If your dog suffers from recurrent ear infections, lend us your ears and rest assured: there’s lots we can offer to help!

Recurrent ear infections are not only painful for the poor pet, but can also become frustrating, expensive and time-consuming for owners to deal with. Here are some of our experienced team’s recommendations for the management of those ear infections that just keep coming back.

Proper treatment, each time:

Each ear infection should be treated promptly, ideally with a microscopic check of your dog’s ear goo to identify what type of bacteria or yeast is involved, so that we can pick the most appropriate medication. We may also recommend for your pet to have a follow-up check to ensure that their infection has resolved.

Effective ear cleaning:

For dogs with ongoing or particularly nasty ear infections, we may recommend a general anaesthetic for a more thorough ear examination and clean. Many pets are just too sore to allow a proper clear-out of all that yucky ear discharge while they are awake. Unfortunately, ear treatments will not work as effectively if your dog’s ear remains full of gunk!

Allergy management:

Many dogs with recurrent ear infections have an underlying allergy that is triggering the issue. For dogs with recurrent ear and/or skin problems, we will often discuss a plan for allergy diagnosis, such as a hypoallergenic dietary trial. Once we work out a pet’s trigger, we can then recommend longer-term management options to help reduce flare-ups.

Specialist referral

In some cases, affected dogs may benefit from referral to a specialist for more advanced treatment, such as surgery on an irreparably damaged ear canal or testing for environmental allergies with a view to starting immunotherapy (a series of injections to gradually reduce these sensitivities).

For more help managing recurrent skin or ear issues in your pet, reach out to our knowledgeable team.