Ear Problems

[karin hamlin]

Hi everyone, Karin here. I am pretty new to the group and just love all the info I get. I am a first time Frenchie owner but have been around dogs all my life. My mom has owned a Boarding Kennel for over 20yrs and I had to put my Dobie of 10 yrs down last May:(
Anywho, my little Lola has been a marvelous little girl. We had several health issues when I got her but most have been healed and resolved. Except her ears. They seem like they are going to be a continual problem. They get so waxy and gunky. Her vet has me put Otomax in them when they get real bad. Not infections yet but I think that is only because we stay ontop of it. I clean them every other week with a tea tree oil ear wash but then all of a sudden they are gross! Is this a common problem? I have not read about that one.
I appreciate any input!
Karin and Lola Belle

[Trish]

Sounds like she is getting yeasty ears, a very common problem with French Bulldogs.. the yeast can also effect the folds around their nose and eyes, and also in between their toes. A lot of it has to do with her diet.. are you feeding her a quality, grain-free kibble? Most of the time they can be allergic to a protein source in their food (beef, chicken, lamb, etc.) which can cause them to have ear problems, or they can be allergic to a grain in their food like rice, wheat, corn, barley, soybean meal, a lot of the common cheap fillers that the less quality dog food brands put in their food.

Some quality commercial brands are :

- Wellness Core
- Orijen
- Solid Gold
- Natural Balance
- Fromm
- Nature's Variety (Instinct)
- Blue Buffalo

If you're unsure of how your dog food ranks, visit the web-site www.dogfoodanalysis.com >> click on Review and Ratings, located on the top of the page, to the left of the Bulldog >> type in the brand name of your dog food next to the Search button, and then click Search. A list of the foods that are made by the brand name you feed will come up, and most of them have a written review at the bottom that you can read, or you'll notice a 1-6 star ranking on the food, 1 is the worst and 6 is the best.

Oh - and almost forgot to add.. even with feeding a more quality food, French Bulldogs just have more sensitive ears that are prone to infections, but feeding a quality kibble helps reduce the chances of them getting an infection. Louie has never had an infection since we've had him (he's 2 years old) but I clean his ears out about every other day. I just use an alcohol-free, unscented baby wipe, to wipe out his ears, and I also have the ear wipes that they sell at the store.

[karin hamlin]

yep, i know about foods. she is eating orijen. her wrinkles are fine too, now. but she does lick at her toes but they are never red or inflamed. i think some of that may be habit. when i got her she had domodectic mange?, worms, fleas, double ear infections and we found out later she has spina bifoda of the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae. she was eating dog chow at the time and she was 7mos. old. needless to say she was an itchy little critter. but now all that has been taken care of and the ear thing is the only other issue. i guess i will try to clean them more often. its just weird that they are clean one day and the next i look down there and they are a mess!!!! i have had her since july and she has been the biggest blessing after loosing my dobe and i knew about most of the health issues these little cuties get during my research before i picked the breed but i dont remember coming across the yeasty ear thing. can alittle yogurt help with this you think?

[Trish]

Orijen is an excellent food, are you using the original formula or the fresh fish? Sometimes using a food with fish instead of chicken or turkey can help as well. Yogurt tends to work as a probiotic and helps aid in digestion but could also possibly help with the yeast.. just make sure she doesn't have a dairy allergy otherwise she'll end up with diarrhea from the yogurt. I give mine yogurt and cottage cheese on occassion and they both love it.. make sure you buy the plain organic yogurt, because it has the live active cultures that are great for their stomach.. plus most of the flavored yogurts have a sugar substitute in them which can be toxic to dogs.. you can buy a large container of the plain organic yogurt from your grocery store for only like 5 or 6 bucks.. don't use too much, only a few spoonfuls is plenty. Yeasty paws and ears is common in the breed, and can also be caused by environmental changes, like when the seasons are changing.. right now Louie's eyes are starting to get more teary and he is licking his paws more. I think you are right about her paw licking becoming a habit, if she likes to chew on things you could buy her some antlers or nylabones and try to redirect her to chewing on one of the toys when she starts licking to try and get her to stop the habit. Might also want to pick up some malaseb wipes, you don't have to get them from the vet, you can get them online, and you can use those on her ears. My Boston has the same problem with her ears, if I don't clean them every other day they get really gunky even though I clean them really often.

[karin hamlin]

i am very hesitant to change her food. it took her months of loose stools to get her used to the origen. thats after the 2 mos. i took to change her over. i would certainly be willing to try the ocean fish formula but i worry about her sensitive tummy????? what is malaseb? have you heard of the supplement "missing link"? has omega3s and is suppose to help support a healthy digestive system. a doberman rescue reccomended it. they use it for dogs that have come in with demodectic mange. kind of like vitamin c to keep your immune system healthy. i give lola 1 tsp a day. the vet told me that her mange was something that we may struggle with throughout her life. kind of like eczema. she can still have flare ups. so far so good though.

