Many pets are prone to ear infections. Either, due to breed (spaniels and retrievers) ear confirmation (floppy eared dogs,) or chronic diseases such as allergies and thyroid disease (other undiagnosed for months or years.) Regular use (daily or several times a week, and always after bathing or swimming) Dr.’s Herbal Ear Wash can help prevent or reduce the need for ear treatments at our hospital.
Ear disease is a common problem we see quite often in our patients. This is a photo of a dog taken under sedation for diagnostic testing and treatment. This pet’s ears were oozing a dark foul-smelling liquid. As the ears were cleaned under sedation, large amount of inflammation was noted in the eat tissue.
While we are able to diagnosis and treat ear infections in many pets without the use of anesthesia or sedation, pets like this need sedation due to the painful nature of their infection. Our goal is to be able to cure the infection with 2-4 weekly treatments. However, an ear like this might take several months of testing and treatment to get to the root cause of the problem before it is cured.
In most cases, ear infections have an underlined cause. Sometimes the cause is quickly identified, and sometimes the cause is only revealed after extensive testing.
This case has been very expensive for the owners and is another reason we recommend pet insurance. “Nationwide wellness plan” is the insurance and plan we recommend.