# Help! Ear infection and blood!



## Rayah-QualitySPs (Aug 31, 2010)

Aida-Christine said:


> Ok, so my Standard Poodle's groomer spotted an ear infection on Saturday. We took her to a vet.
> I've been giving her the liquid oil in her ears twice a day like the vet said, and swishing it around in her ear canal.
> She's also having a few stomach problems, but I think that's due to the new food I just started to mix into her old food.


Hi;

Sorry about your problems. Often ear infections are not noticed until you clean the ear(s).

Is the "liquid oil" an antibiotic? If not she needs medication that will clear up the infection. Your vet might be receptive to ordering something you can pick up; but if she did not have a culture and sensitivity swab done you should get the vet to do so. The C&S will allow the right antibiotics to be given.

Poodles are known for ear infections and I am sure many people will give you good tips on how to manage ears. Often the antibiotics need to be given for a longer length of time than some vets think. The ears appear to be cleared up but they are not.

Her stomach problems may be caused by her new food. Can you hold off on the switch until you get her ears under control?


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## buttercup123 (Oct 7, 2010)

She has hematomas, its caused by her shaking her ears and the blood pooling at the end of her ears.
It can happen when there is lots of hair pulled from the ears, first ear hair pull, matted ears being shaved down, they shake their head cause they arent used to the feeling. It can easily turn into a blood bath.
Cut the toe end of a sock and slip her head through to keep her ears from moving.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

She's probably shaking her head a lot because the combination of the infection in one and having had them both plucked out at the same time is obviously not comfortable. If she was only mildly annoyed before, it's worse now.

The bleeding you see is probably a side effect of plucking and head shaking. Plucking can cause rawness if it was a lot of hair and they took out big clumps at a time, and head shaking will bring blood to the surface of those raw spots, which is why you're seeing a little blood when you wipe them.

You have to give it a week or so for the meds to start working and the irritation from plucking to settle down. Ear infections are really annoying, but you need to give them time to heal.

If you're still seeing blood after a week, go back to the vet. IMO, some vets are a little too anal about plucking. If the hair was not causing a major blockage, it might have been better to wait until the infection was responding to treatment before they were plucked, or only pluck a little at a time every couple of days, because now it's clearly made your dog much more uncomfortable.


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

I agree, you must get this infection cleared. If when you are done the antibiotics it is still not entirely better, make sure to contact the vet and keep going until it is nipped in the bud. Once gone, you can use this...Blue Power Homemade Dog Ear Cleaner | eHow.com a few times a week to help keep the ears from getting infected again. The gentian violet in it is the same thing they use for thrush so it kills yeast and fungus. Word of caution though...the gentian violet will stain anything it comes in contact with, so I advise you put it in the ear outside, and make sure it is all wiped out before you let the dog back in.


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## caboodles (Jan 7, 2011)

As a "novice" to the whole poodle grooming, I clean the ears with a liquid and cotton ball once a week, and then I pluck them about every three weeks ... Is that being TOO clean? Or just right?!


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## FozziesMom (Jun 23, 2010)

I got Fozzie at 7 months and I don't think they had *ever* plucked his ear hair. It was one of the densest the vet had ever seen. So, when he was "under" for neutering, I had them pluck all the hair out so he wouldn't associate that experience with the vet. 

I have my groomer do it every six weeks. Have never had a problem since and never see him rubbing or scratching ears.

Also, do not forget to check: food allergies, yeast, and fungal infections and if all else fails, get an xray. My poor cat has suffered for years with itchy ears that would never clear up despite treatments for all. Today she had to go "under" for dental cleaning and the vet decided to clean the ear really aggressively since she was out, took an xray, and found there was an enormous black ball of wax she couldn't get out for fear of perforating the ear drum. yikes! Now kitty will have special "dissolving" medicine to clear that out hopefully for good. I hope her suffering will cease on this area soon! (so don't rest until it's cleared up for good, you don't have to put up with this. raw food does help, it reduces fungal and yeast grows since there's less sugar in the diet.)


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