has anyone that to change their food due to on going ear problem with their dogs,

if so what food where you on and what did you change to,

did you get any good results bye changing the diet

i been reading that dogs can get a rection to chicken and corn on dry food with results to ear problems.

my 'mutt' (lab cross) has suffered with a 'bad' ear from certain foods since he was about 7 years old. To start with he would get so bad that a swelling would gather under his throat/neck and he would be walking with his head on 1 side, now I've discovered the 'triggers' it never gets past an itch with reddening inside the ear, lasting for about 1 hr (and then I know not to feed him that food again :( ).

First of all it was anything to do with chicken (cooked, as an ingredient etc..)
Then it was any white meat ie. chicken, turkey, pork etc..
Lately I've found that he seems to be sensetive to most foods (different completes/tinned/cooked meats), even some cooked minced beef started his ear off last night :( I do think this increased 'intollerance' has alot to do with his age as he's over 14yrs now.

The things that he seems great on (touch wood it carries on like this) are:
tripe (raw or cooked - he prefers it cooked)
any cooked white fish
tinned food - 'Butcher's choice', but only the original 'tripe' variety, not the flavoured ones.
boiled white rice as a 'filler'

Dogs can have allergies/sensetivities to all sorts of different foods, I think it's something to do with sensetivities to specific proteins in the food. I think chicken, wheat and brown rice are some of the most common (??) but they can be sensetive to anything, wet food/dry food/natural foods :(

Was using JWB with chicken. Vet advised changing to JWB turkey and rice. This seems to have improved ears.

> Vet advised changing to JWB turkey and rice. This seems to have improved ears.

Good :)
It's horrible when they have a bad ear(s) :(

A bit different i know but my rotti suffered terrible excema with dog foods, to the point where he had to be put under and shaved from his head down to just past his neck and a hefty vet bill later, its was red raw & weeping, i started looking into dog food, doing alot of homework, i found alot of it is full of additives, i changed to JWB & raw meat (mainly mince but also tripe) i also give him primrose oil for his skin and oily fish once a week, its been nearly a year and not one episode since. You might want to look into it and see whats what it'll probaly suprise you like it did with me, food seems to have alot to answer for with health.

Maybe worth avoid anything with Wheat in it.  Just a thought.

One thing I think helps ears, I see it in some of the pets I trim, though who have ears cleaned weekly with a good ear cleaner seem to get less problems.  ( Not that I am saying you don't clean your dogs ears) just an additional thought :-)

> One thing I think helps ears, I see it in some of the pets I trim, though who have ears cleaned weekly with a good ear cleaner seem to get less problems.

That is a really good point :)
I found that fortnightly ear cleaning helped my dog a bit (the vet recomended once-per-week cleaning but that seemed to make it worse) it meant that when his ear did 'play-up' it wan't as bad as without the cleaning.

I find if a food is too rich for my dogs or has a high amount of corn in it, they get mucky ears - no infection, just mucky and a bit pinker on the ear flap - the inside of the ear doesn't smell, is not inflamed but just over-production of wax :(

It always clears up if the food is changed to one which is lower in protein and fat - very strange!

Anton used to have one bad ear on and off I have not changed his food but have added more meat meals so he has tripe, mince or chicken in the morning and his dried food at night.  For the last year and a half since I've been doing this he's not had any ear problems.

It was that bad at one point that he got a massive haematoma.

I suppose if a dog has had trauma to an ear though it may always get an odd flare-up now and again.

Beef, chicken, wheat and corn/maize (+ glutens) ASFIK are the most common intolerants - probably only because these are also the most widely used in dry completes.

If you prefer to use dry completes, I'd switch to one free of any of the above.  The fewer the ingredients on the list and higher the meat/fish % content the better.

IME many ear problems are a common sign of dietary intolerances and clear up quickly when the problematic ingredient(s) is/are taken out of the diet.

HTH,
regards, Teri