Holistic support for dog on antibiotics?? Help!

[Baloo317]

Baloo has one ear that is very much not happy right now, he has actually progressed to the point where there are sores inside it.  :-[  The other ear is fine.

I have tried the two topical medications that I have available from last summer's ear issues, and a holistic formulation as well.  :-\

I'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow, and I'm thinking that she will put him on oral anti-biotics, more than likely clavamox.

Is there anything I can give him for support? Should I add pro-biotics or will they just be destroyed by the anti-biotis or vice versa?

*help*.  :-[

[Fallriver]

Have you tried Canestan or Monostat? Works like a charm as normally it is yeast in the ear.

[Fallriver]

Also, oral antibiotics are overkill in ear infections. I would use Surolan first, a topical antibiotic cream that works very well. Try the Canestan first though.

[Baloo317]

I don't think it's yeast, he's had yeasty ears before and it wasn't like this.  :-\

I don't know what this is. He has oozy, yellowy sores (about 3-4 of them) inside his ears, along with the dark gunk. I was cleaning his ears a few times a day for the past 3-4 days to fight the gunk and then I saw the sores and have stopped, and will wait for the vet to tell me where to go from here. The sores look like they must be really painful.  :-[

I did try surolan, as well as panalog, and neither have helped at all. (those were the two I had left over)

[brody]

dark gunk can be ear mites ...

poor dude and poor you

the vet will look at the gunk under the scope and look for mites - if it is mites he won't need antibiotics .. but will get one of a few different topical solutions to kill them

keep us posted...

[millstonekennel]

I find that Zymox works great. If oral antibiotics are needed I would use FortiFlora with it. I have one of my guys on this along with cephalexin for a nasty infection.http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com....aspx?prod=244

[YellowJakesMom]

I don't have anything holistic to add but wanted to say it sounds like Baloo has the same thing Jake had - really sore, red, blackish gunk. Jake got sores because his ears were so irritated from being cleaned and messed with so much, but I had to clean them because they were so dirty and sore :-[ We tried Otomax and Surolan with no results, the dermatologist didn't seem to care for Surolan.

She gave me a solution of Miconazole 1% (conofite) with dexamethasone in it as well. He needed the topical steroid to get the inflammation down so the medication could actually get down his ear canal. It worked like a charm when nothing else did - and no oral antibiotics! His ears have been clean as a whistle ever since. I hope Baloo feels better soon, bad ears really knock them down huh?

[jlab]

I've had to deal with this also. Like millstonekennel, the zymox worked well for me but you need to get the zymox with hydrocortisone. The zymox part is a light oil that penetrates and gets rid of the dark gunk. The hydrocortisone heals the sores.

My experience has been that they get this by all the outdoorsy stuff our labs do, in the dirt and swimming and getting small amount of water in their ears. My holistic vet recommended putting a few drops of caster oil in their ears before any swimming as a preventative.

The solution yellowjakesmom used also sounds like it would work well. Let us know what you ended up doing and how well it worked.

[Baloo317]

bad ears really knock them down huh?

Totally. :-[

Poor little dude had started shaking his head today, and really holding that ear funny. Our appointment is for 11:00 tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[YellowLabProject]

Ditto Conrad.
Yes Kate, keep us updated and hope Baloo recovers fast.

Doug