:::papetvet::: (if you're still up... I need advice!!)

mamaholic

I just got back from taking my beagle/basset hound to the vet for her annual check up/heartworm test. I mentioned that the yeast infection in her ears keeps coming back so she did a swab and said it is really bad. She sent me home with a bottle of "Conofite Dex 1% Ear Solution". She said to use it twice a day for 14 days and then come back for another swab.

So I get home and put it in her ears and she starts shaking her head violently and runs over to her bed and starts rubbing her ears on it like she's trying to get it out. How her ears are soaking wet and she is just laying there with this pitiful look on her face and she wouldn't even take the treat I offered.

Does this sound normal? I just hate to see her in pain! 

erpetdoc

Yes, I am still awake.  I thought I was going to bed early, but I cleaned the  bathroom and now am still awake! 

Beagle/Basset ears are tough....but if she has just a yeast infection, what the vet gave you should work out okay.  If they cleaned her ears at the hospital, it could have created some mild abrasions in her ears if they were really infected, and the dex in the solution could sting a bit.  I usually find that with the yeast infection, there's a combo bacterial infection.  So, my personal favorite solution is Conofite/Dex/Baytril in the ears....and I use 0.5 mL into most dogs ears twice daily for 14 days. 

Did she give you an ear cleaner to use in conjunction with the medication?  If she did, I would try cleaning gently tomorrow before medicating, and then continuing medication.  For ear cleaning (it's hard to describe in words), I tell clients that the best way to do it is to apply the cleaner to a 4x4 gauze square until it's soaked.  Put the gauze square in the ear, fold the ear flap over, and squeeze the outside of the ear flap.  This in turn squeezes the solution soaked gauze pad, and gets the cleaner down into the ear canal where it needs to be....does that make sense? 

I hope she feels better tomorrow.  I am at the hospital ALL day tomorrow, but will be around tomorrow night.  

mamaholic

She swabbed her ear to get a sample to test under the microscope. I am not sure if she "cleaned" them though. She didn't give me anything to clean it, but I am starting to think there might be something else in addition to the yeast infection because the first medicine she gave me a year ago worked when I used it but as soon as I stopped it came back. She just kept telling me to use the medicine again.

erpetdoc

Recurrent ear infections=next step is to culture the ear debris and find out specifically WHAT is growing in there. If a concurrent bacterial infection, you could have a resistant bacteria complicating things. I do think ear cleaning is essential. You have to have a clean-ish surface to effectively start medicating, imo.

mamaholic

Ok I will call and ask her about that when they open this morning. Thanks! I just felt like they weren't looking into it as much as they should since it keeps coming back!