help! i really need some help!

[crazydog]

ok roxy has been scratching her ear for the last several weeks and that one time when we brought her up to the groomers and they pulled out her hair. well now her hair has grown back and she is scratching VIOLENTLY. i checked in her ear and there was a little spot in there that was red. it looks like there has a spot of blood in there. she wouldnt let me touch her ear though so it was a huuge hassle to spot it again. i told my mom about it and she said dont worry about it, itll go away. i am soo mad because my mom doesnt care about roxy at all. she refuses to find a vet for roxy because we are just going to give it to my aunt on thanksgiving but i feel bad for roxy because she is constantly scratching her ear and she whines at the same time when she is scratching. so i know it is hurting her alot. i dotn know what it is. it may be yeast infection or something but i dotn have ANY information about yeast infection and have no idea what it is. can you please, PLEASE!, help me out and give me some advice and tell me what it is and some information on it.

 

[crazydog]

theres also a huge digusting odor coming from her ears. ive been reading about yeast infection and it said to make an half water and half vinegar mixture and pour it into her ear and then use a coton ball to dry it all out (which i dont think that will work at all and will probably do something to her ear) and i saw from another site that to put it on a cotton ball and put it into her ear, close her ear flap and then massage her ear then rmove the cotton ball. i think that one will work. what do you think i should do? becasue i also saw that it can hurt her because the vinegar can sting a little. please help asap!

 

[ChiliBeans]

Hi! I feel awful for your little Roxy. My dog had problems with her ear, and she would scratch pretty frequently. It looked like she had a lot of blood in her ear and she did have a pretty bad smell coming from the right ear, but the vet told us that it was the yeast and that her ear was infected. It sounds like that could be what is wrong with your dog. I got some cleaning solution from the vet's office and also some ointment to put in her ear. I clean my dog's ears out with a little cotton swab (of course, I have a Chihuahua, so that's about all that will fit in her ear!). She gets yeast in her ear pretty often, so I clean her ears daily to get all that yeast out.

 

[Renee750il]

A mild vinegar solution is a pretty good yeasticide. This is going to sound strange, but you could get a vinegar and water douche and use the solution in that, just warm it to body temperature (set it in a container of hot water, don't use the microwave). Trickle the solution into her ear, gently down the side - don't squirt - just a little at a time and a small amount, then massage her ear for a few minutes. You can use a cotton ball to soak up some of the excess, and I'll suggest that you set her down inside the tub with the shower door closed and let her shake her head afterwards.

That should give her some relief.

 

[agilitydobemom]

The vinager and water solution will work great since it sounds like you probably have not had that much expericence cleaning dogs ears the meathod of putting it on the cotton ball may work better for you that way you don't get to much in the ear canal if the odor doesn't go away repeat in a couple of weeks

 

[crazydog]

umm renee are you saying to put it in a douchebag and trickle it down her ear? bc if you are i definitely do not have a douchebag. but i am going to try that with the cotton ball now. half water and half vinegar will work right? will this amke it go away or do i have to get something else too? and it looks like theres ear wax or something in there. thats what i thought at first.

 

[JRT_Rattie_Mom]

I looked up yeast infections of the ears in a holistic vet book I have. They recommend apple cider or distilled white vinegar mixed equally with spring water, using 6 to 10 drops of the solution each week to keep yeast at bay. Combine it with a few drops of rubbing alcohol to dry out ears after swimming or bathing.

Additional information: Remove any sources of yeast in the diet, as well as sugar. Check labels on treats for corn syrup or other sources of sugar. Also, 1 fish oil capsule per 10 to 15 lbs. of body weight daily can help with the itching and inflammation. If you suspect a fish allergy, substitute flax oils or hemp oil supplements. Calendula-hypericum ointment relieves itching and helps the body fight the infection.

Hope this helps!

 

[avenlee]

I've heard mixing cod liver oil with their dry dog food is a good source for dry itchy skin. It smells horrible though lol

 

[Renee750il]

umm renee are you saying to put it in a douchebag and trickle it down her ear? bc if you are i definitely do not have a douchebag. but i am going to try that with the cotton ball now. half water and half vinegar will work right? will this amke it go away or do i have to get something else too? and it looks like theres ear wax or something in there. thats what i thought at first.

Sorry for any embarrasment, but you can get the disposable ones.

To clean the ears, you can get the stuff you would use for babies' ears - just DON'T use the syringe! After the ear is clean you can use the vinegar solution (or whatever ) to treat for yeast. The treatment wiill be more effective if you get the gunk out first.

