My dog has been having a slight ear issue for about a month or so. He's been shaking his head a bit more and scratching his ears. It's nothing chronic, I can't see any wax, his ears don't have any foul smell, and it's not a constant thing but I noticed that it's been on-going for about a month so I took him to the vet a week ago.
The vet looked in his ears and said that everything looked good but they got a swab from each ear and looked at it under a microscope anyway, at my request. The vet came back out and informed me that she looked once and didn't see anything abnormal, but when she double checked she found 'a pretty nice patch of yeast' so she said he probably has a mild yeast infection. She gave me some drops and told me to put 4 drops into each ear twice a day, and to come back in a week and have him re-checked.
Well, I've been using the ear drops and the head shaking and itching seems to have gone down (although it's difficult to tell because he shakes his head and itches a bit because of the drops themselves) I'm supposed to go back tomorrow for a re-check but it's going to be another $80 and quite frankly, we just don't have that money to spend right now. We *could* do it if absolutely necessary but we'd really rather not if it's pointless.
My question to you is, do you think it would be okay to skip the re-check and just keep an eye on my dog's condition? I'd hate to waste the $130 we already spent by not seeing the problem all the way through to the end, but on the other hand, it seems like the yeast infection was very mild (after all, she had to look twice to even see anything) We've been using the drops and he seems to be doing better. The bottle said to use the drops for a week so I'm going to do that. I'd hate to not solve the problem completely and have it reoccur but $210 is a lot of money to spend in a week on a mild ear issue that may very well be solved.
What would you do? Is it okay if I skip the re-check? Any suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated.
The vet looked in his ears and said that everything looked good but they got a swab from each ear and looked at it under a microscope anyway, at my request. The vet came back out and informed me that she looked once and didn't see anything abnormal, but when she double checked she found 'a pretty nice patch of yeast' so she said he probably has a mild yeast infection. She gave me some drops and told me to put 4 drops into each ear twice a day, and to come back in a week and have him re-checked.
Well, I've been using the ear drops and the head shaking and itching seems to have gone down (although it's difficult to tell because he shakes his head and itches a bit because of the drops themselves) I'm supposed to go back tomorrow for a re-check but it's going to be another $80 and quite frankly, we just don't have that money to spend right now. We *could* do it if absolutely necessary but we'd really rather not if it's pointless.
My question to you is, do you think it would be okay to skip the re-check and just keep an eye on my dog's condition? I'd hate to waste the $130 we already spent by not seeing the problem all the way through to the end, but on the other hand, it seems like the yeast infection was very mild (after all, she had to look twice to even see anything) We've been using the drops and he seems to be doing better. The bottle said to use the drops for a week so I'm going to do that. I'd hate to not solve the problem completely and have it reoccur but $210 is a lot of money to spend in a week on a mild ear issue that may very well be solved.
What would you do? Is it okay if I skip the re-check? Any suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated.