due to allergies in particular yeasts .after a referral to a specialist dermatologist and further treatment she is now on immunotherapy and her ear canals are saved . It doesn't work for all but when it does it's very worth while. Especially as she has not needed a very serious op in both ears which would leave her most likely deaf at the least

I would akways try the least drastic option first, so try the Advicate.

One of our spaniels had really small/narrow ear canals and kept getting ear infections. He had lateral wall resection ear surgery and hasn't had a problem with them since.