Scratching at face/ears
 

This post is a little long winded and I apologise, but I need help!!! I have an 11 month old male GSD who is the absolute joy of my life (Sorry husband!! :p ). Several months ago we noticed that he was incessantly scratching at his ears - more so the left than the right. We clean his ears every week. In December we noticed that his ears were red, he was scratching so much his ears were bleeding a little and he was breaking the skin on the outside of the ear, just above the eye from all the scratching. We took him to the vet, and they suggested he had allergies and sent us home. Another trip to the vet and they put him on Benadryl. They tested his ears twice, no infection, mites, fleas etc. ABout 3 weeks ago we took him to a different vet as he was started to whine in pain when scratching them. Again, no infection and the vet put him on antibiotics as there was a tiny cut that look infected, steroids and antihistamines. The scratching stopped, his ears returned to a normal colour and obviously from that deduced that it was an allergy. However he is now starting to scratch again and it breaks my heart to see him in pain. We need help. We have been told its a food allergy, and then told that it is not a food allergy. The breeder thought it could be a grain allergy but the vet told us not to put him on grain free as too much protein could cause growth problems. He is 90 pounds now. Does anyone have any natural remedies that they have used? or advice if grain free is the way to go, or if it could be anything other than a food allergy - we want to get him skin tested, but we are both students and cant afford it right now, Any advice, or tips would be greatly appreciated for our boy. Thank you so much!!!

I suggest you switch to a good grain free food. I also would go back to the second vet who helped you as it could be a seasonal type allergy. For a natural remedy to help with the itching and that won't interfere with any medication, you may want to try HomeoPet Skin & Itch drops.