Tuesday was Gambler’s Annual Veterinary Visit. He was due for a couple of vaccinations. So in the car and off to work with me for the day.

First was the weigh in….he was 68.4#.

Then Dr. Mary examined him.

My what nice teeth you have Gambler, just a little bit of tarter.

What’s this a ear infection? Mom has been a bad mom and hasn’t been keeping a eye on Gambler’s ears nor have I been cleaning them. None of my other chessies have ever had a ear infection, so this is a first for me.

When it looks like the ears are infected we will take a q-tip and take a swab of the material in the ear to look at under the microscope to see what is causing the infection. The main culprits we are looking for are bacteria (cocci & rods) and yeast. Sometimes if the infection is really bad you will find white blood cells that are there to try and clean up the infection. Usually adult animals don’t have ear mites unless they come from a shelter, we will see them if they are in there. You can see in the background a white and green apparatus, that is a fecalizer a apparatus that we use to run fecal floats with. We mix some fecal material with some special fecal float solution and let it sit. After about 10 minutes we take the coverslip off that we put on top of the apparatus put it on a slide and look at it under the microscope. We are looking for intestinal parasites like roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and coccidia. Today Gambler’s fecal float was negative for intestinal parasites.

This is a picture of the ear cytology we did on Gambler, the little mr. peanut looking guy is what we call yeast. He had a mild yeast infection in his right ear. The left ear was fine. We treated his right ear with a medication called BNT which is a compounded medication that has a mixture of antibiotics that is placed in the ear and left in there for 2 weeks. Nothing needs to be done while the medication is sitting in the ear. Makes treating a ear infection nice since you don’t have to put daily medication in the ear, you don’t have to clean and the dogs like it because you aren’t futzing with them. Yeast infections happen when water gets in the ear and the warm moist environment they start to grow. Chronic ear infections when yeast is present can be a sign that your dog has allergies. Hopefully for Gambler this will be a one time deal.

Routine maintenance is after a bath or swimming clean the ears out with a ear cleaner that is PH balanced and has a drying ingredient in it. Ears should be cleaned on a as needed basis if there is debris in the ears. If a dog has chronic ear infections then once or twice a week cleanings will help cut down on infections.

Taken from www.veterinarypartner.com

DERMATOLOGY
By Carol S. Foil, DVM, MS, Diplomate A.C.V.D.
Board-certified specialist through the American College of Veterinary Dermatology

Otitis Externa

Otitis externa is an inflammation or infection of the external ear canal. Bacteria, yeast, ear mites, and allergies can all cause otitis externa. Addressing this problem involves four steps:

1. Thorough cleansing, of the ear canal.
2. Application of medication into the ear canal.
3. Correction of the underlying cause.
4. Allowing your veterinarian to re-examine the ear until it is cleared.

Use _______________ ear cleanser _____ times a week.
Follow with _____________ ear medication ______ times a day.

Ear cleansing and medicating instructions:

Apply cleanser to ear liberally as shown or by soaking a cotton ball and placing it in the ear.

Massage into ear canal by gently massaging the base of the ear.

With a cotton ball over your fingertip, wipe the accessible portion of the ear clean. Let your dog or cat shake out any excess. Clean the same portion of the ear with a dry cotton ball once again. Repeat if necessary.

DO NOT INSERT COTTON SWABS INTO THE EAR CANAL. Use cotton swabs only to clean the parts of the ear you can actually see.

Apply the medication after cleansing and drying the ear.

by Dr. Carol S. Foil, DVM, Diplomate A.C.V.D.
and Dr. Sandra R. Merchant, DVM, Diplomate A.C.V.D.

photographs courtesy of WSU website 

Date Published: 11/3/2003 1:09:00 PM
Date Reviewed/Revised: 08/05/2013

The rest of Gambler’s exam went well. No problems were noted. He received his DHLPP, Bordetella and Lyme vaccination. He will have his ear rechecked in 2 weeks to make sure the infection is gone along with another exam for his health certificate for traveling to Canada at the end of the month.