My chocolate boy and I will be going to our first WC Field Training Day. There will be plenty of water retrieves. I want to know what you folks use on your dogs to clean their ears that also helps prevent possible 'swimmer's ear' and other types of infections.

Thanks!

Nothing.

In over 20 years, I have never had an ear infection in any of my field dogs.

MWK

I always make sure I take a cotton ball and give the ears a good wipe after the dogs come in from the water... this tends to avoid that

Thanks for the responses. I'm a worrier, I can't help it :(
What I'm looking for is the homemade remedy that had gentian violet, the 'purple stuff' and some other ingredients and the amounts used of each ingredient, to make this solution. One potion had the 'purple stuff', boric acid and alcohol. The other one was 'purple stuff', maybe boric acid, and witch hazel. Also which one of these solutions would be used to help my dog that is prone to yeasty ears?

Thanks!

if you are worried - keep a bottle of 2/3 alcohol and 1/3 white vinegar and fill his ears with that when he's done swimming and let him shake out the access as it will change the pH in his ears and allow them to dry out

My mom always used straight alcohol on my ears. Of course, being human, I don't have drop ears. :) I bet there is a product made specially for this situation, though. The sheer number of pet products out there is amazing. Still, I vote for the simple approach. Alcohol and vinegar sounds like it would work.

Alcohol and vinegar is the mixture many pediatric offices are suggesting for kids to prevent swimmers ear.

Here, I use witch hazel on both kids and dogs. It dries up the ears right away, is not as harsh as straight alcohol and I don't have to do a mix like alcohol and vinegar. For kids, I pour it straight in the ear and then they turn head over and drain - my 5 swimmers haven't had a bout of swimmers ear this summer when I started using witch hazel- first time in many years.

For dogs - I soak a napkin with witch hazel and wipe out ear - be sure to go deep enough. Some dogs will never have ear issues after swimming, others are really prone to them. I find a regular wipe out with witch hazel prevents all ear issues.

Witch hazel is right next to the rubbing alcohol at most stores/pharmacies.

Putting anything in a dog's ear (besides water or saline solution) can cause deafness. The gentian blue concoction is very harsh (and stings when the ear is inflamed).

In this instance, wouldn't it be better just to dry the ears as best you can after swimming?

For really bad yeast infections, a change in diet may help. I have found that eliminating grains and getting rid of the milkbone-type treats worked. I make my own with wheat-free flour. Don't let others give those nasty Snausages (blech!) My dog's ears would get inflamed every time she had one of those!

Zymox (without hydro cortizone) seems to work while you are getting to the root of the problem.

As an RN, I think you are misunderstanding:

1) Basic ear anatomy - if the drum is intact nothing can get to the inner ear and cause deafness.

2) Swimming brings lots of bacteria and into the ears in some dogs depending on their personal ear structure and how they hold them with swimming. A towel will not get all the wetness and bacteria out.

3) When yeast is coming from swimming and external causes, an internal change of diet is irrelevant.[/quote]

In addition:

Most pediatricians now are recommending one of the following as swimmers' ear prevention/treatment. They prefer these to systemic antibiotics:

-Alcohol mixed with vinegar solution
-Straight rubbing alcohol (although I think this is somewhat harsh on tender ear tissue)
-Witch hazel (has a small amount of rubbing alcohol in it)

Since these solutions do not cause deafness in children, I doubt they'll cause deafness in dogs.[/quote]

========================

I got my information from Mary Strauss. Here is her very interesting web page on ear problems: http://www.dogaware.com/health/ears.html see Yeast Infections, fourth paragraph.

I believe that dogs inner ears are different to those of humans and that thinking that way (in general) can be dangerous to dogs. Dogs usually give their ears a good shake to remove excess water, and we can help by drying the parts that we can reach.

How do we know if the ear drum is intact when we nonchalently pour stuff in them?

I don't think that Yeast is necessarily "caused" by water in the ear, although water can cause it to manifest itself. For example, a friend's poodle has ear problems when the groomer bathes his ears and, presumably that water contains no bacteria. I believe it is worth searching for a cause. Another example was my allergic lab who had yeasty ears, who's feet became itchy when she walked on wet grass, but not at other times. Bacteria? Maybe, but I think it much more likely (at least in her case) that the yeast problem was systemic.

Dogs have a tympanic membrane just like humans. If there is not excessive drainage, there is no reason to suspect rupture.

I personally wipe out ears, not pour anything in.

I do appreciate 'Please Don't"'s comment about milk bones, I have a girl who is allergic to something other than her food -weeks without itching. I think milk bones may well be the issue as we use them intermittently.

Thanks for an 'EARFUL' of information. My boy has been yeast free for a long time. We did the diet change and he's on a daily low dose of Ketokanozole to keep things in check. It took MAny, MANy, MANY months to get him at the level state that he is in today and I don't want to jeopardize all of this hard work and wellness.

I'm going to try our hand at a WC. We're doing this for 'fun.' He loves to work whether it's obed. or rally. But if he gets yukky ears, all this wet fun is not worth it.

Good info and discussion from knowledgeable Lab folks. Keep it coming!

Thanks,
Kathy Mauzy

Kathy,
Just have fun w/ your pup. FYI, my dogs swim regularly and I do nothing other than check the ears every now and then. They only get cleaned when I see any dirt/gunk there which is maybe every 6mos... maybe longer. I DO like the purple stuff in case of "gunk" and have had no deafness here (other than the occasional "selective deafness", lol.... but just open the fridge door or a bag of chips, etc upstairs, and they come running!).

I just got home from water training w/ 2 youngsters. I want to say that I think ear infections w/ field training are the least of my concerns. I worry far more about injuries w/ youngsters if the folks setting up the tests aren't walking the area looking for holes, etc. But guess what, that still doesn't stop me from letting my dogs do what they were bred to do. Our dogs are far healthier if given a bit of freedom.