1. If anyone has any idea about the cause of a recurrent ear infection I'd be grateful for help. Problem started 18 months ago, dog has had 5 courses of steroids/antibiotics & cream plus one operation to sory out what deveoped into a perforated eardrum. Vet now suggests an operation which would sort out the problem but leave him deaf which seems very drastic for a 3 year old dog. He also has hair loss problems and has to take melatonin to regulate this but vet says not related. Feeding him Burns Fish & Brown Rice.
2. Noticed someone asking about getting a dalmatian and much as I love my dog I wouldn't have another one until my kids grew up - they haven't had much fun with him as he chewed them to bits with his sharp teeth as a puppy and he has grown into a huge, really powerful dog and although he is fairly well trained it is almost impossible for the kids to walk him safely. If anyone does buy one, beware the constant hair loss!
Thanks Jackie

There seems to be a sugestion that any yeast in the diet can cause this problem so maybe thats one avenue to investigate.
I am not sure what operation your vet is referring to that would make your dog deaf.  It happens sometimes that some cockers with narrow ear channels, and their floppy ears of course, get recurring ear infections and sometimes this operation  is performed but it certainly does not make them deaf.  However, I cannot say if this is an appropriate operation for a dog where the channel would be more exposed than the cocker but perhaps your vet could advise.

Ah! I have just looked at my link again maybe he is suggesting the Total Ear Canal Ablation perhaps you could discuss the lesser procedure but maybe he has already discounted this.

I had a similar problem with my last dog, after steroids, antibiotics, creams etc for 3 years!! we were also told he was deaf in that ear from a suspected perforated ear drum and vet wanted to open up the ear canal permanently on an afghan type coat!!   He went in to have his teeth cleaned and I asked them to have a proper look down his ear as I suspected a deep polyp.  Vet pooh poohed it but did the examination and removed .....................a deep polyp on a very long stalk, they hadn't been able to see far enough down to see it as it was attached at the margin of the ear drum/canal.  No more problems with ears :)

It would also be worth investigating the yeast avenue as Isabel has suggested.

Also one of my present dogs gets ear problems if fed on food which is too rich (eg puppy food to put back weight lost) as long as he's kept on less protein + fewer ingredients his ear is fine!!  (but I would have thought Burns would fall into this category)

One of my cockers years ago had the aural resection done.  Funnily enough she had never had ear problems until I spotted a polyp in one ear and decided to have it removed for fear of it turning malignant (something that they rarely do :rolleyes:) and because it must have been causing hearing loss, again no big deal in one ear :rolleyes:  I certainly regretted it, during the removal the cautery damaged the membrane whereafter an infection set in that numerous courses of antibiotics could not shift.  She had the operation and never another problem.  Not suggested it should be used as anything other than a last resort though. :)
I am curious, though :), what is the significance of an afghan coat?

Isabel,

As the ear was going to be "constantly draining" (vets description) it would cause horrendous problems with the very long thick silky hair which would have to be shaved which I wanted to avoid if possible.  The polyp concerned wasn't spotted by the vets until the anaesthetic and was causing problems because the stalk was so long that it was blocking the ear canal and there was no more room for it :( it was removed with one snip of a long-nosed scissors and a long tweezers and he had no more trouble with his ears.

Did he mean constantly draining after the operation in which case he could have misinformed you, with my cocker once the channel healed it was always clean and dry and no more infection :).  Of course my cocker had her ear shaved but it grew back just as before.  Anyway no matter, as your's was fortunately sorted with the removal of the polyp, we were just unlucky that the stalk on ours was thicker and after twisting off needed cautery which again is usually unproblematic.  As I say I certainly wouldn't recommend the operation without all avenues being explored but I would say if you end up having it done my experience was it healed well with not a great deal of apparent discomfort and the problems were completed ended.

"after twisting off" !!!!     OMG   You're right we were very fortunate that it was a q-tip shaped polyp on a very thin long stalk, removal was bloodless!!  But I had to DEMAND that he looked under anaesthetic, the vet just wanted to do the op on his neck :rolleyes:

Don't know if I was misinformed or not, to be honest after 3 years of faffing around and hundreds paid out on steroids, creams, antibiotics, consultations etc.  without once considering the possible cause, I didn't have the greatest confidence in the vet :(

Polyps are usually twisted off :) Its the twisting that stops the bleeding a bit like pinching an umbilical cord before you sever it, unless its a fatter stalk of course in which case cautery might be needed.
I think it was right for your vet to try all possible medical treatments rather that straight to an anaesthetic, they are not without risk, and it sounds like he could not have known about the polyp until he could examine that closely.  My dogs polyp was large and I could actually see it but it never caused any infection or discharge even so perhaps it's not so unreasonable for him not to suspect something like that :)