Over the past 6 weeks, my 3 yr old toy poodle (6lbs) has had itchy ears on and off. It started with both of my poodles on the same day. They both had very itchy ears, and kept us up all night scratching. 3 days later, I took the female to the vet to have hers looked in, and they said they only needed to be plucked. I have heard varying opinions on plucking and had decided that as long as her ears stayed clean and dry and I made sure that the hair didn't ball up inside the ear, that the plucking could be done less often. However, that day I had both dogs ears plucked. This helped for a bit and I followed a few days later with Gentian Ear Treatment in both dogs. This seems to help the male, but the female's ears continue to bother her on and off, so I started using Ubavet Ear Solution from the vet. It apparently is supposed to balance the ph in the ear and help prevent yeast infections, etc. This also seemed to help, and if I started to see signs of her itchy again, I would shoot that into her ears and they would feel a bit better. The vet says that I can use this several times a week.

One month ago, my female also had an abscessed anal gland. It took two separate types of antibiotics, over a period of one month to clear it up.

Talking with the vet last week when I was there to check her anal glands, there was discussion regarding allergies, which I think might be related to the itchy ears as I cannot seem to eliminate it. He feels that it is likely an inhalent allergy, not food. He says that only 20% of allergies in dog is related to food... can't she be the 1 in 5? Anyway, suspecting allergies even before visiting the vet, I eliminated all of the dogs treats and put them back onto the same food they were (Innova Evo) on for all of last year, with no problems. My thought was that if it is a food allergy, we will eliminate everything extra, and try to see if only eating that food clears the ears up. Once I do this, how long would it take before I saw a change in the itchy ears? Is it 8-10 weeks before the symptoms should subside? If this food change and treat elimination does not help, do you have any suggestions?

Is it common to have a dog at the age of 3, suddenly get allergies?

Doing a bit of Google research, I also suspect my female dog could be full of yeast? Does anyone have any information to help me figure this out?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

First of all, leeboy, good post on your doggy problems, very thorough follow up. Sometimes itchy ears can be caused by mites, although I don't know why that wasn't an option the vet thought of. As for anal glands, my poodle mix a few years ago had to have your anal glands expressed by the vet. Sometimes that's why female dogs 'scoot' a lot along the floor or grass. As for the yeast, well, I haven o ideas about that as yet. Will do some research though for you.

Thanks for your response. When I was at the vet last week for anal gland follow-up, I was shown how to express them at home, so that I can do it at least once a month. Hopefully this will keep that problem from happening again. This was the second time it had abscessed and burst... very painful for her. If we have any more problems with the anal gland, even with me expressing them frequently, then we may have to have them removed, which I would like to avoid if possible.

I had originally asked the vet about ear mites (6wks ago) and they said it was very uncommon.. usually would only get them from cats, which I do have two outdoors... that vet didn't seem to think this was it, and just wanted to pluck. Is there a way I can tell if she has mites without having a little ear light and microscope? Even the vet I saw last week (different than the other visits) didn't really even look in her ears... just assumed allergies to an inhalent of some sort... I'm not sure I have much faith in vets, as the last 3 I saw, in the same office had different opinions and views on these issues...

I look forward to seeing what you can find about the yeast, thanks for your help!

I have a yorkie/ poodle mix. He's 10-yrs-old, 4 years ago he had the same anal proablem, but he never got it back again, I just knowdest the red spots on his ears yesterday and he won't stop shaking his head. Did you ever find out yet what this was?
p.s. if you haven't figured it out yet, I know for a fact that it most likely wouldn't be ear mites, unless you cleann their ears with Q-tips and their was dark red/brown, dryed up blood.

You might want to start your own question thread, teddybear. This one's been inactive for a year and a half.