my dog is shaking and scratching his head. Thought it was fleas but none on him. Ear mites
Does Joey have any discharge from the ears or is there an odor?
no discharge or odor
Ok, thank you. Ear mites typically create a lot of dry, flaky debris in the affected ear. Mites are also uncommon in adult dogs. It is more likely that Joey either has an ear infection deep in the ear canal or he may be having some itchiness from allergies. Ear infections are best treated with topical medications from your vet. Allergies can be treated with Benadryl: the dose is 1mg per pound of body weight. If you try the Benadryl and it doesn't give Joey any relief, I would recommend that you have your vet check his ears for infection so that we can get him started on the best treatment for this.I hope this helps, please let me know if I can answer any other questions.
so before i used the olive oil mix his ears were dry and flaky....so allergy? What causes infection. little low on cash right now, pretty much why i thought i coud get help this way any over the counter remedies
Dry and flaky can indicate a bacterial infection. Ear infections in dogs are usually secondary (caused by) allergies. Unfortunately, not everything has an over the counter fix. You can certainly try to do things like rule out food allergies on your own (I will discuss how in a second), but there simply aren't any safe, effective OTC treatments for ear infections. Further, if you don't know what you are treating or if the ear drum is intact you can do a lot of damage by using the wrong things in the ear. Here is how you can try to rule out food allergies at home:
To rule out food allergies, you need to feed what we call a "novel protein"--most food allergies in dogs are protein related, so he may have an allergy to chicken or beef, for example. There are some over the counter diets that are novel protein (meaning something Timber has never eaten before), like venison, duck, rabbit, etc. You need to feed nothing but that (no treats like milk bones or anything, as these often have chicken/beef flavorings) for several weeks to see if he starts responding.
Of course, depending on how bad the ears are, he may need topical treatment for them, but if you can safely clean them with a small amount of peroxide on a cotton ball--do not put anything directly into the ear canal!
Thanks for the info and your time. Sorry i am just getting back to you my computer had a problem.
No problem. I hope he feels better soon!