Hey it's been a very long time

bria

New member
Hi gang, I know I haven't been on here in ages and a lot has been happening in my life but that's for another time.

I've come to the experts to hear if others have experienced this. My Bria and Sherman are constantly suffering from ear infections and usually only the left ear, go figure. So I had Sherman at the vet yet again today and my vet told me I have to change his food as it isn't uncommon for dogs to have an allergy to animal protein. My vet wants me to buy his prescription food which is Royal Canin vegetarian sensitive skin. Okay aside from the ridiculous price of this food I have read several places that the vet food is a pile of crap, that this so called prescription food doesn't even have to pass health standards and that it is processed in the same plant as their regular food ergo contaminated. I did some research a few weeks back and found Natural Balance Vegetarian and when I compared the ingredients to that of the vet's food it was the same. My vet's theory on this is that his food isn't contaminated, well of course it isn't.

I personally do not like Royal Canin as I had my Maltipoo on their sensitive skin food and that's when she developed yeast rashes all over her body. Also am I to believe that a manufacturer that has so many different kinds of food (Royal Canin has every breed specific food you can find) actually has a plant where they produce the untainted, prescription vet food?

Help please. FYI for those who don't know me or don't remember me I am not a fan of western medicine and would prefer a holistic approach to this.

Susan
 

Lori

New member
Hi Susan, welcome back! My Chance had ear infections alot. I took wheat out of his diet and started giving him Prozyme. It's a digestive enzyme powder you just sprinkle it on their food. It's tasteless so there's no problem with them eating it. I've bought it at my local health food store and online, which is usually the cheapest. Chance's ears cleared up. If I ran out his ears would start to flare up.
 

lmfoltyn

New member
Hi...Jake had really awful ear infections also...the only thing that worked for us was using Zymox in his ears. I did switch foods that had potatoes in it at the same time and to date we haven't had any problems. Good luck as it is awful to have ear infections every other week.
 

ElvisTheNewf

Active member
Elvis would get really bad ear infections in his right ear (never his left), and his belly would break out in big, red, oozy areas. We cut out beef, chicken, wheat, and corn from his diet. We also started to use a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water to clean his ears, and he's been fine ever since. He eats Blue Buffalo Lamb & Rice, but had he broken out on that we would have tried the Fish & Sweet Potato.
 

bria

New member
Thanks guys and it's great to be back. So a few questions. What are most of you feeding? I had switched to lamb and then switched to the Nutrience Holistic Fish and Sweet potato and still no success.

I bought a food that said right on the label that it contains no gluten. Ha. I took it home and read the label and two of the products listed were ground barley and rye. Well as a Celiac myself I know that those are two of the highest gluten foods. I called the company in Quebec and asked them. It did not say no gluten added, it said no gluten which I later found out is completely different from gluten free. There are so many legal ways of listing stuff and getting away with it.

I guess my biggest question is, can our dogs live on a vegetarian diet?

Maggie I am a firm believer in apple cidar vinegar as it is an anti-fungal but unfortunately it wasn't working for my poor Sherman who is such a trooper in spite of the horrific pain he must be in. Poor baby.

Thanks Lori and I just threw out a digestive enzyme. Stupid me.

We have a very good holistic vet here in our city who is actually the first one here and I think Sherman needs to see him. His consultation fee is more than most but in the long run I think he will save me a lot of money and Sherman a lot of pain. I will not put my Sherman on antibiotics or any steroid drug only to have it affect something else in him.

It's so hard to know what to do but bottom line is I don't want my poor baby in pain. He's breaking my heart when he cries and violently shakes his head.
 

ElvisTheNewf

Active member
I don't know if it makes a difference, but we've been using plain white vinegar, not apple cider. I hope you get some answers soon!
 

Lori

New member
I'm feeding Spring Natural's right now. When Chance was having issues he liked Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish and Wellness had a fish one too.
 

lmfoltyn

New member
Zymox cleared up the ear infections within a day...not completely but stopped the head shaking and the scratching at the ears. I would definitely get some if he is crying...I was at the Vet's every week seriously with Jake when we first got him and several of the newf netters here said to try this and it did work...I won't ever be without it!
 

Brandie&Maggie

New member
Sorry your guys are having trouble. You can take a look at some of my past posts and see that we've been through the same thing.

You need to do 2 things - get the proper treatment to actually clear up the infection, then address the cause. If you haven't had the ear cultured, you should do that ASAP. Make sure you're on the right antibiotic. My Maggie had psuedomonas and we needed a specific antibiotic drop as she'd developed bacteria that was resistant to many normal treatments. We ended up on an eye drop antibiotic actually (tobramycin). In addition, we got an in-ear steroid drop and a cleaning regimen. (We went to Tufts after tons of issues). Things got better within 48 hours on the right antibiotics.

After you get that squared away, like everyone said, the allergy could very well be the cause. A vegetarian diet should not be necessary. We are now feeding Origen Regional Red and the issues have not come back in the last 4 months since we switched exclusively to that diet. It's the longest her ears have been clear in a year.

