I have a 15 mos girl who recently change food from puppy Proplan chick/rice to Proplan chick/rice Adult. Her ears are terrible now. You cant stand to lift the suckers up, whew! anyway I tried cleaning with some luke warm water and cap full of alcohol...no good... still terrible smell.......Is this a sign of ear infection? She goes to vet Friday for check up. I guess my question is why the adult affected her ears and the pupply proplan chick/rice did not???? I was told to try Purina Beneful Chick/rice by a friend that this happen too, any suggestions???

Sure sounds like an ear infection - definately go to the vet since it may be yeast or fungal. I clean my dog's ears (just monthly as a preventative) with K-9 Vet Ear solution - it's the 'purple' stuff.

Also, and I know food is a hot topic, but why the heck would you even think of feeding Beneful - read the ingredients!! There is a site, and I'll try to find it, where they assigned points to different dog foods based on quality of ingredients, nutrional value, etc. Out of a 100 (where some of the better foods received a rating higher than 100) Beneful had something like 30.

I would go to the vet...there COULD be another ingredient in the new food, or it just could have happened...it's a damp moist environment.

I use a mixture I make out of witch hazel, boric acid and tea tree oil when my dogs seem to get an irritated ear...before it gets bad. Usually the one treatment clears it up and keeps it from getting bad.

well it worked for my friend who seems to have beautiful labs, so I thght I would try a shot. Anyway, what food would you recommend? The Adult Chick Rice Proplan seems to be the culprit.

It might not be the food though. Foods I like to recommend are Solid Gold, Innova, Canidae (good ingredients for the price and they have a breeders program).

Read the ingredients for the puppy vs. adult. Is there that much of a difference except for the level of protein and fat? I wouldn't think that it's the food right away. If this is the first ear infection (and I would also take him to Vet) then clear this ear up with meds first. Has he been swimming? Maybe pond water sitting in ears caused infection. If he continues with itchy ears, licking rear end and feet, then I would switch to food with no wheat, corn or soy. Natural Balance is very good. Stay away from that cheaper brand. You would be going from bad to worse with that!

It may not be the food at all. Is she thinking of comming in heat soon?

Sounds like a job for your vet though.

If it turns out to be a yeast issue I agree with staying away from corn, wheat, soy, sorghum in the food. I stay away from these ingredients in general.

You can give a tbspn of apple cidar vinigar in food daily to help ward off yeast. Works great for dry flakey coats too.

Probiotics can also help.

Ear infections can be seasonal due to changes in weather, humidity, etc. I would NOT suspect the food in this instance. I would think that the timing of the infection is just a coincidence to the food change.

Everyone previously is correct--off to the veterinarian to get the ears cleared up. If they are THAT stinky, you definitely have an infection--bacterial or yeast or both.

MK

Because of the early spring months, I would suspect environmental allergies such as pollen and a million other allergens before I would blame the change to Pro Plan Adult food.

Our allergy girl always gets gunky ears come early spring and hot spots. I combat her ears by doing daily ear checks and as soon as I see the brown gunk creeping in, I use my homemade solution made of original gold colored Listerine, Boric Acid Powder solution. I've cleared up more ear infections with this solution and their ears smell so good !!

Mix 1/2 cup Listerine (orginal/yellow) with 1 TBS boric acid

Also, the one poster could be correct in that your girl could be coming close to her heat cycle which can cause hormonal changes...hot spots and gunky ears not to mention a short spell of SH,HDD,ADD or ADHD. Gotta love those hormones in our girls

Joy,
Do you rinse their ears out with the solution or do you put on cotton ball and clean?

I put my ear solution in one of those hair color bottles with a narrow tip and give a good squirt down their ears and rub the base good, then take cotton squares and dry out good. I do this 2 times a day for about 4 days and it clear is up. I only do the irrigation of the ears if they have a yeast infection or if their ears look red. I've cleared up my dogs ears with yeast in them and when their ears were beat red with whatever infection they had going on. My one bitch had these beat red infected ears when she was getting weaned off her first litter so I made this ear solution up and got rid of that infection by day 5. By this time her inside of her ear was a little sore from all the cleaning so I rubbed some topical soothing lotion on the inside flap after the infection was all gone.

If their ears are just dirty from playing in the dirt, I just put the ear solution on the cotton square and clean their ears.

I think if you irrigate your dog's ears as a ritual when they don't have an infection, it could mess up their natural PH.

I usually do a luke warm water with cap of alcohol, per my vet once or twice monthly.

I use a homemade solution of 1/3 water, 1/3 w. vinigar, 1/3 whitch hazel (or alcohol).

The listerine and boric acid is interesting. I'm going to give it a try. Does it say original gold right on the bottle? Never knew there was more than one.

Can I get boric acid in the pharmacy?

I also use a scope to check my dogs ears before cleaning (which i do once a week for maintenance)

I agree, I'd think the ear infection is not related to the change of food but is coincidental, since the ingredient lists of the two foods are so similar, both are Chicken & Rice. Essentially a different ratio of protein and fat in the Adult Pro Plan compared to the Puppy. I feed both and have never had any ear issues related to changing from Puppy to Adult.
I would not switch to Beneful from PP.
I'd treat the ear infection with your Vet and get her past that several weeks or a few months and see how she is then.
If then you are still concerned about the food, consider switching to the PP Sensitive Skin & Stomach (Salmon & Rice) or other.

Boric Acid can be found at Rite Aides. Listerine, the original gold, nasty tasting stuff, not the flavored, Citrus Listerine.

I heartily suggest avoiding wheat, corn and soy in your dog's food as has been suggested. Here is a recipe for ear cleaner - flood the ear and massage as suggested.
4 oz isopropyl rubbing alcohol
2T boric acid
1T glycerine

Flush ears weekly with this solution. Let the dog shake her head then use a Q tip to clean out wax/dirt that is inside.

good luck. i have a book on ear problems in dogs. ill lokk after and re-post.