Dog problem

[Artha]

So a few minutes ago, I bent down to pet my dog, and noticed something wrong. Upon closer inspection, her ears were all swollen (one a lot more than the other). I checked up online and saw that it was pretty likely a hematoma. What I'm wondering is if anyone else's dog has had a problem like this and how did it turn out?

[Divinity]

If it's red and swollen looking, it's probably a yeast infection. That was the case my dog had anyways. You pretty much have to scrap out the ear and use ear wash every day. There is an oil that you can use to help them feel better and break down the infection.

The ear wash and ear scrapper you can get at pet stores. The oil I got at the vet, as well as the meds needed.

Might want to try that out first.

[Brattt8525]

Is the dog shaking its head alot? That is one of the reasons for the swelling and usually means an ear problem IE mites, accumulation of dirt/wax. My vet pulled the fluid out via a needle and prescribed some stuff for her ears along with daily cleaning of them.

edited to add the dog is a lab and the vet said dogs with hanging ears can have problems due to no air getting to the inside of the ear <moisture> can lead to problems.

[Edited on 5-23-2005 by Brattt8525]

[Sean]

Bratt covered everything I had to do with my lab when her ear swelled up. The vet drained the fluid out and everything was better, never the same but tolerable but my dog was also really old when this happened.

Sounds like a hematoma. It's a bunch of blood and other gross liquid chilling there. Gotta take the dog to the vet and get it operated on. Very simple proceedure tho

- Arkans

[Artha]

Yeah she's probably going to go to the vet tomorrow. We also have a puppy that bites at her ears a lot, I haven't really noticed her shaking her head but that might be it. We gave her some tylenol so hopefully if they were bothering her they aren't now.

Glad to here it's not a huge deal.

[Apotheosis]

I dunno why, but I hear feeding a dog bakers chocolate solves lots of problems.

[Divinity]

Originally posted by Yswithe
I dunno why, but I hear feeding a dog bakers chocolate solves lots of problems.

You're flawed.

[Artha]

I don't think slow, painful death is a good solution. But I might just be naive.

[The Cat In The Hat]

Are you all sure the chocolate thing isn't a myth?

Friend of my mom's eats chocolate constantly, and he always feeds it to his dog (I just found out about this when I saw him giving her m&m's and freaked on him)

She's healthy as can be, and hasn't died yet, aparently he feeds her about the equivilent of a chocolate bar a day.

[Gan]

What Bratt said and yes, hanging ears are always more suseptable to problems than fixed ears. We always had wax and mite problems with our saints, we just kept mite drops in the refrigerator and made sure they stayed clean.

The main thing that gave mites away was the smell, it was a strong waxy smell but sickly sweet.

Only feed your dog chocolate if you dislike it and you want it to die. It has been known to have very scary reactions and anyone that does feed a dog chocolate needs to have their pet taken from them.

- Arkans

[Killer Kitten]

It sounds like a hemotomato. The vet can surgicate it, and if your vet is really good the ear can emerge with very little cosmetic damage.

I'd probably give both dogs ears a good reaming out with mineral oil, very inexpensive at any drug store and a great ear cleanser. I'm not sure what over the counter remedies are available for mites, but if your vet has a product called Mitox that one works really well with one or two applications.

I'd avoid giving your pet human medicines like Tylenol without first checking with your vet, and never ever give Tylenol or aspirin to a cat.

Bayer asprin (the lowest dose) is very safe and acceptable for your dog.

- Arkans

[Wezas]

Chocolate is not a myth.

Also if your puppy is biting at it's ears alot (or shaking them) he might have allergies. Other signs are constant licking of their paws (front and back).

My dog has bad allergies. Every morning I get out 4 Claritin. One for me, 3 for her (she's a big dog).

My dog constantly licks at his feet and does have allergies. Before he developed a heart problem (very common in boxers) we used to give him small doses of Benedryl. Worked wonders.

- Arkans

[Artha]

Update if anyone cares.

The dog's pretty old (10 or 11 I think), so the vet didn't want to surgically drain her ears, so she's on a medicine treatment which will hopefully work. It's the same stuff they gave her last time her lupus was acting up (poor thing just can't catch a break), so hopefully it'll work on her ears too.