Okay so for those of you that don't remember...

Callie started scratching her ears, A lot. She wimpered every time she would scratch them. I bought some ear solution and cleaned her ears and it did not help. I finally took her to the Vet and the Vet said he could not find any signs of earmites but he would give her some medicine anyway. I put Eradimite in her ears everyday for 2 eeks like the Vet said. While I was giving her the medicine she had a lot of dark brown stuff coming out of them and I would clean out the visible gunk in her ears. The two weeks were up Saturday and now her ears are starting to smell. She is not scratching at them anymore but the smell is AWFUL.

What's going on here?

An infection. Gunk and a bad smell nearly always means an ear infection. Big problem in Labs. The more hair, the more common. Back to the vet.

The only time my dog's ears did that was when she had an ear infection. This has happened to her twice in 4 years it was the same ear both times. Did he say it was not an ear infection? Also I wonder if dogs ears are like baby's in the sense that sometimes it is hard to see in their ears to determine if there is a infection. They also took a swab of my nene's ears and there was brown gunk on the swab. He prescribed a ear cleaner, and ear drops. The infection was cleared completely in 2 weeks. Also the pink part of her ears was really rough and scaly he said this was normal with a ear infection. Also nene would lick her paw and rub it on the inside of her ear, also she started shaking her head as if something were stuck in her ear and she was trying to dislodge. Maybe this will help if your baby has the same symptoms. Also I am eager for someone to tell me if a vet would have difficulty seeing in a young dog's ear.

I have been to the Vet 4 times in the past 6 weeks, is there a possibility the Vet isn't doing what he is supposed to. I have mentioned her ears 3 of the times (once he looked with the light, and the other 2 times he used his bare eye). I don't know if I'm being too critical because she's my baby or if he's just not doing his job. What do you guys think? Is it time to switch Vets?

Smell is an important tool too. This is the very sort of question I like to see DocWill answer. I find it disgusting that somebody would pit their personal experience against his training and research.

Maybe not in this thread, but you and Fr_Chuck sure laid into him when you were dead wrong on weaning kittens. You seem unable to accept there are people here with far more training and experience than you.

An example of personal experience over training, https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cats/greedy-mum-when-weanng-kittens-95761.html

I know that with my lab it did take sometime for the infection to clear up. We had to do three rounds of medicine before he was better. It was not our fault, just the way it was. I would give the vet another chance, and this time ask him to look in her ears with a light.

If you are not pleased with the services after that, look elsewhere.

Labman No go back and read the kitten thread he called me a drunk I think he laid into me and I defended myself... he seems to have gotten past it so why don't you try to follow Doc Will's lead and do the same. And stop sliping snide comments into threads that don't belong mr. moderator.

Yes labman you are right the dog food comment on my part to you was a bit defensive. I have went back and read the post. I will give you that much. But I have tried to be agreeable not because I am sucking up to you but because I respect a lot of what you say. Now get over it and I will feed my dog's what I want and you do the same, by the way I intend on trying pro plan since you rave about it so much.:) peace

So, I should go back to the same Vet? :confused:

My opinion is on post #7

Love. If you are comfortable with the same one go back to him... it may not have been an ear infection at first but developed into one during the weeks after you saw him. Private message doc will and ask him since he hasn't seen your post. Just to be sure.

You know, I am really getting tired of this back and forth stuff on someone else's thread. This needs to stop. Now. We are not children for goodness sake. Get off the personal track. Please.

Iluv, what is your gut telling you about the vet? Do you like him/her? Do you think that he/she wasn't being as attentive to the situation as you would like? I hate guessing that the vet might not be doing the job since I wasn't there. But, if it were me, after 3 attempts, getting medication because I seemed to be a bit of a pest, would kind of piss me off. I have switched vets a few times because I didn't like the responses and attention I received. I love my current vet. A lot of people don't like him but he is perfect for me. So, I would say to you, that it can't hurt to switch if you aren't happy. Whatever you decide, your dog needs to see a vet again because there is an infection and medication is needed to clear it up. Let us know what happens honey.

I really wish DocWill or at least some of the vet techs here would answer on this. If this ear problem has been going on for awhile, I can't say if the vet should continue to recheck with the light each time or not. With some of the ear infections my Labs have had, walking into the exam room would be enough to tell. I even tell people whose dog has an odor problem, to check the ears.

If he didn't check smelly ears with the light, it may be time to find a vet that will. Disregard any of this DocWill disagrees with.

Thanks Ruby. At first I thought it was normal, I had many friends recommend this Vet and since this was my first VET experience I just thought I was being harsh on him. I've spent $100 now on visits over her ears and it just seems to be getting worse. He is the only Vet within 45 minutes, which is why I ultimately chose him, I wanted someone close JUST in case, but that closeness obviously isn't the most important factor.

