Please can anyone suggest an alternative treatment for one of my male Cocker's?   He has had at least 4 Ear Infections over the past 18 months or so.  Everytime I take him to the Vets they give him ear drops,but I have now got to the stage that I really don't think it completely clears his infection. (He has one at the moment).

His ears are cleaned with Aural wash twice a week normally, in the hope that it will prevent him getting another infection.  He does seem to have a lot of ear wax, but at the moment his ears look absolutely fine to me but we are due to go back to the vets on friday for a check up.  When he goes for his walks he does seem to shake his head quite a bit so this does concern me as my other dogs don't do this.

I don't know wether there is anything herbal or alternative i could try for him?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What do you feed him?  He may have an allergy which could be triggering it.

Thornit canker powder- highly recommend it. My Weim has had smelly ears on and off- she was prescribed antibio drops by the vet, which worked, but she smelly came back after about two weeks. I read on this forum that loads of people have had success with Thornits so I have tried it and it has worked a treat. I applied it once a day for a few days, by rubbing it into the inside of the ear, but not in the actual ear hole. Her smelly, waxy ears have improved hugely within three days. Definitlely worth a shot!

Once in the rut it is difficult to get out of but I have always help the theory that the more you mess with ears the more wax and potential problems are created.  Not sure that will help you much now the whole cycle has been set up but might be something worth considering if you ever get back on an even keel.

We've just ordered some shampoo from Camrosa.  I noticed that their ointment can be used for earmites in the same way that you use Thornit. Apparently you just massage some round the inside of the flap. Have never tried it so don't know if it's any good but it might be worth a look on their site.

[url=][/url]http://www.camrosa.co.uk

> What do you feed him?  He may have an allergy which could be triggering it.

He was on Eukanuba Adult but have just the past week changed him to Arden Grange Lamb & Rice.  As this new food is Hypo allergenic I am hoping this might help him.

My friend's Cocker was like this, it was costing her a fortune in the vets.  Then I told her about Thornit and suggested changing him to BURNS dog food in case it was food based.  Since using Thornit and changing to BURNS the dog has been fine.  No more ear infections :-)

Hope this helps

Had exactly the same problem with one of my Beardies, and read a tip on one of the topics on CD,  and sent off for colloidal silver.  Best thing I've ever used.

Have the same problem with two of my girls. seems to be itchy years rather than any infection. . Sent off for what I thought was thornit and got EarClear  (Mr Watchman's original recipe) Can anyone tell me if this is the same product? Am a bit confused. (doesnt take much!!)

Used thornit with mine and haven't been impressed.  One of mine used to get recurrent ear infections in one ear and at one time had a haematoma.  Since I've had him on a partial BARF diet he has never had an ear problem since.  When I have problems with my meat supply he starts shaking his head again so I always try and get it from somewhere else to ensure that the problem doesn't arise.  He has been ear problem free for over a year now since changing his feeding regime.

Try colloidal silver, it is gentle and very effective.

> Sent off for what I thought was thornit and got EarClear  (Mr Watchman's original recipe) Can anyone tell me if this is the same product?

It is thornit just diffirent name for it :)

Colloidal silver did absolutely nothing for my girl...

what is BARF diet?

BARF diet is a raw diet.

worked on my boy after only one use, up to then he had been prescibed a couple of different things by the vet to no avail.

thanks for your suggestions. 

i have ordered Thornit today and will be giving that a try.  What was interesting about this when i googled thornit, it also suggested using it on their paws the same time.  Now that has really got me thinking because my same boy was at the vets (he will be having his own personal vet soon with all his reguar visits!!) with some kind of paw infection just recently(another £200) and now i am wondering if this is all linked. mmmmm.. brain working overtime or trying!!!

I think if its mites, when a dog scratches their ears they transfer the mites to their feet.  And so a vicious cycle begins...

Thank-you Katt. seems to be helping one girl but not the other. ah well

I might be worth trying Petnat's ear cleaner and drops.I haven't used the drops at all but I use the ear cleaner at my salon and its fantastic,it gets ears cleaner than anything else I've tried and its so soothing,it takes inflammation down virtually straight away.

if he got a paw and ear problem he got allegry against some thing????

you got to rule that out first.
i been down that rule twice  with two different dogs and breeds,

get the dog tested and see a speclist vet not just your routine vet,
dont use ear cleaner has it is a chemical base just use seline soultion which you use for contacts lens,or just luke warm water with a syrine to presurrer out and clean the ears.to clear wax a few drops of olive oil warm. twice a week

this is my routine with one of my dogs from a speclist vet.

I would not go down the allergy root at this stage do as you are you have changed his diet & hopefully Thornit will be with you soon use that on ears & paws & hopefully all will be well. I have had fantastic results with it, once the initial problem has cleared it is a good idea to use a tiny amount of thornit every 1-2 weeks as a maintanance dose.

Thank you once again for all your suggestions.

