[Dailydrool] Ears and allergies

[Pamela McQuade]

Poor Schroeder. Itchies are not nice, and any dog can become allergic to anything at any time; it's not something that happens at a certain age. And a dog can become allergic to chicken or any other meat.
 
Begin by eliminating chicken from his diet. Check your treats, dog food, and so on, to make sure there's no chicken in them. If the food has chicken, switch to another, chickie-free food as quickly as reasonably possible. It may take a little while, but you should see some improvement. (I think one vet told me it can take up to six or eight weeks or so for the animal to fully get the allergen out of its system.)
 
Itchy allergies and ear problems are often connected. I believe this is what's happening with our foster Holly. She has itchy paws that we treat with Benedryl, but we are also constantly treating both ears, which each have different infections. The ear infections are often secondary to the original allergy problem.  Sore ears get broken-open areas that are easily infected.
 
You will need to treat this all together, both allergies and ears, to have real success. Treating ears can be a long process, but don't give up. Regular treatment can work, if the dog will let you gain access to his ears. You may have to become somewhat firm about this, and avoid listening to yelping. Holly makes a big fuss sometimes about my putting the cleaner into her ears, but they have greatly improved with my treating them. Sometimes she even yelps before I can get the cleaner in her ears, so I am sure it's just fear, not real hurt.
 
If a medication stops working, get back to the vet as soon as you can. You may have to go through a few medications to find one that really works. If a few are not successful, you may need to have a test to find out which medication will be most effective. But hopefully you will quickly get this problem under control, and Schroeder will soon be back to his old happy self.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets