Labradoodle Forums banner

Ear Mites

9K views 34 replies 10 participants last post by  River Rat 
#1 ·
I've been waging war with something in Chouette's left ear since September. Right before we left for France I noticed that it had a strong unpleasant odor and a dark substance in the canal and outer ear. I cleaned it out and told the dog sitter about it, and she said she'd treat it with a preparation she uses for her beagles. When we picked Chou up on our return she smelled awful, and I realized it was that ear. So I cleaned it out again with peroxide. Taking her to be groomed at Petsmart didn't resolve the problem and when she went to be spayed the vet just cleaned her ears out and sent her home with some prednisone.

Recently a friend who's a retired veterinarian got a look at her and said she had mites. Before he saw her he had assumed it was a fungal infection and advised me to swab her ears out with alcohol three or four times over a period of a week or so. According to Ernie, alcohol kills the majority of the fungi which attack dogs' ears. If that didn't take care of it he recommended the use of vinegar, since that kills those fungi that aren't affected by alcohol. But nothing worked and poor Chouette started trying to hide when she saw the cotton balls appear.

Finally I picked up a pyrethrin-based treatment at Petsmart and for the first time we seemed to be getting somewhere. Chouette's ears smelled fine for longer and longer intervals. Still, I hated to use pyrethrin on my puppy!

When I took her to for her haircut on Tuesday the groomer suggested using a preparation with boric acid for ear mites. She doesn't like pyrethrins either. So I found one at the feed store which had presoaked wipes, but I wasn't sure that this would do the trick. Once I got home I did a google search for "boric acid ear mites." This is what I came up with:

http://www.liquidvitaminstop.com/pp/Earasil.htm

and from http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb ... 1163507186

In a small glass, pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol, enough to fill a dropper several times. Add a small amount of boric acid (1/2 tsp.) and stir. Let the extra boric acid settle to the bottom and draw off the clear liquid. Put a few drops in each ear and the mites will disappear..

Try it in your own ears.. It feels really good!
Reading the rest of the comments on that page, it sounds like a great solution and avoids toxins, to boot!

Any of you experiencing ear problems might want to try this course of action: you can do the alcohol and vinegar trials and then the boric acid if they don't do the trick.

Sure wish I'd seen that months ago!

Leslie
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Abby arrived with a Nasty case in both ears--poor thing. She really stunk too! The vet I have been using Rx Tresaderm with cleansing 3x a week. It's just Neomiacin sulfate :roll: We treated dr katz as well since the mites love cats too. It might be prudent to do the same if you have other pets in contact. A groomer friend also suggested trimmimg the hair at the base of the ear to allow more air flow to the ear. The Vet assistant picked the hair out of the ear as well. These are all things I will do at home and save the $$ Vet bill should they return. I've been thinking of posting Abby's arrival video (mites are discussed--lol) but first I have to ask my wife if it's ok. She might not want to be seen on screen without makeup :lol: :roll: Like she still has her SAG card or sumthin 8)
 
#3 ·
I'm surprised that Neomycin is prescribed to treat mites! But we did all the rest - cleaned her ears out, trimmed her hair short around the ears - you name it. Nothing helped until I used the pyrethrin, but I hated to apply it to such a young animal - or any animal, really - and I didn't like getting it on my skin, either. We used to use it on our organic garden but I've heard so many negative things about it that now we only take it out when nothing else works. So I was glad to hear of a less toxic solution.

Leslie
 
#4 ·
River Rat said:
I'm surprised that Neomycin is prescribed to treat mites! But we did all the rest - cleaned her ears out, trimmed her hair short around the ears - you name it. Nothing helped until I used the pyrethrin, but I hated to apply it to such a young animal - or any animal, really - and I didn't like getting it on my skin, either. We used to use it on our organic garden but I've heard so many negative things about it that now we only take it out when nothing else works. So I was glad to hear of a less toxic solution.

Leslie
Ooops my bad the Neomiacin was to treat the secondary infection which is what caused the odor. She did use a pesticide prior to that...sorry!
 
