Bimpnottin said:
I hate allergies! Wow, I've been miserable, and that's with me taking Seasonal Freedom and Zyrtec every day, which has really worked in the past.
I think I might have to take the dog to the vet, dang it - money I don't have. As my daughter says it, shes a "boxer mix lab" and her ears are driving her crazy with itching. She did this when we got her from the humane society and she was so bad that she made her ears bleed. When we took her to the kennel to board her for a weekend, the lady there called it "alligator ear" because it was so scaly. She suggested that we switch her food from the cheapo stuff to gulp "stuff that costs $40/35 lbs" but it was really working. We haven't had problems her ears in almost a year. Now, she's back to scratching. My SIL that is a vet (but lives in TX) had never heard of "alligator ear" and was absolutely no help - probably because she can't stand us.
So, I've been giving the poor thing benadryl (she was on that when we got her) and rubbing her ears with Florasone Cream - a homeopathic itching, inflammation, rash reducer that has helped in the past. Nothing seems to be helping this time.
I think it's because the darn dog has gotten out 3 times in the past week and then she proceeds to run through the neighbor's pond and ends up at the farm down the road. She's definitely an indoor dog because the bugs find her and she swells up and really starts to huff and puff.
Anyone have any ideas?????
Dogs who get their ears wet a lot get ear infections, usually yeast. Does it have a yeasty smell? Kinda like damp dirty shoes?
If I were you, I'd go to the grocery store or Petsmart or such a place and buy a good ear cleaner designed for dogs that has some alcohol in it. Clean the ears twice a day for awhile. Dogs don't usually get ear mites, that is a cat thing, although they can get them. I agree with MetalSmitten about cleaning them well with a Q-tip also. Some dogs are more prone to ear problems. If that does not help the problem within a day or so, take the dog to the vet because ear-shaking can cause a much larger, more expensive problem.
I don't know about "alligator ear" but perhaps they meant to say "cauliflower ear" which is when the inner ear flap is chronically inflamed and gets all bumpy and dry and scaly looking like an alligator or like cauliflower. This usually happens when a dog has a chronic ear issue that has been ongoing for a long time or had prior hematoma ear from chronic ear shaking. If that is what she has then it will probably take more than just Benadryl to fix it, she needs to be on different food and probably some ear meds and antibiotics if that is the case, sometimes they even give steroids for that. Of course that is only a guess on my part.
Sometimes the ear flap itself swells up and becomes like a big puff ball full of fluid, and that is a real expensive problem to fix. It is from shaking the head too much, so don't let her shake her head. Clean those ears and then let her get her shaking out and then try to get her to stop. I have a "soothing" ear cleaner here that helps this problem.
If this dog has a chronic ear issue you may need to start cleaning her ears twice a week for life to prevent recurrences. Keeping her out of the water should help, but if she goes in, then afterwards put the ear cleaner in there because water sitting in the ear can cause a yeast problem, it needs to be dried out with some ear cleaner with alcohol after each time she gets wet. If you can't keep her out of the water I'd physically restrain her until it clears up. If you cannot afford a vet visit them you really don't want the bill to fix a hematoma ear.
I'd try to find a local group to help with spaying and neutering of the cats as well, there are many ways to find financial assistance for that, sometimes those groups help with other health issue bills as well, such as the dog's ear.
Regarding the expensive food, for your dog it might be more expensive to feed cheap food. Try picking one with only one protein source so you can determine if she is allergic and stick to it for a month (it takes that long for changes to fully effect the dog). Try to pick one without a lot of grain especially corn. Rice is better. Lamb and rice is often tolerated by allergic dogs and isn't expensive. But try to avoid chicken, corn and wheat as a first ingredient and don't feed any table scraps. That way you can start to see if the dog is allergic to its food. Some dogs get ear issues simply because of allergies like people so it might not be the food at all. There are some "grain free" foods and many people will tell you to use that for allergic dogs but the vets I worked for were generally more concerned about dogs developing allergies to particular protein sources. So they would try a new protein source and see how the dog did.
So if you had a source for an alternate meat such as rabbit, duck, etc., it might have more effect than just switching off of inexpensive dog food.
I understand totally about not being able to afford vet care, that is why I'm helping you via internet, I hope my suggestions and knowledge is helpful. It certainly does not substitute for a real vet visit as I think you really could use some ear meds to calm those ears down, but my suggestions should at least help.
Our cat would always shake his head when we were done and send up a spray of almond extract.
So, I'm going to try and clean her ears, just in case, then use some oil and Vit E on her ears with a kick of benadryl. If it doesn't start to get better in a few days, I'll have to take her to the vet next week. Here's me crossing my fingers. Does make me wonder at the real reason she was surrended to the humane society.
