Sores in ears?

[caffeinated]

Hi all - I have a year and a half year old pup, Chullainn, who developed a few sores on the inside flaps of his ears a couple of days ago. We contacted our breeder who suggested that we put hydrocortisone and neosporine on the spots. This seems to be helping a bit, but we don't know what caused these raw spots in the first place. Has anyone else ever had this happen? We clean his ears regularly and hadn't noticed any wax buildup before this happened. The sore spots are small and a couple of them still ooze a bit, but the spots don't seem to be getting any larger or increasing in number.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Jo Ellen]

Has he been scratching his ears?

Try some Gold Bond medicated powder, extra strength. Sprinkle it into the palm of your hand and then lay your hand on the inside of his ear flap ... this will minimize the powder cloud, don't want to get it into his eyes.

The powder will relieve the itching and help the sores to dry and heal. You can do this several times a day.

Once you get the sores under control, then you're going to need to figure out what's making it happen. If he's scratching his ears, you need to find out if he has an ear infection? Is he allergic to something? His food maybe? What are you feeding him?

[caffeinated]

We've been feeding him ProPlan since he was a puppy and he's never had any sort of problem like this before. We noticed the sores at my in-laws this weekend, the day after he had a stressful night (we tried to put him to bed in another room and he wasn't having it) so we thought at first that maybe they could be hives? Of course, we have no idea what hives look like or if they can ever get this bad.

He was shaking his head/scratching his ears the first day that we noticed it, but with the application of the hydrocortisone, that's stopped.

[johnwa]

we thought at first that maybe they could be hives?
.

Could be. They result from an allergen. And that allergen could be anything, including but not limited to flee dermatitis. They could become inflamed if the dog is scratching them. Antihistamine like Benadryl can be used to treat them. The Cortisone is also fine. If that's what it is, they should heal on their own with the aforementioned treatments. 9 times out of 10, owners generally don't know what caused the allergic reaction in the first place.

A few things to also check for:
If there is constant shaking of the head, pawing at the ears, discharge in the canal itself, there could be an infection in the making or in progress. If yes, have medical check the inner ears out. Ear infections (if that's what it is) can be tricky to treat. And it's best to find out about them sooner rather than later.

Would you please let us know the status of your dog?

[caffeinated]

So far things seem to be looking better - especially in one ear. Looking down into the ear, the outer canal is clear and not at all inflamed. I think we're going to keep putting on the hydrocortisone and if the areas do not show marked improvement in the next few days, we'll take him into the vet.

Luckily the head shaking and pawing at his ears has only happened right after we put the cream on, but that lasts a few seconds until he gets used to the feeling - then it's right back to biz as usual!

The rest of his demeanor is as perky as usual and other than his dislike of us putting the cream on his ears, you'd never know that there was anything going on.

[Duke's Mom]

So, how big are the sores? The size of a pin head, match head or bigger yet?

The reason I ask is that I noticed a few spots the size of a pin head in Duke's ears. He wasn't shaking his head, but scratching at his neck - trying to get to the inside of his ear from his neck I guess :p

Anyway, did take him to the vet, even though the ear wasn't red or smelled or anything like that. He had a RAGING infection and as johnwa said, was very hard to treat. She took a swab and there were like 3-4 different bacteria in there. It was contained to the very inner part of the ear and we were concerned for his long-term hearing.

He's fine, but I'd get it checked out (might be an alarmist here, though). There are other ear infections than a yeast infection and they don't smell - at least Duke's didn't.