Is there anything new about gucky ears? I specifically looked in the dam's ears before comitting to my new puppy. They were squeaky clean. Unfortunately, pup's ears were a little greasy when I collected her, and she had scratch marks on the inside of her ear flap from her sharp little claws.

Even with a grain-free diet, her ears are still dirty which I find depressing as I went through this with my previous lab and never did get find the cause. She was also fed a grain-free diet, and I removed all the Cedar from her dog beds - just in case.

How old is your puppy? Are you feeding the puppy what the breeder was feeding? How do you know the scratches weren't caused by another puppy?

How often are you treating them ? You can overdo with cleaners, and meds . Ask your Vet about how frequent you should be applying meds and cleaners.

This is the first lab I have owned where I need to clean ears every other day-it is not fun. Have tried every food out there-when I picked her up moms ears were a bit red and she was being fed a lamb and rice diet-maybe that should have been a red flag. I've owned 3 other labs years ago when Science diet was what I fed-never had to clean an ear and they lived till 12.
My vet has said just keep on top of them to avoid having to treat with meds-I use Epi Otic to clean-can be used daily,

My Vet says cleaning ears twice a week is all that should take place. If your dog is on prescribed ear meds, then of course they should be applied as directed, but all that cleaning solution will upset the natural flora in the ear. You could be your dogs own worst enemy here.

If this is a chronic issue, you need to take your pup to the vet and have the ear gunk tested to find out if it's bacteria or yeast. That will determine how to treat it.
What appears to be "dirty" can actually be an infection.
And keep in mind that most ear problems are not food related despite what folks seem to believe. True food allergies are relatively rare.

Myself, I hate it when Labradors get gunky ears ( yeasty ). I have 2 lines of labradors in our house hold. Our one line never gets gunky ears unless they are pregnant or nursing then they might get a little yeasty ears which I attribute to hormones.

My other line gets yeasty ears more often and esp if they eat corn and dog food with fillers. If I keep them on a no grain diet, salmon works the best for our chocolate lines then they do so much better. This is food related for them, although if the spend time around pineshavings then they might get some gunky ears or watery eyes. Most pineshaving is so dusty though.

Over flushing a dog's ears can cause more harm than good. I like to use my diaper wipes with alovera in it. This is for keeping their ears clean and it helps me determine if there is any yeasty business beginning so I can stay on top of it.

For me I would rather deal with an occassional gunky ear than dogs who have allergies that cause ongoing hot spots, and ear infections. Been there and done that before. Not fun at all.

Some dogs simply produce more gunk but I don't think it means that they are riddled with allergies and should be cut from one's breeding program. It depends on how frequent the ears get infected but it's each breeders call as to when to cut a dog from it's breeding program cause it's beginning to be a problem in their lines.

Ever tried the purple stuff? It has never failed for any of my dog's ears.

I used to use the purple ear flush but it made my dog's ears sore and it stained anything that happened to shake out from the dog's ears and we all know how a dog loves to shake their head when they get their ears flushed out.

Any more days, I order my ear meds and flushes from Revival.

The Purple Ear Stuff is like magic! Works on hot spots too.

The problem with "purple stuff" is that people use it on their dogs , without knowing whether it is yeast or a serious bacterial infection. Self diagnosis on these dogs ears is just NOT in their best interest. Take your dog to your Vet and get the real anwser,get a slide under the microscope at least, anything else is just a guessing game !

I agree. A diagnosis as to what the problem is should be done, for example a culture to find out type of bacteria or fungus. Don't treat without knowing what you're treating. You may mask something else like pseudomonas.

Food allergies are rare as Kate pointed out. There is a 10% rate. Ask a dog dermotologist, I suggest you head in that direction.