Please feel free to PM me if you want more info.

Good luck!
 

bria

New member
Twice I've responded here and twice when I tried to post it told me I wasn't logged in. Maybe it timed out so I'm testing it with this one.
 

bria

New member
There we go. I better be quicker.

Yes Sherman's ears were cultured. He's on Mometamax and then my vet gave me stuff to dry their ears out which they are supposed to be on for life. I don't know if we have Zymox here.

Sherman is shaking his head a lot less today and my vet did flush and thoroughly clean out his ears yesterday so hopefully he's feeling less pain.

Next step is figuring out what's really causing it and we know it's internal. I bought the vet's food and decided I would maybe try it for 2 months to see if the ears stay clear. I'm still not totally convinced they should be on vegetarian but if it helps the ears then I'll do it.

Thanks guys.
 

jane

New member
I went raw, when I was having issues with my dogs. If you don't want to go raw, I would opt for one of the limited ingredient foods that are grain free.
Zymox is excellent, and you get it online. For infections you want the Zymox with Hydrocortisone. Use the regular Zymox for when there is no infection.
 

svikes84

New member
I have been researching Psora all day which includes ear problems, what I found for Homeopathic remedies were Sulpher, Belladonna, Calcarea, and Mercurius Vivus. Using traditional medicine only suppresses the symptoms and does not cure the problem.
 

bria

New member
Yes I totally agree with you and western meds which is why I am not comfortable using any stuff. It's like putting a bandaide on a wound that needs stitches.

Jane the stuff my vet gave me for maintenance has hydrocortisone in it which I'm supposed to use every 2 days initially after Sherman is finished his meds and then I think once a week for both Bria and Sherman.

Now I have to figure out the food. I think that (and it was suggested here already) if I get this cleared up he should be fine maybe with just grain free. I don't know what food to give him and I'm so afraid of his ears flaring up again by choosing the wrong food. There is so much out there to choose from how do you figure it out? Also as I pointed out in the beginning I bought a food that said no Gluten and it was full of gluten. I didn't have my glasses with me at the pet store when I bought it so I couldn't read the ingredients.

Also it would be great to find a food that actually comes in very large bags. This vet food is 28lbs. and will last me 2 weeks. I've just sold my house and have moved and my hope is to remain debt free for a very long time to come. Not that my Newfs aren't worth it it would just be nice to find something a little more reasonable or at the very least a bag that will last a month.
 

Sound Bay Newfs

Active member
It has been a while. You might have to get allergy testing done if you can't clear up the infections. That way you won't be spending a lot of time and money guessing and switches foods and meds all the time. Back to Basics makes a new line of limited ingredient foods, but it is pricey. Colloidal Silver can be used for ear infections.
 

bria

New member
Thanks Lynn. I have used colloidal silver for other things. What about acv diluted? That is supposed to be the cure all for everything. I can't use it now as Sherman's ears are probably still sensitive but he isn't shaking his head anymore which is a good thing. He's still on his meds twice a day.

Susan
 

ardeagold

New member
If you can get the Zymox do...the Otic...in blue bottle for infections. It contains hydrocortisone for the inflammation but the Zymox itself is only enzymes.

Here's the website for Pet King who makes Zymox. LOTS of info there. Perhaps you might want to contact them to see if you can get it. It's REALLY good stuff. I've gotten rid of chronic ear infections in two Goldens with it. And I use it for the occasional ear infection in the other dogs too.

http://www.petkingbrands.com/products/otic.html

Also...is there a reason to go to a vegetarian diet? I notice you mentioned Natural Balance. They have a good number of "allergy" or Limited Ingredient Diets (they call them LID). Perhaps you might want to get one without ANY trace of chicken and try that first. Go with another meat source and make sure there's no chicken anywhere in it. Chicken is becoming a huge allergen problem in dogs nowadays. Keep away from wheat, corn, soy and chicken. Those seem to be the trouble makers for most dogs.

Or you could try allergy testing to see if you can find what the problem is. But you might not get a true reading. You may just have to keep trying foods and eliminating certain things until you find out what's going on.

Also don't forget the TREATS!!
 

R Taft

Active member
Hellooooooooooo and welcome back...........You might remeber my Annabelle, she had huge issues with ears when we got her. We had her allergy tested and she is allergic to wheat, food coloring and preservatives. When she has none of them she has no ear issues. She only has to get a cookie crumb and hotspots and bad ears are on...........We also had her ears properly swabbed and sent to pathology and they finally found the bug that was in therre too.So she is now on human ear-drops if she has an issue, which is rare and only after a accidental wheat eating (cookies from kids). Annabelle even swims a lot and has no issues now. As long as she does not have her no-no foods..........Hope it all goes well. We feed RAW now and only a really high quality wheat/food coloring/preservative free food kibble when we are travelling. It is just made such a huge difference in her life and the others do fine on it too....It was too hard to only feed her a certain food, so now they all get the same.
 
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