Hi my 2 year old pointer is an itchy soul. Especially her ears. I’m trying an elimination diet. I’ve been feeding her Forthglade chicken mixes and I’ve been told chicken could be at fault. She has been to the vets and been on antibiotics and prednisone for ears. This worked whilst she was under treatment but alas she has now become itchy again.
Wondering whether anyone has found Thornit to be affective? Thanks .

I didnt find it found it any use for.2 dogs whose eventual issue was found to be both food and environmental allergies.
Unfortunately although food was easy to eliminate as I feed raw ,environmental pretty impossible and tje main ones were found after skin tests 
The 2 main problems for.us is malazzia and aspillergosis both of which exist permanently in the environment. 
One is now on immunotherapy which gives a good.improvememt together with regular specialist checks amd.sometimes extra topical.treatments.  my other dog who we sadly lost couple. of.years ago was over 5 when his issues started so.considered too old for immunotherapy
.  Other treatments had 2 many side effects for long term treatment so we used a range of topical treatments as needed.
Tbh it was only when I got a referral.to a specialist that we got a real.handle.on the problem.  Allergies are not easy
. Yes.chicken is a very high allergen for many dogs including mine

I have tried Thornit but have never had any success with it, on my Bassets I'm afraid.   People do swear by it - perhaps I wasn't administering it correctly.

If there's anything that empties a Bank account faster than all the 'try this, try that', it's with ongoing ear problems.   I always urge people to have their vet do a swab, culture and I/D so you should get the correct antibiotic to clear it up, once and for all.

In case it is diet related, try a fish and potato diet, something she's never had before.   Any improvement will take time - for the old 'irritant' to clear the system.

Thankyou for your replies. She has been to the vet and had an ear culture taken .. it was found to be a yeast infection . That she was treated for. But now she has become itchy all over especially her ears. I regularly clean them out as vet suggested.. with a prescription ear cleaner. It’s just that you dog owners can usually solve problems even better than vets!
Thanks for your input

I’ve used Thornit on my dogs successfully, so it’s at least worth a try as it’s not very expensive.

Think it depends on the dog/cause. I have always used it on my dogs and found it works very well. Many dogs are allergic to chicken, so that would be the first thing I'd cut out.

I agree with cutting out any trace of chicken in her food . Mamabas idea is a good one as white fish and potato are often low allergen that is if u are happy to feed kibble. Do.check there isn't any chicken in any form in what ever food u do use .it sneaks in in many guises . Even treats have to be considered too.
Usually u need about 6 weeks in a food to see if things improve

If it is a yeasty ear then it should improve it.  It's cheap, smells lovely, eliminates mites and makes any wax bind to hair so that you can clean easier.  I love it and use it between dogs toes too if they have harvest mites.

One of my dogs used to get itchy paws, long gone now and I used to get a freezer bag and put thornit in and put paws in and rub into them. Really helped. Helped dirty ears but never infected ears

I frequently use Thornit and it's worked on every dog I've owned. Gunky brown wet wax in ears, dries up and just peels or flakes out to reveal healthy pink skin underneath!

The stuff most vets prescribe is liquid, which doesn't really make much sense to me when you're wanting to dry out the ears...

I have recommended it to many others and the vast majority also found it incredibly effective, but just a couple of people didn't see an improvement. My hunch is that it will work if the cause is a gunky build up, yeast etc - but if there is an underlying ongoing cause like allergies or a deep ear infection, it may not be effective. But nothing to lose by trying it as it won't cause harm and it's cheaper than a trip to the vet (and less stressful for the dog).

I take a large pinch and drop it as deep into the ear as possible, then quickly close the flap over the ear and wiggle the ear around to massage it in as much as possible before the dog shakes most of it out...

Hi guys. I’ve now applied thornit to both her ears twice daily for 3 days! It seems to have made matters worse though. Today I’ve used virbac ear cleaner but there is not any debris coming out. The actual skin of her ears seemed inflamed and she was shaking her head a lot.
This evening the redness has gone and there’s no ear shaking.  So whether this was down to the Thornit I don’t know!
Thanks for all your help.

