Ear infection

[GavTheMighty]

Seems Marley got hit with a load of things at once, He had a few little bumps around 3 of them on his head about 7 weeks back so I kept an eye on them they dried up died left a few patches then the fur grew back all was good again around that time I had switched Marely to raw food and I almost felt that everything cleared up due to his diet, he is still on raw and doing well in fact doing better then I have ever had him since I brought him home.

So only other thing was he has been scratching at his face a bit mostly one side so I kept an eye out and concluded it has something to do with his ear I checked the ear and yeah a lot of black/brown gunk cleaned it out but it looked a little red and raw in there thing is it's always that particualr ear that gets mucky and quickly not the other was wondering if I should take him to a vet?

Also after the bumps went on his head one more showed up a few days ago very small raised bump small as a pea but like the 3 he got before and then I found what looked like a tick on his face. I dont have a lot of experience with Ticks he got one or what I think is one close to when I first had him and one now it just looks a bit like a blood blister sticking out I thought ticks looked a little different even if they had eaten so to speak? Anyway I have removed that and he seems ok.

The thing is a lot of these thing seem normal..........ish........ so to speak as in the ear thing is supposed to be common with floppy eared dogs, the tick I can just keep an eye out and use the appropriate flea/tick treatments as normal and well as for the little nodule on his head or the ones he previously had dog acne? is that only on or around the mouth or can you get that on the top of the head?

Would you all think nah time to go vets and get checked out or hey lets give it a week or so and see how this pans out? I get worried sometimes over the smallest things especially when it comes to my dogs I love them to bits so I wanted advise outside of my head so I knew i wasnt being irrational basicly.

Thanks Gav.

 

[musicdeb]

Gav, I'm not an expert but I can tell you that Titan gets yeast infections in his ears. He has brown guck in his ears and they are red. I clean his ears with a mixture of alcohol, white vinegar and water which helps clear it up. I have no advice about the bumps. Titan also gets yeast infections on his skin which is flaking, little bumps, and can loose hair. Titan has been RAW diet since 1st of March 2012. His skin started to improve about 70% and then about 3 weeks ago his skin started to get bad again. I bathe him once a week and started using a anti-bacterial, anti-fungal shampoo which helps his skin a lot.

I'm sure one of the experts will give you some great advice.

 

[angelbears]

I don't know about ticks, so I can't help there. I would keep an eye on the ear, keep it clean. The bumps could be acne, don't pop them. Maybe dab them with witch hazel or something similar. Unless he starts showing other symptoms I wouldn't worry.

 

[dpenning]

what ratio of water, vinegar and alcohol do you use? I used to use that years ago but have forgotten how to mix it!

 

[angelbears]

Actually you could use the ear solution above for the zits. The bumps could be insect bites in witch I would still use the solution on the.

 

[Marrowshard]

Tick bites shouldn't raise bumps like that and an attached tick that's fed is ... um ... pretty unmistakable. Think pale yellowish or reddish butt all inflated, possibly to the size of a grape. Not sure if you guys have to worry about Lyme over there, but if your dog's picking up ticks you'll want to use some kind of repellant. We use PetArmor, personally, and although we've got a fair number of ticks around here we've yet to find any on the dog.
Small bumps could be acne, allergies, maybe mosquito bites.
With regard to doggie acne, what kind of food bowls do you use, and how often do you wash them? Don't use plastic; go for metal or ceramic and wash often. I know some people wash the dishes every day, we do ours about every 3-4 days and haven't had any acne issues.
Even though you're on raw, you can still hit allergies which can cause ear goop and hive-like bumps. If a dog's allergic to chicken, feeding it raw that's also chicken might not eliminate allergies.

~Marrow

 

[GavTheMighty]

Tick bites shouldn't raise bumps like that and an attached tick that's fed is ... um ... pretty unmistakable. Think pale yellowish or reddish butt all inflated, possibly to the size of a grape. Not sure if you guys have to worry about Lyme over there, but if your dog's picking up ticks you'll want to use some kind of repellant. We use PetArmor, personally, and although we've got a fair number of ticks around here we've yet to find any on the dog.
Small bumps could be acne, allergies, maybe mosquito bites.
With regard to doggie acne, what kind of food bowls do you use, and how often do you wash them? Don't use plastic; go for metal or ceramic and wash often. I know some people wash the dishes every day, we do ours about every 3-4 days and haven't had any acne issues.
Even though you're on raw, you can still hit allergies which can cause ear goop and hive-like bumps. If a dog's allergic to chicken, feeding it raw that's also chicken might not eliminate allergies.

~Marrow

Well see now that is the debate, Is it a yeast infection which is common in any dog with floppy ears or an allergy or mites or as you said I was wondering if it was chicken the only thing I can say is his poo has been firm since raw (mostly chicken) and he seems bouncy, happy etc no signs of anything bad. But then how can I be sure without testing? I do always feed out of stainless steel bowls and we do wash often. Oh one relevent thing in this discussion the 3 bumps orginally were on his head before switching to RAW and they vanished fairly fast he now just has had one small one come up?........

We do use a product for fleas and ticks and it used to be only available as vet perscribed untill recently but I think it isnt doing the job so will change to another well known brand.

You say unmistakable but I could be catching these very early Im very anal about checking the dogs over but Im not experienced with Ticks so I dont know what a starting to inflate one would look like or could I be mistaking it for a skin tag? Because this looks like a very small balloon that is almost flat filled with blood?