Labman, her ears didn't smell the last time I took her, this just recently started. The last time I was just asking about the brown gunk and he said that it was earwax and the earmite medicine was making ti come out. I think he gets annoyed with me (lol) every time I go in there I'm always like "OH yeah AND", "Also she ___", "Is it normal for___"... I might be a little worry wart but if I'm going to pay for the visit I'm going to ask everything I can. What do you think Doc, would you have security escort me out of your office? :p

I know the feeling Luv. We usually choose the ones closest to us for emergency reasons. It is pretty standard and actually a necessity when they are few and far between. I have the same problem. Maybe this vet is good and he just missed it or the infection only recently developed. He is only human after all. I am sure if you called his office and explained what is going on, they will take you as soon as possible, and he will give you the appropriate meds. But, go with your gut, as I said. If you don't feel he has been as attentive and caring as you would like, see if you can find another one in the future. My only concern at this point is getting your dog the right medication as soon as possible. DocWill has evidently been busy and logs on when he can. He would probably tell you what meds your dog needs but he can't examine your dog or give you the prescription you need. He can only confirm what your vet diagnoses or suggest what to ask your vet for as far as meds and diagnosis. So, I wouldn't wait around. Call your normal vet, get this taken care of, then start looking at what other vets are a reasonable option for you. I think this approach would make the most sense at the moment.

bushg agrees: light... my vet has never used this what is it?

Since I am not a vet I can't give you the technical term, but my vet used what looked like a pen light to look down Max's ears. Maybe Dr. Will knows the technical term

It is called an otoscope or ear scope. I am surprised your vet has never used one on your dog bush. It is pretty standard when there is a question as to ear issues.

I am changing vets for sure now... because the last time we went he seemed to be to short with his keep her on steroids attidue for life. With out proper testing.(although he did run a test on the brown gunk). I wasn't happy with that and now to know that he should have been looking in my baby's ears with a light and did not take the time is uncalled for. I was going to wait on changing vets until their annuals were due. But maybe I should do it now.

My opinion is in a private message LuvMy

OK well then answer this is it possible for a vet not to be able to see back into a young puppy/ dog's ears esp. a toy. And determine if there is an ear infection... I know this happens with very young human babies.. just wondering Doc. Thanks in advance

CBC, smear, and visual conferm ear infections.


CBC = complete blood count

You can smell an ear infection from another room lol. Luvmy since you have a long haired cross breed you need to make sure that the hair down in her ear canals are being plucked frequently. You can do it yourself or if you don't feel comfortable doing it your vet will. Yes you can determine that it is an ear infection just by smell and sight, but you can't determine what KIND of ear infection it is by just sight. Good doctors will get out the otoscope and take a look down in the canal and see what's going on in there. They will take a swab of the ear w/ a q-tip and look at it under a microscope. The ears will be flushed and cleaned and a antimicrobial/antibiotic cream will be put in the ears and the dog sent along the way with the same ear meds. If your vet kept scripting out ear mite stuff with out even looking at her ears w/ a otoscope then you need to see another vet. You can see ear mites w/ an otoscope, but not with the blind eye, ear mites are real uncommon in dogs they do get them though. You need to also watch her amount of shaking her head. Excessive shaking her head and scratching at it could cause an aural hematoma (google it lol), j/k, it basically happens when a dog scratched then shakes the head and causes a vessel to break and you have a nice little pillow of blood for an ear. Which then leads to a surgery. Keeping her ears clean can cut down on the frequent ear infections also. Just by getting a paper towel and wiping it out occasionally helps a lot. Keeping them plucked, cleaned and shaved will work nicely :)

If doctors don't take the time to asses all the symptoms and make a diagnosis, ESPECIALLY after the treatment isn't working then it's not worth your time and money to keep going to him/her.

Um, not sure if your puppy dog's ear is better at this point just thought I would add the plucking and junk in there though. Hope her yucky ears get better I know ear infections can be pesky devils to control.

Go back to the vet. It could be serious. Can she still hear?

Just a little update:

I took Callie to a new Vet. She was wonderful. She taught me how to pluck the hair from her ears and how to clean them properly. She also gave me the correct medicine for her ears (to keep the bad bacteria away). Thanks for all the advice.

Thanks for updating us Luv. I was wondering what was happening to your little cutie pie. Sounds like everything is finally under control. :)

There are tests that should be performed on the junk coming out of your dogs ears.A sample should be placed on a slide,and then stained with a dye.When put under a microscope,the type of bacteria growing inside can be detected.This sounds like yeast to me,because infection usually is not brown.These test are not expensive, so call your vet to see if he does these test.If not, find one that does.Yeast is very common,and can spread,so can infection. Sometimes ,both can be hard to cure,good luck.

I have an american bull dog and she has and had brownish gunk coming from her ears and the vet said it was a yeast infection and I should clean her ears with half white vinegar and half water. Mix it in a bottle and keep cleaning them. It might be what your dog has, from your description.