I have a 4 year old male boxer, he has chronic ear problems (ears are cropped). He is a house dog and the only time he goes outside is to potty. He has this substance in his ears (dark brown, wax consistency). I clean his ears every night with "over-the-counter" medications from pet stores and vet clinics and nothing seems to help the problem. He constantly shakes his head and scratches his ears (sometines until they bleed). I have taken him to the vet and he said it was just wax build up. Is there something I can do (change diet, special cleaner, etc.) to help him with this problem. Any adivce would be appreciated.

Thanks,
shon

You have a boxer and he never goes out?!

Response to Tohme

Yes he does go out!!!! I meant that he is not an outside dog. He is not left outside in a kennel or lose in a yard during the day. He does go out every afternoon and plays with my kids for 2 hours. He is being treated for heart worms (he had them when we got him) and he had cancer last year. So we have to limit his exercising, because he has a tendency to over-do-it and makes himself very ill. So I'am not this mean person who keeps an 80 pound dog in the house and never lets him out. He is very sick and to much exercise or exertion makes him ill.

If his ears bother him that much he probably has mites or an infection deep down. To treat that you will need the correct antibiotic drops from the vet, and be shown how to get them all the way down.

And if you take him out, the fresh air will help too! Why doesn't he get taken out?

Whew was getting worried :) This sort of ear infection can mean mites for which there are special treatments; it can also be a yeast overgrowth which is a sign of a food allergy. Often by removing all grains including soya from the diet the issues resolves itself. HAve you tried a very simple dog food consisting only of meat and rice?

I have already persistently given him treatments for ear mites and he has taken antibotics twice for this and neither has helped the problem. He gets out every afternoon with my kids for 2 hours (they exercise together). I took him from my brother when he was two years old, they lived next door at the time. They were not caring for him properly. He would get left out in the rain during winter time and would often get left with no water during the summer. When I brought him to the vet when we first got him he had heart worms and had to be extensivly treated for it. Last year he went through cancer treatment and had to be neut. because of it. He is not very active and we have to limit his outdoor activities, so he doesn't over do it.

Hi - sorry I misunderstood. You certainly seem to be regulating his exercise very well.

Normally thick dark brown wax like that is symptomatic of mites and/or infection, either bacterial or fungal. After thoroughly cleaning the ears (if necessary under anaesthetic) the vet should take a swab and test it to determine which antibiotic would be the most effective.

Hope this helps.
:)

hi

poor boy he's had a rough life up until now, do the ears smell? if he keeps shaking his head then it sounds very much like ear mites they can take a long time to get rid of so he may need a repeat treatment of antibotic ear drops, or if they don't seem to bother him maybe it is just a build up of wax like the vet said ,leo dog ear cleaner is always good for that don't know if you can get it in america though but your vet probaly has the equivalent of it .