Hey guys,

I wanted to ask if anyone has heard of or experienced anything similar to the currents issues my mums 6 year old lab is experiencing.

For the last 6-12months he's ears have been full of thick brown gunk. They are so bad that despite daily cleaning his hearing is effected and he's constantly shaking his head. When you touch anywhere around his ear you can hear them squelch there is so much in there.

She has seen 3 vets regarding the issue and is still none the wiser. He's had antibiotics, steriods, a deep clean under anesthetic. 3 swabs analysed with the second showing yeast, so an anti fungal treatment prescribed. He has also had 2 sets of bloods and they revealed no underlying issues.

He is already grain free, however she recently tried raw with no improvement. She even changed his bed thinking along an allergy route but again no improvement.

Could anyone think of anything that hasn't been tried yet?

Many thanks.

Have you been referred to a skin specialist at all? I note you've seen different vets but have any of them been specialists? If not id be requesting a referral and going from there. It could be an allergy to a food, so even raw there could be a meat which your dog is allergic to. Could be anything in the air that is causing it. Then again it might not be an allergen, I do think that a referral would be my next step. Or even an ear specialist if you've seen a skin specialist

Agree with cambria.similar symptoms to my flat coat.  Referal to a derm vet to check for allergies . We are allergic to chicken which was the easier to find out as mine are raw fed whuch makes elikinatiin diets easier and some environmental  allergens includng yeasts. I have found most vets are not good at sorting his out properly so a specialist is needed.it takes time lots of treatment especially if there are secondary infections which the usually is but I've got there with two dogs with allergies.never a cure if it's environmental  but it's managable

I wonder why, if you had swabs done, and presumably then culture and identification so you got the right treatment, your vet hasn't sorted all this out!    If we had a stubborn problem with ears, this is what we did - there is no point putting 'moisture' down the ears if it's the wrong kind as it only makes a nice breeding ground down there.

End of the day if nothing works, you may be looking at having an aural resection done - where a small nick is made immediately under the ear, to allow more drainage/air to get to the cavity.

http://www.michigananimalhospital.com/page/490551594

I'm afraid this is back to the vet because if this isn't sorted out, it may well affect the inner ear, which has it's own problems!!

This is why u need a good specialist it's such a nightmare. Tick is the very last resort but if bone damage develops befpre it's sorted there may be no other option from what I have learned.  I can't remember how many swabs and treatments we had while finding the underlying cause . 2 years on with so many vet appointment  i thought we were mov ing in and we  now have pretty good ears. No bone damage although it was a close call and if I hadn't got to the specialist wpuld probably have happened.thank goodness for insuramce it's not been cheap amd still costs around £70 per month as she is on immunotherapy  plus other things but happy comfortable dog

This is why u need a good specialist it's such a nightmare. Tick is the very last resort but if bone damage develops befpre it's sorted there may be no other option from what I have learned.  I can't remember how many swabs and treatments we had while finding the underlying cause . 2 years on with so many vet appointment  i thought we were mov ing in and we  now have pretty good ears. No bone damage although it was a close call and if I hadn't got to the specialist wpuld probably have happened.thank goodness for insuramce it's not been cheap amd still costs around £70 per month as she is on immunotherapy  plus other things but happy comfortable dog.just to add it's not as easy as finding what's in the ear as it will keep retiring unless u identify any underlying cause.in our case it was allergies causing canals to inflame ear fluids to stop flowing and infection to start

This is why u need a good specialist it's such a nightmare. Tica op  is the very last resort but if bone damage develops befpre it's sorted there may be no other option from what I have learned.  I can't remember how many swabs and treatments we had while finding the underlying cause . 2 years on with so many vet appointment  i thought we were mov ing in and we  now have pretty good ears. No bone damage although it was a close call and if I hadn't got to the specialist wpuld probably have happened.thank goodness for insuramce it's not been cheap amd still costs around £70 per month as she is on immunotherapy  plus other things but happy comfortable dog.just to add it's not as easy as finding what's in the ear as it will keep retiring unless u identify any underlying cause.in our case it was allergies causing canals to inflame ear fluids to stop flowing and infection to start

Specialist, definitely.  Swabs should have identified the problem but if they haven't, then an allergy is likely and it may be something you don't expect (like chicken as was mentioned above).  Raw feeding may not have worked for that reason.  One of mine has a number of very low-grade allergies, and one of her symptoms was a recurring ear infection - not bad at all, she only had it twice, but enough to be a problem as she has handling issues.  I doubt I'll ever identify her triggers fully, but I've got most of them whittled down to a list (I had to go through the various foods I'd tried and look for ingredients in common - we're talking the smaller stuff like linseed and pea products here, although chicken is also an issue in large amounts) and hopefully, got her on a food that keeps the ears at bay - it's just a case of wait-and-see now, but so far, so good.  It's been over 6 months since she last had to be treated.

Try thornit.

The other problem I find with ears is that  they can  get quite bad before you can see what's really going on down there and sometimes even slight inflammation is enough to start off the problem. Due to this I am now seeing our specialist every 3 months approx. Last week took her along although  all was going well or so I thought but no there was signs of slight inflammation and on swabbing malssezzia one of her allergens happily living down there. so on top of the monthly immunotherapy we have some osurnia jel which should knock it on the head as its proved to be one that works well for her. Trouble with things like thornit it cant get down far enough and if there is an underlying allergy you will be going round in circles

My Lab (bless her soul as at the bridge ) always had problems with her left ear infections,swabs,antibiotics, cleaning tips all failed. We had an exploratory probe down her ear under sedation after 12 months of problems. A very narrow ear canal discovered further down. We went for the vet widening her ear canal. What a difference this made to her health. We had no further problems at all and the smell had gone too.

as you vet must have done you would have to ascertain if the narrowing of the canal was due to how she was born or inflammation due to another cause. Brookes ears are a normal width when not inflamed and as its impossible to see without knowledge and an aurascope I have to rely on the vet and her showing me hence the regular checks

Have you tried Thornit powder ?
And definitely look at diet - just because it's grain free doesn't mean it's not something he's allergic to to.
What treats do you feed him ?

I would definitely try Thornit.  I've worked with dogs who have been on the verge of needing a GA to sort their ears out, having no problems at all after a few doses of Thornit.  It is magic.  It is one of the many things that vets don't know about and knowledgeable dog people do.

wish it had work for us :(

> wish it had work for us

I have to agree.   Thornit never did the job with ours either.   Some people swear by natural yogurt too.

I'm another vote for thornit, a friends westie was always in the vets having his ears flushed, constant antibiotics and all sorts, now she uses thornit once a week and hasn't been back to the vet for 2 years.

I tred yoghurt  amd kefir both orally amd topically but no help.here.I don't want to put people off trying these things as I prefer natural  for some they work and that's great it's just a shame for us they didnt

Thankfully Thornit has worked for us, one dog with a narrow ear canal & another with sensitive inflamed ears due to autoimmune. It's been invaluable for the latter as his ears become hot &  irritated future by any tiny amount of wax, thornit helps cool thing down prevents rubbing & shaking of the head.

HPR website has a long thread on this too -http://www.versatilehpr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=389&p=7224&hilit=ear+infection#p7224

Just a thought if you are feeding raw chicken what is it's provenance? If factory battery raised it will be full of antibiotic residue, yeasts and who knows what. Try cutting out chicken and see what happens. Also when I got my flat coat from her breeder he advised washing her ears out with 10% hibiscrub wash weekly. She has had no ear problems at all.