Treating an ear infection...

Ok, so I know Sage has an ear infection starting in her left ear due to her seasonaly allergies...I'm guessing she's getting a little yeasty
So instead of going to vet and getting a prescription for Ottomax or some other ointment I'd like to treat it myself. She's never had any ear issues before but I've heard you can cleanse the ear with water/vinegar mix. Just wondering if anyone has experience with this. What part vinegar? What part water? Can you really use alcohol too? (read that somewhere) Also do you completely flush or simply swab/wipe them? Thanks guys!

Have you heard of Blue Power Wash?

Herschel used to get really gunky ears when he was a puppy. We took him to the vet, paid $50 for his ears to be swabbed and checked for mites, and bought a $12 bottle of Vet Solutions Ear Cleaner to clean them out. The stuff cleaned out all of the gunk, but Herschel cried while we were doing it and obviously hated the stuff (he ran when he saw the bottle). We cleaned them every other day to keep on top of things. After two months, we saw no real benefit. The solution didn't treat the problem, it just cleaned gunk out.

Then, I saw a post on here for Blue Power Wash. I was extremely skeptical and my girlfriend almost denied me from using it. It seems kind of sketchy, the ingredients are hard to find, and the website listing it is hokey, to say the least.

Well, Herschel has perfectly clean ears now and I swab them out once every month or two. Even after he gets wet he doesn't have any problems with scratching at them and they don't smell at all.

It sounds unbelievable, but here it is:
http://itsfortheanimals.com/BLUE.HTM

Try a Google search for "Blue Power Wash" and you'll see that people all over the place swear by it.

Thanks! That sounds like exactly what I need. I'm having a hard time finding out where I can order and how much it is. But I found a site that shows you how to make the mixture yourself. What do you think...

http://www.epiphanymastiffs.com/blue_power.html

The only way you can get it is to make it yourself!

I had a hard time finding the ingredients locally so I ended up ordering them online. I bought all of that a year ago and I have enough left to make at least 2 more bottles.

oh haha! I thought you could buy it, now that I'm reading over your post again I see you said the ingrediants were hard to find...woops. Which ones were the hardest to find?

Gentian Violet

Alright, well I will do a quick search around here but I have a feeling I'll be going the same route you did. Thank you so much for the advice herschel

So Herschel...Sage has been on the Blue Power ear wash for about three days now...2x a day. I've totally mastered the art of flushing her ear (she was NOT having it the first few times) Just wondering how long the treatment will take to show SIGNIFICANT change. So far alot of gross colored gunk has been comming out and she hasn't been itching it near as much. It's a little more red and inflamed looking though(maybe the alchohol just irritating?)

Also wondering why dogs can get ear infections in only one ear, especially since I thought this was yeast from her allergies. Wouldn't it affect both?

bump bump

Personally I like a vet to diagnose the problem and go from there . Could be mites, wax , or anything ! Ollie had an irritation that only needed a wash and then ointment . Now if he seems bothered ... I repeat and it's gone in a day .

I don't know why it is, but my vet says it's pretty common. My Lab mix, Beauty, has allergies that cause her left ear to get inflamed. Once that happens it is very easy for yeast or bacteria to set up an infection, so I've learned to flush her ear at the first sign of a problem. That way she never gets to the point of needing vet visits and meds anymore.

Sorry, I totally missed this!

In about a week you will notice that the gross colored stuff stops coming out. Don't stop washing! Continue with the entire series and by the end of one month, you should be good to go.

Are you heating the solution up before you give it to her? That will help a LOT with the discomfort. Herschel ran from the Vet Solutions stuff but he just accepted his fate with Blue Power Wash.

Good news....I can totally see an improvement now! The gunk is comming out less and less and she's barely itching them at all. This stuff is like magic! I do heat it...well I put the squirter in a a cup of warm water to warm it to at least to room temp. I've come up with a system which involves wrapping her in a towel nice and tight so she feels secure..placing her on her back in between my legs with her ear facing up toward me, covering the rest of her face with the towel and then filling up her ear canal and rubbing for 60 sec. Then she shakes it all out and runs around all stoked. I feed her breakfast/dinner after so she knows something good comes out of it. On Friday it will be a week of doing it 2x a day. Then I start with once a day right?

I just want to thank you again for telling me about this stuff Herschel, I totally avoided the vet and she's doing great. I love that

You're very welcome. I learned about that stuff from Chaz, too. I was so skeptical but it works better than anything!

Just stick to the schedule exactly as it is written. We don't even think about cleaning our dogs ears anymore--we just do it whenever we remember and no more than once/month.

I came online just to say that I would never consider a home remedy if I thought my dog had a true ear infection. that needs the immediate care of a vet. sorry, but the 'washes' are great for cleansing......NOT for home infection treatment. I suspect you think you've cleared up the problem, but IF..IF it is a true infection you haven't. it is inexpensive to take your dog for this type of problem. go to the vet, please.

Gunnar will get a kind of crusty ear from time to time. He'll scratch at it, then that causes it to get inflamed, then it'll itch more, he scratches more. A bad cycle.

I wash it out with some vet type wash, clean it real good with moist towelettes, and then use bacitracin ointment. It takes about 2 days to clear it up this way. I'm not sure if it's an infection though, more likely just irritated from dirt and stuff from playing.

DanL, I do the same...those shepherd ears are sticking up like radar for dirt. BUT, I'm saying IF this is a true infection, it needs vet checked. if/when the dog shows signs of distress or pain, it is in need of immediate medical attention. a person or dog can have a bacterial infection without pain, but that doesn't mean it isn't serious. I'd just like people to understand the difference between cleansing gunk out and suspecting an infection is present. to the original poster.....why did you first suspect it as an 'infection'? were there other signs, like shaking the head side to side? or holding the head at an angle? or seeming to be off balance? THAT is what needs medical treatment. IF you just think it's gunky dirt build-up, then state it as such.

I notice when this happens to Gunnar, he will keep that one ear cocked to the side.

I agree debbie except that I know it's just a build up of yeast from her allergies. It's not painful to her, just itchy and bothersome. The wash isn't exactly a JUST a wash, if you go to the link herschel gave me earlier in the thread, the ingrediants inculde an intibiotic antifungal that does a great job with killing bacteria especially from yeast. If it was a sudden and painful ear infection that I had no idea the cause, I'd take her to the vet. But this stuff is amazing...no joke.

Bump for visibility.