[Trish]

I'm a firm believer in, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", if she's doing well on the food you have her on now, and she is having nice looking stool (funny to think you can refer to poop as being good looking.. lol.. too much time around dogs!!) then I wouldn't attempt to change anything. My vet also recommended the missing link, when I talked to him about our Boston having dry skin but after looking at the ingredients I saw that the second ingredient was rice bran and the third ingredient is primary dried YEAST.. and then further down on the ingredient label, it lists two more types of yeast, and when I saw that there was no way I was giving it to my dogs.. Orijen already has a lot of vitamins and minerals already added to their food, and contains a probiotic to support a healthy digestive system, but it doesn't hurt to add the yogurt.. and another way to add their essential omega 3's is by giving them human grade salmon oil, you can get it in caplets and squeeze it onto the food, they sell it in a pump as well but it has to be refrigerated and if the food sits out long with it on (as in, a few hours) it will go rancid, or you can use a cold fish oil - human grade fish oil from caplets if you can find it would be best. Make sure that it is fish oil and not fish liver oil - they are not the same thing and fish liver oil is not great for dogs. There is a powdered Vitamin C supplement for pets called Xtra-C.. I'm not sure how big your girl is but a 20 lb. dog would get 1/8 tsp. once a day.

I agree with the vet, once a dog has had any type of mange be it the demodex or the sarcoctic mange, there is a large chance they're going to battle it many more times in their life.. all mange is, is skin mites, that all dogs have.. but when a dog has a compromised immune system, it allows the mites to take over, and causes a lot of problems, and its hard for a dog to ever build up the same kind of immune system that a normal dog would have, so they often have relapses of the mange, unfortunately because it prays on low immune systems, but adding supplements and things like that (which you are trying to do) helps lessen the chances of the mange coming back.

[karin hamlin]

ok, so no more missing link? salmon oil in a pump? is it a people supplement? and maybe start with just a tsp of yogurt til i make sure she has no allergies? what were the malaseb wipes you were talking about? what is your feeling on too much protein. origen has over 10% more than most of the other grain frees. can she get too much? or is that just for some larger breeds? i fed my dobe half origen and half chicken soup for the dog lovers soul and he did so great his last few years. i just want to make sure i dont over do it. you know? vets are so little help when it comes to diet. i really love the whole dog journal and they do an annual food review which is really helpful and are really helpful in learning how to read ingredient labels.

[Trish]

If it were me, and it was my dog, I would discontinue the missing link.

I don't think the Orijen has too much protein, if she is having firm stools than the food is not too rich for her. Orijen (and so does the Wellness Core) has too much protein for a growing puppy, because there is so much calcium in the food, it causes rapid growth which causes joint and bone problems in puppies as they mature, especially large breed puppies, but with her already being an adult, none of that should be a concern, French Bulldogs tend to stop growing around 12 months of age, but still continue to fill out until they are 2 1/2 to 3 years old, especially males.

This is the salmon oil in a pump that I was talking about, and you have to make sure it is wild salmon oil.

http://www.k9power.com/wholistic_salmon_oil.php?gclid=CJqtgvmw6JgCF...

http://www.healthypetboutique.com/servlet/the-5/GRIZZLY-WILD-SALMON...

Here are the malaseb wipes:

You can order them from either of these sites.

http://www.vetmeddeals.com/malaseb-pledgets-60ct-p-117.html?osCsid=...

http://www.allivet.com/Malaseb-Pledgets-p/25595.htm

You're right about the yogurt, just start with a tsp until you don't see any negative reactions and then you can start to increase the amount, but even when you see that she can tolerate it, I still wouldn't give her more than a few spoonfuls with each meal.

I also enjoy the whole dog food journal, there's always a lot of good information in it.

[Tatiana]

Sounds like the food isn't necessarily the problem here... The fact is that pretty much ALL French Bulldogs require weekly ear cleaning and some dogs are just more prone to having gunk... I would cease using tea-tree oil as it's actually quite harmful to dogs and just apply an ear-cleaning solution from the veterinarian or one of the local pet stores that sell all-natural / non-toxic products... One thing that reduced the actual ear gunk was switching to the monthly all-in-one topical (monthly) preventative called Revolution by Pfizer... Instead of having to dispense separate flea / tick and heartworm preventatives, this one happens to also prevent ear mites and sarcoptic mange... It made a HUGE difference... I used to go through swab after swab and tons of Q-tips trying to clean my dogs' ears (even though they never actually had infections or mites of any kind) and now I do cursory cleanings each week and there's hardly any gunk... Good luck, whatever you decide : )