 

[ruby55]

Our dogs get mosquito bites often. We're in a hot humid climate. The bites feel like little bumps. If the bumps aren't around the muzzle I wouldn't think they're acne.

 

[musicdeb]

what ratio of water, vinegar and alcohol do you use? I used to use that years ago but have forgotten how to mix it!

Hey Dawn, I mix it in a spray bottle and spray it on cotton balls to rub in the ear. The solution is: 2.5 oz of alcohol, 3 oz of white vinegar, and 2.5 oz of water.

 

[Marrowshard]

What species of tick have you got there? A tick should still have visible legs down near the skin since it's just the abdomen that inflates with blood. If it pulled off easily, you should be able to see squirmy little legs and the abdomen has a lobe-like shape, kind of narrow up top near the head and fatter at the butt. Like this:


Ear infections are generally yeasty, but may also be bacterial or a combination. If it's bacterial you might need antibiotics to kick it, but yeasty ears (unless they're severe) are usually manageable. The black gunk will have a smell to them: kind of sour and unpleasant but not gaggingly rotten. One of the things about food allergies is that they can cause more frequent yeast infections than you might otherwise see. It was one of the first indicators with our old BM: persistent yeasty ears with a ton of gunk. Her poops and energy levels were fine, but super-nasty ears can indicate a mild food allergy. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of raw diet are you feeding?
Ear mites are easy to confuse with ear pigment, at least that's the case with our EM. The insides of his ears have dark brown/black speckles and spots in them, but they're actually in his skin, not on the surface like a mite cluster. Basically, if you gently pick at the black spots and they don't come off, it's probably not mites.

~Marrow

 

[GavTheMighty]

What species of tick have you got there? A tick should still have visible legs down near the skin since it's just the abdomen that inflates with blood. If it pulled off easily, you should be able to see squirmy little legs and the abdomen has a lobe-like shape, kind of narrow up top near the head and fatter at the butt. Like this:


Ear infections are generally yeasty, but may also be bacterial or a combination. If it's bacterial you might need antibiotics to kick it, but yeasty ears (unless they're severe) are usually manageable. The black gunk will have a smell to them: kind of sour and unpleasant but not gaggingly rotten. One of the things about food allergies is that they can cause more frequent yeast infections than you might otherwise see. It was one of the first indicators with our old BM: persistent yeasty ears with a ton of gunk. Her poops and energy levels were fine, but super-nasty ears can indicate a mild food allergy. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of raw diet are you feeding?
Ear mites are easy to confuse with ear pigment, at least that's the case with our EM. The insides of his ears have dark brown/black speckles and spots in them, but they're actually in his skin, not on the surface like a mite cluster. Basically, if you gently pick at the black spots and they don't come off, it's probably not mites.

~Marrow

Hmmm I'm starting to think it isnt a tick he has got but that will mean he has had something twice once on his back and now on his head.........well the ear has been much better I have cleaned it 2 days running and the redness has gone but it does still gunk up or start to pretty fast but he isnt scratching at it like he was and it does look a lot better. Does this mean I have to clean out his ear everyday for the rest of his life? Lets not for get also it is ONE ear not both one always remains clear the other always gets dirty I was told by one person this is because like in humans ears dont sit perfectly the same on both sides and it might be that one ear sits in such a way as to be almost air tight allowing the bactiera to flourish does that sound plausable?

Kind of Raw diet well the kind I basicly see posted around just meat, like half a chicken in the morning, half in the evening, the odd pig trotter thrown in sometimes pork belly if I can get hold of it and once a week Liver oh and sometimes I give a few lamb heart or beef heart and kidney.

 

[Marrowshard]

Lots of variety in the raw diet, so if he's allergic to something you might not catch it. Normally, you shouldn't have to clean a dog's ears every day unless there's an infection. If it's possible, I'd say try to run his diet for a couple of weeks on just 1 or 2 sources, completely cutting out one (no chicken whatsoever, or no pork) and see if it gets any better. If it does, he might have a mild food allergy.
Keep the ear as clean as possible without irritating it (gentle cotton balls or swabs, never scrape or dig too deep) and consider limiting the raw diet, at least for the time being, to see if it's dietary. Have you noticed a particular smell associated with the gunky ear?

~Marrow

 

[musicdeb]

When Titan's ears are red, I have to clean them everyday for about a week, then it clears up.

 

[dpenning]

Thanks!

 

[GavTheMighty]

Well the ear has almost totally cleared up from just a bit of cleaning so I will drop back to cleaning it maybe every 3 or 4 days but the redness has gone and Marley looks much more perked up and has stopped scratching. The little bump hasnt spread like last time where he had 3 of them and also seems to be in recession and the tick/unknown mark seems to also be going after I removed whatever it was so I guess all is good in Doggy land for now. I will keep a close eye on things though and see how it goes.

Im quite pleased in general for the first time Marley seems to be doing so well on Raw and he is starting to bulk out a bit and not have that borderline starved look he has had since I got him as a puppy. He is a couple of days away from being 9 months old and I estimate to be around 95 lbs and 29" tall at the moment. He is going through a little fear / protective phase at the moment a bit jumpy on a lead which isnt helped by the few times I lost my temper when he hasnt come when called. (I often feel its me that needs more training than Marley) And he has started being quite protective at times especially of the wife and unknown situations like a young lad was carrying a ladder the other day and approching the wife and he did not like that at all starting barking and growling and standing up to make himself large which of course scared the young lad witless lol.