Ear infections

I have a dog with re-occurring ear infections. The vet gave me a prescription and it worked for awhile. Even thorough cleaning and drying they kept coming back. We used some of the vet's monthly and then weekly medicines. It would keep them at bay but eventually would flare back up. I was spending some $$$ back and forth. I met this holistic pet owner and she gave me the following recipe with this explanation. 16oz. of isopropyl alcohol, 2 teaspoons of boric acid and 10-12 drops of gentian violet (1%). The alcohol served as a carrier and readily evaporates. The boric acid lowers the ph to prevent further growth. The genetian violet serves as a topical. I used it. 5-7 days of daily usage cleared the last one. A weekly squirt in each ear. It has been over a year since he had any ear issues. Ever heard of such a concoction? EWO

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Originally Posted by EWO

I have a dog with re-occurring ear infections. The vet gave me a prescription and it worked for awhile. Even thorough cleaning and drying they kept coming back. We used some of the vet's monthly and then weekly medicines. It would keep them at bay but eventually would flare back up. I was spending some $$$ back and forth. I met this holistic pet owner and she gave me the following recipe with this explanation. 16oz. of isopropyl alcohol, 2 teaspoons of boric acid and 10-12 drops of gentian violet (1%). The alcohol served as a carrier and readily evaporates. The boric acid lowers the ph to prevent further growth. The genetian violet serves as a topical. I used it. 5-7 days of daily usage cleared the last one. A weekly squirt in each ear. It has been over a year since he had any ear issues. Ever heard of such a concoction? EWO

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Sure, many of these are standard remedies and glad to hear this one seemed to work for you, so thanks for sharing your successes. (I personally have used water, vinegar, Nolvasan, and tea tree oil with good effects.)

Normally, the first step with any chronic ear infection (that won't go away) is to identify what, exactly, is wrong.

Is it mites?
Is it a yeast infection?
Is it a Pseudomonas bacterial infection?
Etc., etc.

Only after you truly identify what the problem is can you then formulate a serious plan of attack to get rid of it once and for all :idea:

So, with that said, has anyone actually identified what the problem was (with a culture & sensitivity test), or has the problem always been dealt with via "catch-all" ointments/drops/remedies this point, "hoping" that whatever the problem is "gets covered" by the catch-all remedy?

Jack

PS: If the problem stays gone, I guess it doesn't matter, but if it comes back I would get a culture done to identify the offending pathogen.

ok heres something i know a LITTLE something about lol.....

as far as treating the ear infection itself:

you can use the recipe that you posted only i would use the wintergreen alchohol instead of the white. and i would add a little tea tree oil to the mix.

when buying all those products its gonna cost you approx 15-20$ which would yeild a lot more solution. which is the way i would go personally.

if you dont wanna deal with the mixture itself you can go to your local petco and get the "nature vet" or "natural remedy" brand ear flush for about $10.

whichever mixure you go with, (if you mix yourself use a catchup/mustard picnic bottle), flush the ear 2 times a day for about a week or until he stops shakin/tilting his head....

that combined with a cycle of amoxicillin have cleared up all of my ear infections i have had to deal with.

just a warning: right after you flush..run as far away as possible cuz they shake like hell!


you want to also find the cause of the ear infections.........when i worked for a corperate pet store, 9x/10 the cause was due to the dogs diet......everybody wants to blame the grains but MOST of the time it wasnt the grains at all but rather the protiene source in the kibble.....id find what u have it on, check the protiene source if its beef, try something less rich like chicken, if its chicken, try something like fish, ect....

like i said most of the time thats what it came down to......there were those few times where i scratched my head and just said "take it to a vet" lol......

i didnt realize that jack posted on this topic before i did, id take his advice lol..............

and i completely forgot to mention the ear mites which is a strong possibility if those ears stay moist or if your in super humid climate,......they sell remedies for that also......

the culture indicated the yeast infection. I forgot to add that. After the prescription medicine ( i think i have some left and i will post the name) it would clear and I pretty much used all the over the counter things I could find to keep them clean but all to no avail. I tried the water, vinegar and tea tree oil but never added the Novalsan. The alcohol, boric acid and the genetian violet have kept his ears good to go. Just wondering if anyone used something similar. EWO

yeah ive used the mixture....works well..

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Originally Posted by CRISIS

you want to also find the cause of the ear infections.........when i worked for a corperate pet store, 9x/10 the cause was due to the dogs diet......everybody wants to blame the grains but MOST of the time it wasnt the grains at all but rather the protiene source in the kibble.....id find what u have it on, check the protiene source if its beef, try something less rich like chicken, if its chicken, try something like fish, ect.....

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This is a very good point. Diet plays a huge role in a dog's health.

When my old dog was a young dog, she had some troubles with itchy ears but when I changed her over to a mostly raw diet, her ears cleared up.

So if you can feed raw or at least some raw, that should help too.

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Originally Posted by EWO

I have a dog with re-occurring ear infections. The vet gave me a prescription and it worked for awhile. Even thorough cleaning and drying they kept coming back. We used some of the vet's monthly and then weekly medicines. It would keep them at bay but eventually would flare back up. I was spending some $$$ back and forth. I met this holistic pet owner and she gave me the following recipe with this explanation. 16oz. of isopropyl alcohol, 2 teaspoons of boric acid and 10-12 drops of gentian violet (1%). The alcohol served as a carrier and readily evaporates. The boric acid lowers the ph to prevent further growth. The genetian violet serves as a topical. I used it. 5-7 days of daily usage cleared the last one. A weekly squirt in each ear. It has been over a year since he had any ear issues. Ever heard of such a concoction? EWO

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I had a post about ear infections. I was giving this same recipe. Never tried it.