# Ear infections



## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Yeah, Riley had frequent ear infections, and a bad middle ear infection once. He *knock on wood* hasnt had one for, gosh, a few years now. I rarely pluck his ears, plug them with cotton when bathed, and a new cleaner i bought this winter helps keep them clean even longer. 

Does Java eat a grain free food? Food allergies can cause them. Ill post a link to the cleaner i use, and to a few good ear threads from here.

http://www.poodleforum.com/9-poodle-grooming/10033-bath-time-ear-washing-help.html

http://www.poodleforum.com/29-poodle-health/9325-ear-trouble-2.html

Mystic Ear - This is by far my favorite ear cleaner i have ever used. It foams up when you use it, and really seems to cut through the debris, but gentle. I used to use the espree ear cleaner, and i like it. Riley seemed more sensitive to it though, and cried sometimes and esp. after i plucked. He is great with this one. I highly recommend it! Good luck with Java!! I really hope she continues to not have problems!


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## KT5 (Nov 13, 2010)

Thanks! Glad Riley is good! We determined it wasn't allergies. We feed a no-grain food anyway as I have a couple who need to be on grain-free. Ace, my nakie boy, is hypothyroid and has crystally urine so he's on a special diet too. His tummy can't handle much as it is!


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## pudlemom (Apr 16, 2010)

Your story sound oh so familiar I wet through the same thing with Luke for 2 1/2 year and I can't remember how many meds ,we also use marbofloxacin otic but it did not work for us we finally sent out a sample to a lab and they grew it to see exactly what we were fighting.

It was a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginose very hard to get rid of they told me,we were prescribe some oral antibiotics and MalOtic ointment it took a month of treatment but we have been infection free for 4 month now **fingers crossed**


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## KT5 (Nov 13, 2010)

Great news that you've found the answer! Java's was cultured also. I honestly don't remember what the consensus was, but this was the med that worked.

I say, whatever works, as long as it does!


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## pudlemom (Apr 16, 2010)

KT5 said:


> I say, whatever works, as long as it does!




:amen:


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## flufflvr (Mar 20, 2010)

So glad to hear that Java's ears are doing better. . . ear infections are no fun at all. Congrats on finding the right med!


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## twiglet (Nov 14, 2010)

*hairy ears*

Hi every one i am new on here but have been reading all you interesting posts for a while now. I have a chocolate mini poodle who has really hairy ears inside,I wondered how many of you do pluck the ears.He has had one ear infection already.His ears are plucked every six or seven weeks when he is groomed .I used to have a white mini poodle whose ears were never as hairy as Twiglets.Heis now just over a year old but his ear fur is back in his ears within a couple of weeks of being plucked.I should introduce myself,I live near London England and have one poodle one newfoundland five donkeys one pony and lastly but not least one cat and three adult sons.Love to hear your advice .


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## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

How did you determine that it was not allergies? In my experience, most chronic ear infections are due to food allergies. In Poodles, chicken seems to be a major culprit.


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## KT5 (Nov 13, 2010)

We tried several elimination diets and it was only always just the one ear. If it were allergies, it'd be in both ears. 
No foods were determined to be an issue. And it was a long time and many meds to determine what worked. She's been infection free for a while now and has been on the same food and living in the same conditions.

We were close to actually going the blood work-up route. If this stuff hadn't worked, that's what we'd do next, but she really had doubts about it being allergies with it being just the one ear.


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