Dog's Ears and Yeast

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Is there anything oral a dog can take for these darn yeast infections of their ears??

Trying to get drops into Maggies ears is NOT happening. If we're extremely lucky, we can get them into one ear (usually the better ear). Never two in the same day. Not happening. I've never had a dog that I couldn't get to hold still for such things, until now. Squirm yes, this all out acting as if we're going to kill her turning into the mexican jumping bean wiggle squirm monster.....no. Usually once they discover it doesn't hurt and they get a nice food reward, I have no real issues. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is convincing Maggie even when the vet caught this last one just as it was beginning to develop and it hadn't reached the sore stage yet.

She's been getting yogurt everyday for a week. She loves it........and I do mean loves it. It doesn't seem to be helping. Do I just need to give it to her longer?

They give oral antibiotics for people, so why not dogs? Or do they but they try this first? Cuz at this rate this poor lil girl is going to have the never ending yeast infection.

Oh, and if the drops are next to impossible.......the really good medication that comes in the tube of salve....forget it.
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
It has been many years so I don't recall what the medication was, but I adopted a cocker spaniel named Buster when my kids were small. Older fella that was dumped at a rescue after major neglect. Cancer, and infections that developed as yeast in his ears, spread to his paws (from ear digging from untreated ear infection) and spread to his skin all over his body and his poor weeping eyes. Vet figured it had literally been YEARS. No amount of drops for his ears were "the answer", plus obviously we had to treat the entire body and paw pads. So Buster was put on a series of oral medications as well as drops for his eyes and drops for his ears and a topical cream for his entire body and his paw pads. I'd call the vet that prescribed the job and request a oral medication under the circumstances. Most vets will just write it up for you to pick up for cost of the medication without a new cost for a consult because you've already paid the consult for the current issue.
 

buddy

New Member
Does she let you pet her ears? would she let you put any kind of cream while you are petting her or is it just too uncomfortable? I constantly play with my dogs ears and feet because I worry if I need to do that. But if pain is involved I am sure it is a whole different story. Poor thing. Nothing like trying to get medications into a pet who does not want it!
 

dstc_99

Well-Known Member
First make sure the yogurt you are giving her has active bacteria in it. You can find that info on the side of the container. A lot of yogurt is not made with active bacteria and therefore no amount of it will help with a yeast infection. I would call the Dr and explain that you need an oral medication because of the difficulty.
 

buddy

New Member
Quin was always itchy and one thought was yeast overgrowth in his entire body. He got the same medication drops that you give babies who get thrush. The nurse practitioner said they often give it to kids with autism who seem to be more sensitive even if test results are within normal limits. It really helped. I hope there is a liquid medication for him like that. It was so easy to give, kind of banana flavored. He loved it. Took it for years.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Thanks. I figured you guys would know if there was such a thing. :) I'll call the vet tomorrow and ask. If I can't get the darn drops into her ears, then it's just wasting our money anyway.

The yogurt is active bacteria, I double checked to make certain.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
My pet first aid says brewers yeast or apple cider vinegar in the food, a probiotic (you can sprinkle a little of the capsule into her food depending on her weight), and prednisone is helpful in reducing the inflammation. I'd get an oral antibiotic from the vet. Izzy just had a wicked bad ear infection.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I would get her on probiotics asap but if it is a yeast infection antibiotics are the worst thing you can give her. They will make the yeast thrive. Make sure she gets no sugar. Yeast live on that too. I know this is gonna sound strange but I would bet she can take the same pills we can take for yeast...diflucan. She might have to take a few of them to clear her up completely. Maybe 1 a week for a couple of weeks. Then I would give her the probiotics daily.

Then because this has happened so often with her, I would do something strange. I would buy me some of that powder that has the jock itch medicine in it...same medicine as for womens yeast infections...and just put a tiny bit on her ears at least every few days and blow it slightly inside her ears with a hair dryer on cool setting to make sure her inner ears stay pretty dry. She is getting these because her ears are dark, warm and there is something for the yeast to feed on. You need to take that away.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Does she have heavy floppy ears with lots of fur inside?
That style of ear is much more prone to ear infections...
Some vets say to trim the hair away from the ear canal, to let more air circulate.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well.......after having raised basset hounds........to me her ears are floppy but hardly there at all. LOL Sort of hairy because her fur is long. I doubt seriously she'd hold still for a trim if I can't get drops into them though. I can stick her most favorite food right at her nose......and it doesn't help.

To be honest, I'm not so sure we cleared up the first yeast infection. She felt better with no obvious symptoms........but we were having no better luck getting drops into her ears then than now. So if she did get over it, her body did it all by itself. Maybe we got just enough drops into her that it cut back on the number of bacteria but didn't wipe them out.

I'm not sure yet whether this is going to be an ongoing issue or not. I think she first got it off of Molly.......by cleaning Molly's ears, which Molly actually enjoyed and I did my best to discourage. I can't prove that but since Molly had issues once in a while.....seems reasonable. I think it we could truly get it cleared up she might not have it again.

How is brewer's yeast going to help a yeast infection?? Somehow that just doesn't sound right. LOL (might work, but sounds odd) Shoot at this point I'm about to go out and buy a quart of buttermilk except I'm pretty certain it would cause diarrhea.

Antibiotics can cause a yeast infection but not all of them do, plus there are those who are more susceptible to yeast infections than others when taking antibiotics. I can take them and have never had an issue. Poor mother in law just looked at an antibiotic and she was downing buttermilk by the quart to get rid of the yeast infection that never failed to show up half way through treatment. It probably is similar in dogs unless their physiological make up is a bit different. Vet gave Molly a really powerful one that knocked it out every time. Molly also held still so I had no issue getting it into her ears either.:crazy2:
 

flutterby

Fly away!
If it's a yeast infection, it's yeast in her ears - not bacteria. She would be on an anti-fungal medication, not antibiotics. Good bacteria keeps yeast growth under control. Antibiotics kill all bacteria - both good and bad - which is why they can cause yeast infections.

If it's not a yeast infection, but just a regular (bacterial) ear infection (which is what mine have always had - I've never had one with a yeast infection in the ears), then they can prescribe antibiotics, but in my case it was always pills and drops.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Flutterby is absolutely correct. Antibiotics will always kill all bacteria both good and bad which is why they can leave it open to yeast infections. If you have never had one, you are very lucky. I have always had them with some antibiotics, not others, and one antibiotic I only have to look at it and I get a yeast infection in both my mouth and down below.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
Here is a very good link to natural methods of clearing a yeast infection from your pets body...also just great general information about yeast. Brewers yeast is one of two yeasts acceptable to treat an overgrowth of yeast in the body.

http://www.alternativepets.com/allergies.html

**Read the note about using yogurt as a means to get probiotics into your dog. Because its made with dairy, it's not the best method, which is why you may want to use probiotics capsules instead. Also, I meant to say anti-fungal in my earlier post, not antibiotic. Depending upon which type of infection it is, your vet would give you one or the other. Izzy had an anti fungal ear wash with pain relief as well as a very low dose of prednisone for a few days to relieve the itching until the anti fungal worked.
 
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