> It seems to have made matters worse though.

Unfortunately this is the response I got when trying this.

Our dogs must have extra sensitive skin then! Thanks for letting me know. Interesting to hear the negative side of using “Thornit”

I should just say maybe there were a couple of reasons why this didn't work, for me.   One being the way I was using it (given that Basset ears are a bottomless pit so it may not have got where it was needed, and secondly, perhaps this wasn't the right treatment!!

> I’ve now applied thornit to both her ears twice daily for 3 days! It seems to have made matters worse though. Today I’ve used virbac ear cleaner but there is not any debris coming out. The actual skin of her ears seemed inflamed and she was shaking her head a lot.

3 days isn't really enough for it to work, I do it for at least 5 days if not a week before reassessing things.

Head shaking is very common - the dog is trying to shake out the powder.

Yes, probably it will irritate the skin in the ear very slightly - it's a powerful antiseptic, but that's probably worth weathering if it solves the issue.

I wouldn't combine products and use Thornit and then Virbac ear cleaner the next day. Thornit works by drying out the ear, if you're also using a wet product, that's not going to work. Besides you don't know how they will interact...

Thornit is not supposed to go down the ear canal at all, at least according to the instructions last time I bought a bottle.  It's supposed to be dusted round the outside of it.

I prefer Zymox, an ezymatic product.  I've seen frankly astounding results with it.  I keep the cleaner and blue treatment (for yeasty ears) in the car for one of my walking clients' dogs, who has food allergies and gets horrendous ear infections (easy to manage but it isn't always done well).  The Zymox has just staved off a brewing one nicely.

When I've used it I ve used a make up brush to dust around the ear not down the canal as nikita says

>Thornit is not supposed to go down the ear canal at all, at least according to the instructions last time I bought a bottle.  It's supposed to be dusted round the outside of it.

Definitely not down the ear canal itself, just on the ear flap. My vet has struggled in the past to flush out ears that have been found to have a complete clog of Thornit right by the eardrum.

Gosh, this brings back a flash horror memory.  I remember advising my hairdresser of thornit for his cockerpoo's ears.  I said use a very small make up brush and dust around the ear and massage softly.  4 weeks later he said he needed to buy some more as he had used it all.  OMG, I have had my one small bottle for 15 years.

Ha ha, must have had mine for at least 7 years.

Agree with the others over how to use, tiny bit on ear flap and massage only, not down ear canal as is said on their website.
I’ve used it several times over the years and have not had any problems and it has cleared up waxy ears very quickly

>Thornit is not supposed to go down the ear canal at all, at least according to the instructions last time I bought a bottle.  It's supposed to be dusted round the outside of it.

Oh my. It never occurred to me that people would use it in the actual ear canal! When I use it, I dip the end of a cotton bud in to the power and tap most of it off the cotton bud (back in to the bottle). I then then dab the cotton bud a couple of times on the inside of the ear flap (avoiding the actual ear hole) and then rub it in.

I've got to say - and I know what the instructions say - I always stick it right down, dropping it right down the middle of the ear. Just a pinch, not a whole load. Never had any problems and it's fixed a lot of ear issues with many dogs over the years. Years back when I first started using it, the instructions never said not to put it in the ear canal. Then when they suddenly said that, it just seemed a bit 'health and safety' to me and seeing the way I've used it always worked without any probs, I continued.

General:  Never ever have I put Thornit directly into the ear canal.  Build up can cause swelling & clogging of the powder inside which will require syringing of the build up before inflation can be treated.  Too scary for me to risk!  Used it correctly for 4 years(flap only for 5 consecutive days) without problems & great results even with my spaniels who have very hairy ears.

Mmm - Interesting because I put this right into the ear, as much as I could do that with the Basset ear!!   I believe I still have a bottle somewhere in my dog meds. cupboard.