He has returned to the vets for a check up tonight and the infection has not completely cleared.  The vet has given us some more drops and antibiotics but i really don't want to keep using these anymore.  The vet has also suggesting sedating him and investigating further but the money box is getting low at the moment and will it be of benefit to him??  (we have had similar scenario with one of his paws recently, with no conclusion whatsover as to what/how he got the paw infection, so it seemed a waste of time and money! and the last couple of months the vet bills have reached £500+).

The thornit has also arrived today but i am now in turmoil as to which way to treat him. 

My nagging question is:- as he has definetley not got ear mites, does anyone know if the thornit also treats ear infections?

Sorry my mind it just going round and round and don't know what to do for the best.

If he has been diagnosed as having an infection I would definately want to give the antibiotics myself.  Ears are very close to brains.  However the ABs may only be preventing the spread of infection.  If there is some deep gunk in there it may be providing a reservoir for the infection that the antibiotics cannot hope to reach in which case a thorough look and a clean out may be the only option.  If this is happening repeatedly he may benefit with having an operation to open the ear canal out.  Some dogs just seem to have very narrow canals and are forever plagued with difficulties.  When buying a puppies it is always something I have a look at (whilst not insulting the breeder to think I am looking for mites :-D)

thanks isabel.  i started him on the antibiotics now.  he was on a different AB  for his paw infection recently and i worry that he will become immune to them, and whenever poss would prefer to use some natural remedy.

i been there twice with two dogs

get the vet to rule out the problem and to make the the dog more comfortable.

one think i have notice with mine i put them on a fish dry food,

if he got an ear and paw problem thats allgerys.

not sure if this will help, but there is hope.

I had an Eng. Springer that had a lot of ear infections as a very young dog, and she outgrow them at about 2 1/2 until she was about 10. 

Spaniels do have a tendency to get ear infections because of the long, tight to the head ears, with all the hair on them to make them a very hot spot.  Not sure if it did really help, but with my spaniel I would flip the ears over, after a bath so that the air could get at the ear canal and dry it completely.  When i started doing this is about the time that the number of infections did drop, but if your dog is used for hunting or is a swimmer this could end up being very time consuming.

> I would flip the ears over, after a bath so that the air could get at the ear canal and dry it completely.

Good point.  It can also be usefull to clip any hair away from the inside of the leather.

> he was on a different AB  for his paw infection recently and i worry that he will become immune to them

It doesn't work like that.  Individuals do not become immune to ABs it is the organisms and it generally takes a population of hosts receiving those antibiotics to enable them to develop a resistance. 
There may well be some useful natural remedies that will help break down the reservoir of gunk but I know of none that have any evidence to support their use in fighting an actual infection.  As I say, this is very close to the brain and I would not mess about with anything that did not have proven efficacy.

thank you all.  He is going to take the full course of antibiotics and i will carry on with the ear drops (ottomax) for 10 days, then i will take him back for another vet check and go from there.  If his ear is still not better then i will have this investigated further at the vets.  Poor fella has now started trembling at the vets, which he never used to do.  I think he is so fed up with all the visits! 

have you tried a homeopathic remedy ? I think that work much better than any antibact staff.

Hi, he returned to the vets 1 week before Xmas and the vet said his ear infection had cleared up. 

Have bought Thornit but have not used it as yet.  I have just carried on cleaning his ears once or twice a week and fingers crossed he is fine at the moment.

Is there an alternative homeopathic remedy you can recommend?

Not Homoeopathic but natural treatment is to use a garlic perle-put a needle/pin prick into a garlic capsule & squeeze the contents into the ear. It does have to be the smelly perles & not the odourless ones

> Not Homoeopathic but natural treatment is to use a garlic perle-put a needle/pin prick into a garlic capsule & squeeze the contents into the ear. It does have to be the smelly perles & not the odourless ones

Thanks for the suggestion, think i will give this a try.  Must say i have never heard of this one before but would much rather try more natural remedies than veterinary medications etc.

One of my dogs has had terrible ears for years. Antibiotics did help but were causing side effects.  She now has homopathic remedies through my vet and I clean them out with 50% apple vinegar and 50% water mixed in a bottle.  They have improved greatly. Thornit did not help, I think it is great for mites but if it is a yeast infection (which it is usually is in floppy ears), thornit wont help. She does have an array of allergies, but now are managed by diet etc.  Good luck

Hello,

I don't really want to start worrying you but i thought i'd tell you my expierience with my 8 year old American cocker was forever getting ear infections and no amount of drugs or anti biotics were helping.

Finally my vet said that her lease of life was so poor that the options were ..move her ear canals so they point downwards so infection would be harder to sit in the ear ( a Massive op and very lengthy recovery) or put her to sleep, she hasn't had one problem since the op which was 3 years ago now...a great talking point when you lift her ear flaps to find no holes there !

When i spoke with the vet post op he said that he found that her ear canals had started to calcify and that it was the worse case he'd ever seen, he had done this operation only a handful of times and all on American cockers.

I hope you get your dog better very soon.

annee, I had the same with my Sussex. Winnie had both ear canals removed last year and has been a much happier dog since then, and she can still hear remarkably well (when it suits her - lol).

Hi..lol..yes Prunella has that selective hearing too..i was amazed at how well she hears now..such a huge op for them to go through but so glad i did.