Ear infection

[volcano]

Im a first time dog owner, I didnt know how important ear cleaning is. My 12 week old got them cleaned at the vet last week and the past few days I noticed her head stinking. I thought it was some meat juice on her head from raw diet. Today it was stinking worse so I came to the conclusion its an ear infection.
In doing my research it doesnt look like vets have a good track record for doing anything about it other than charging lots of $$$. I made a mix of half vinegar and half 90% alcohol and washed her ears. It was tough to hold her but she settled eventually. It is already helping with the smell, it was never to the point that she was shaking her head or scratching so still a mild infection. Ill use this a few days until the zymox I ordered comes in.

[Apoolutz]

Ear infections are extremely painful, the dog needs to go to the vet.

[volcano]

Theres over 1000 positive reviews for zymox on amazon. And they all say the same thing- vet was no help, zymox cleared it right up. And these are breeds more prone to an infection than gsd. Also 21 reviews where it didnt work. 98% success rate and no complaints of side effects, vs the prescreption meds with reviews of deaf dogs and vets not telling that was a known possible side effect.
The vinegar and alcohol Im using does the trick for most people also. Like I said she has no pain, or itching the ear at all, I just smelt it, or i wouldve been to the vet prior to research.

[Shelly Chip]

You might want to think about the cause too. One of my dogs got a lot of ear infections until we switched him to grain free...then he never got an ear infection again.

[mego]

My girl got yeast infection in both ears somehow the first week we had her, I took her to the vet and the bill was $150 - they gave us a cream to squirt in her ears 2x a day for 14 days O: A friend told me about the vinegar solution for keeping them clean and helping with it, I"m going to look into that myself.

[gsdlover91]

Berlin had a nasty yeast infection when he was younger - vet swabbed his ear and gave me Zymox. Worked good, just use it twice a day for a week...thats what they had me do. Clears it up fast. Make sure afterward, you clean the ears on a regular basis. I clean Berlins ears usually once a week.

[Lin]

I use the blue power ear wash. I've successfully cleared up both bacterial and fungal ear infections with it, and usually have some mixed up to use as an ear wash here and there. Its important to follow the original recipe, there are many with slight changes posted online and I've heard from a lot of people that when they tried those first it didn't work.

I've stopped using otomax with fosters that have ear infections because the blue power wash works so well.

http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/Adob...0Treatment.pdf

[volcano]

Im scared to use that because what if it got in her eye? I think the boric acid could be real bad.

[Lin]

Boric acid is actually used as an eye wash as well. Vinegar would be more painful/damaging to the eye and is a strong acid.

[onyx'girl]

zymox is good stuff. I get the one with hydrocortisone to help the itching stop. I get it from entirely pets. Vets charge double what you can get it online for. I get the 8 oz size! Zymox Otic (1.25oz) with Hydrocortisone (1.0%)
The blue powder ear treatment is too harsh for some dogs if they are really in pain. Onyx has chronic ear problems due to environmental allergies so I have to treat her often