Ear Infections in Pets

Ear infections are common
Did you ever have an ear ache? For pets, ear aches and ear infections are common. In fact, ear infections are among the top 5 reasons pets need veterinary care. How do you know if your pet has an ear infection? Look for an odor, gooey or greasy discharge, redness, heat, and sensitivity to touch. If the discharge is black and crumbly, the problem is probably ear mites—but mites are actually rare, accounting for less than 10% of ear problems. About 90% of the time, if there is ear discharge, there is a problem caused by something other than mites.

Allergies cause heat, heat increases yeast, yeast causes itchy discharge
What causes most of the ear infections I see?—allergies, especially allergies to food. Allergies cause the pet’s immune system to over-react. This reaction releases heat, and the heat turns the ear canal into a hot house. Yeast is normally present in ears, but when the ear heats up, the yeast multiplies out of control and instead of having a thin coating of ear wax (cerumen) the ear canal fills with a smelly, greasy brown debris. Dogs with ear flaps or hair that hold in heat in the ear are especially prone to developing chronic yeasty ear infections.

Most yeasty ear infections are superficial and easy to clear but if infections aren’t treated, they move deeper into the ear where they can cause a pet to be dizzy, walk in circles, or tilt its head at a strange angle. Often these deep infections are painful, and pets don’t feel like eating. It can take weeks of medication to clear infections that have penetrated from the outer ear into the air-filled middle ear (otitis media) or deeper into the fluid-filled inner ear (otitis interna).

Infection moves from the outer canal to deep into the ear
What causes ear infections to penetrate deeper into the ear? Often, it’s the scratching. Untreated ear infections cause itching, itching causes scratching, and the pet’s nails tear the skin. Bacteria and yeast that are normally resident on the skin surface are able to move deep into the dermis where ear flushes and topical medications cannot reach them. The pet’s immune system reacts to the infection by sending more white blood cells to the ear. The white blood cells release enzymes and the mixture of white blood cells, enzymes, and dead bacteria create a pus-filled, sticky, stinky discharge in the outer ear canal.

Bacteria and ear infections
If the pet doesn’t receive treatment, bacteria can move from the ear canal through the ear drum into the middle ear. The middle ear is air-filled and has three tiny bones that vibrate to pass sound along to the inner ear. The pet’s immune system reacts to middle ear infection by sending more white blood cells and plasma from the blood. When we look deep into the pet’s ear canal, we see fluid behind the bulging ear drum (tympanic membrane). From the middle ear, infection can spread into the internal ear where it damages sensitive nerves so that pets develop a head tilt, loss of balance, and deafness.

We treat ear infections according to where they’re located and whether they are caused by yeast, or bacteria, or both. Some families may have medication at home that was prescribed for an earlier infection and want to use it again if the ear looks infected. Please don’t do this. If you cannot see the ear drum, and cannot tell if it is intact, have the vet examine the ear before you medicate it.

What’s safe to put into ears with a ruptured ear drum?
When a pet has a serious ear infection that causes an ear drum to burst, or when we cannot see the ear drum because of thick discharge or because a pet won’t let us near its ear, we can safely put these materials in the ear: saline, malacetic, Triz EDTA, fluconazole, colloidal silver, dilute povidone iodine. We should not use the following: Synotic, polymixin, cerumene, amingoglycoside antibiotics.

Three methods to stop reoccurring ear infections
Stop chronic ear infections by using diet, herbs, and acupuncture. Begin an exclusion diet that excludes foods causing your pet’s allergies. For some pets this will mean they can’t eat beef, and even beef-flavored heartworm medication. For others, it will mean avoiding lamb, or rice, or eggs, or corn, or wheat. Your vet will help you learn what your pet is allergic to by creating an exclusion diet. You’ll want vet advice on how to be successful, and you’ll want everyone in the family to be on board for the diet. Then, start herbs that modify the body’s reaction to food and the tendency for the immune system to create heat and discharge. Si Miao San is one of the herbal remedies that clears heat and there are half a dozen others. Your vet will help you choose the best one for your particular pet’s problems. Acupuncture also helps prevent reoccurring ear infections because it change energy flowing through ears, the tendency to itch, and improves the digestive system’s ability to handle food without developing allergies.

Make your pet happy
Your pet hates reoccurring ear infections and does not want to be one of the millions that returns to the vet’s office so often that ear infections are one of the top 5 pet problems. You have the ability to help your pet heal. Go for it. Make hot, painful, stinky ears a thing of the past.