 

[crazydog]

umm is there anything i can use that i will find at home becuase i made the water - vinegar mixture and everything and when i tried to put the cotton ball in her ear she would violently scratch and bite me. after i held her down and i made contact with her ear with the cotton ball she yelped really really loud and just twitched right out of my hands. it is just impossible to get it in there. i found some dried blood in there and it is pretty dirty in there too and it looks like the black stuff of yeast deep inside of the ear. but not alot. did the vinegar really sting her ear or something? is there any other way i can treat this? and can you please "dumb" it down a little for me because this is a first time dog and i dont know any of the stuff you all are talking about. . please i really need you all's help. i dont want my roxy to suffer any longer.

oh yeah this is jsut a little other question i have but i dont want the subject to change to this. roxy nails are really gowing and i have no way of gettin a hold of dog nail clippers so should i just wait until my aunt comes down and brings her back to her house for her to do it or is there some other way to shorten it down alittle. although i extremely hate myself for having to leave roxy but i know it is the best thing because my mom doesnt understand dogs and just think they are "things".

 

[avenlee]

At this point, I would make a trip to your vet. If the ear is that sensitive and dirty, I would definately get it checked out.

 

[Renee750il]

Poor Roxy! Your first problem is getting the "gunk" which I suspect is blood from what the groomer did to Roxy. Warm baby oil is good for that, or mineral oil if you don't have any baby oil. Put the bottle in a bowl of hot water to bring the temperature up to approximately your body temperature (test on your wrist).

You probably won't be able to get near Roxy if she sees a cotton ball, so try to find something small that you can dribble a little oil down into her ear with, hold her head still to let the oil penetrate some, then gently, gently massage her ear for a few minutes. If you can get a cotton ball in her ear while you do the other ear, great. If not, take her to the bathroom, set her down in the tub and pull the shower curtain so she can shake her head (she will) without slinging the oily gunk all over the place.

Then you can do the other ear. You might have to wait a few hours, or even until the next day before she'll sit still for you, but at some point the ear you treated should feel improved enough to her that she figures out you can do something good for her.

While you've got her quiet and doing nothing, you can use a nail file or emery board to file her nails down a little since you don't have any clippers.

You might want to talk to your Aunt and tell her what's happened so she will have a chance to get something to treat Roxy's ears and have it ready when she takes her home.

You're doing the right thing, even though it is so hard. And that, dear, is what it means to be brave and unselfish.

 

[crazydog]

thank you renee. i always know i can count on you! but yeah theres not really any gunk in there, i dont think. because although i could barely hold her down long enough to check, when i did check for a few seconds, i didnt really see anything but that blood part but it was really dim in the room because only the hallway light was on. so just trickle down a few drops of warm baby oil down her ear? thats it? will that cure the infection? im not going to try the vinegar thing anymore because whenever she sees or smell (i think) the vinegar tehn she runs away from me. i just want her to live the happiest moment of her life that she has with me, before she leaves

 

[Renee750il]

The baby oil won't cure the infection, but it will soften the blood and let her sling it out. It's got to be causing her a lot of discomfort, being dried and pulling on the delicate ear tissue, getting caught in those little hairs growing back after that groomer did that to her.

If you want to try something to start working on the infection without hurting her after you get the blood cleaned out, use a little tea, after it's cooled down of course. If you've got some black or green tea with mint that's even better. But no cream or sugar!

 

[crazydog]

so about 2 drops of baby oil in her ear and then massage it and then stand back?

 

[Renee750il]

More like 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon, but definitely stand back after you've massaged!

It's probably going to be kind of nasty, that's why I suggest the bathroom . . .

 

[crazydog]

so green tea lowers the pH of the ear?

 

[Renee750il]

I'd never thought of it in those terms, but tea does contain tannic acid, along with having healing properties.

 

[crazydog]

this is impossible. she will NOT stay still for me to even check her ears for a full 30 seconds! i cant hold her down. im holding her neck so still hat when she tries to turn her head away i fear she will break it or something. its just impossible. she would NOT give in!

 

[Renee750il]

That's too bad, but you've only got a couple of days until Thanksgiving, so just enjoy your time with her. I'm so sorry that you are losing her. One day you will reach a point where you aren't obliged to defer so completely and you can have a dog of your own that you are able to be responsible for. It doesn't sound like you've even had the opportunity to care for Roxy responsibly, no matter how hard you've tried.

Just stay with us, and feel free to rant or cry on our shoulders.