#5 ·
I am telling anyone who will listen...this WORKS! I noticed a change in Sadie's ears in 1-2 days! It can be a pain to get the violet and boric acid...you have to ask the pharmacist for it. It stains. Do it outside. It works. I can't say it enough!!!!! I warm it up beforehand. Sadie enjoys the warmness of it and doesn't fight it at all.

http://www.dogbiz.com/faq-ear-infections.htm
 
#6 ·
I'm going to try just the boric acid and alcohol, as the site I quoted suggested. The Earasil does have gentian violet in it, too, I think, but if it works without it I'd be glad to avoid the mess. I'll let you know how it works.

It's great that you found a solution for Sadie!

Leslie
 
#7 ·
Because I don't want to use any more strong poisons if I can avoid it. I had to give Chouette another dose of Frontline this week because the groomer found a few dead fleas and wasn't sure there weren't some live ones lurking in the thickets of her fur. And I've been using the pyrethrin-based ear drops, which have obviously helped, but I don't like them much either. So if boric acid and alcohol can do the trick I'll go for it. Or else I could try adding gentian violet if I can find that, or ordering that Earisil on line which includes both boric acid and gentian violet. I've been playing around with the mites for so long that a little longer won't hurt her.

Leslie
 
#10 ·
Cinsmom said:
Frontline will keep on working for 3 months on fleas. It's ticks you have to apply it every month for. I hope you didn't panic on that one and gave it too soon.

It probably won't hurt her, but I too hate to put too many chemicals in my "baby".
I wasn't sure that I had applied the right amount when I gave it to her two months ago, so I figured that if there were still fleas I'd try again. This time I got a package with the correct dose for her size; last time I used two 22 lb. doses and it was kind of messy so I don't think I got it all on her. You're right - I should have waited a month, though.

Leslie
 
#12 ·
I have been using the boric acid and alcohol treatment on Chouette and she is still having problems. It's not as bad, but I have to reapply it every few days and she hates it. Maybe I should warm the alcohol up before I administer it, but she keeps shaking her head afterwards and seems miserable.

I just ordered the product that includes boric acid, gentian violet and alcohol and when it comes I'll see if it works any better. Maybe I'm not administering the boric acid and alcohol solution often enough? When it worked for you, how often did you use it before you got results?

Leslie
 
#16 ·
I agree on using as organic/natural as possible

I hope your treatments help her soon

here are a few links for natural holistic treatments, not sure if they will help you or not

the cleaner I use for AB's ears has clove in it which is suppose to be a natural antiseptic

http://www.holistichealthtools.com/earmites.html

http://www.healthyvet.com/documents/PDF ... _Mites.pdf

http://www.dogbreedz.com/dog_articles/d ... medies.htm

http://www.natural-pet-care.com/natural ... -remedies/

http://www.healthynewage.com/ear-mites.htm

maybe some of those links will give you some helpful hints
 
#17 ·
Thanks for the links. A lot of them offer the same suggestions, sometimes even using the same language, so I can see there's a lot of swapping back and forth between sites. I'm going to wait for the boric acid/gentian violet preparation to arrive and then try that. If all else fails I can probably try the vet, but I've heard that often mites don't respond to pesticides well, either.

Leslie
 
#18 ·
I finally took Chouette to the vet's this morning for her ears. To recap, she has had ear problems since just before we went to France at the end of September, when she was five months old. I noticed that her left ear had a strong smell and a lot of brown gunk. I told the dogsitter about it and she said she had some treatment that she used on her beagles and she'd take care of it. When we came back from France two and a half weeks later the smell was awful. I cleaned her ears and then since she was due to be spayed I asked the vet to check her out. He just cleaned them again and gave me some prednisone, which I didn't continue, and we've been wrestling with them ever since.

At first it was just the left ear but recently the right ear seems worse. Our friend who's a retired vet told me to apply alcohol because that kills most fungi, but that if that didn't work I should use vinegar because that killed the remaining types. I also tried a boric acid/gentian violet solution. Then my friend decided that it was probably mites, which the boric acid is supposed to address. I tried OTC pyrethrin solutions and finally got some Ivermectin to apply topically. Sometimes she seems better for awhile and then it returns, and she scratches and shakes her ears so much that we have to take her jingly collar off for some peace and quiet, but we feel so sorry for her!

This morning the vet took a culture and is sending it away. He doesn't think it's mites; he says he sees very little of that in dogs. But labs and lab mixes often have ear issues and he's suspecting that it's a fungus or an infectious organism. If not, he thinks it's probably an allergy, and that would be difficult to pin down. He gave me some Miconosol lotion to use once a day meanwhile, to take care of any fungus, and he also gave me some Diphenhydramine pills, which is an antihistamine. I'm not going to try the pills yet because we would have no idea what was working if I did both simultaneously, plus the diphen would just mask the symptoms, although he says that often doesn't work but just makes the dogs sleepy.

The vet is also a big proponent of prednisone, but I told him that I wasn't comfortable with it so he's going to try other options. But now we have to wait and see what the culture shows - if anything.

When I got home I put the Miconosol drops in the poor ears, and Chou went nuts as usual, racing around and rubbing her ears on her blanket. I just hope we can find a solution. She's already on Canidae lamb and rice, and I don't give her anything with corn in it. I just don't know what else to do if nothing specific comes out of the culture!

Leslie
 
#19 ·
Another Spot on that is safe for nursing mothers and 4week old pups is DEFEND spot on ,,this takes care or ear mite (most mites as well)
it can be ordered www.petedge.com or www.jefferspet.com

I also use frontline spray in severe cases as well

As most know im pretty much holistic in most of my treatments
But when it comes to mites there is few recourse to get rid of them fast
you should see a marked difference in just a few days

Never every never use ointments in ears, this just breeds yeast infection then that is a whole new ballgame that can take a long time to correct
(ZYMOX is just bout all i ever use now on my dogs ears, (they have ointment and spray as well to use on skin) it works better then any thing any vet has ever prescribed for my dogs
 
#21 ·
Nancy, a friend of mine in France just recommended Zymox to me, too, and so I just ordered it through Amazon, along with the same brand ear cleaner. I'll try that, but at least I got an opinion from the vet that it's NOT mites, which is what I had been assuming it was. However, in that case the Ivermectin should have knocked them out and it didn't at all. On the other hand, the Earisil with gentian violet and boric acid should have taken care of any infection or fungus.

Thanks for the tips and keep your fingers crossed for poor Chouette. She runs and hides when I look like I'm going to treat ears these days.

Leslie
 
#23 ·
Oh Heck Im just going to post it again for whoever wants it

HOME MADE EAR POWDERIt

The Formula

Ingredients
• 4 oz. zinc oxide powder
• 4 oz. boric acid powder
• ½ oz. Iodoform powder
Mix well. Keep in a sealed jar in a cool dry place.

Instructions on use
Place a large pinch of powder in each ear, and use your finger to work it down. Wait five or ten minutes (I cut toenails) then pluck the hair out of the ears, being sure to get all the way down. Allow the dog to shake, but leave the excess powder in the ears. Repeat monthly.

Treatment of an existing infection
Use as described for maintenance, then apply a fresh pinch of powder to each ear. Wait twenty-four hours, then use a dry q-tip to remove all the powder and the balls of dried gunk. Put a fresh pinch of powder in each ear. Repeat daily until the ears are no longer runny. At this point, repeat every other day, until there is no more runniness, then three times a week, then twice, then weekly, then every other week, etc. When the ears remain dry for three weeks, go to the monthly maintenance routine.

How it works
The reason this works so well is that the iodoform powder kills anaerobic bacteria and fungi which flourish in warm, moist, airless places, like the inside of a poodle's ear. The zinc oxide and boric acid keep the ear dry, which prevents further infections. In the days before antibiotics, Iodoform was frequently used in human medicine to pack puncture wounds where anaerobic bacteria also grow. It may be hard to find because it isn't used much any more.

Sometimes these ingredients are hard to find
We recommend Clorhexiderm for cleaning ears
& ZYMOX for treatment if needed These can be ordered thru www.kvvet.com
Get in the habit of wiping ears with paper towel and clorhexiderm weekly
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top