I have a 160 lb Newfie that has had an ear infection in one ear for months now. After 3 trips to the Vet at 45.00 ea and over 350.00 in Rx antibiotics, it is doing nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions on other treatments for this? We are running out of funds to keep taking him back there.

Maybe vet needs to do a culture of the ears, more money, but feel sorry for dog and owner.

http://www.dogster.com/search/?cx=pa...=ear+infection

A board member posted this site a while back. I searched "ear infection" and it lead me to this page. Maybe someone there can help.

Having owned four Saint Bernards I am very familiar with your issue. Dogs with floppy ears are prone to infections as the ears do not dry well. In order to keep my Saints from the infections ( after learning from many re-occuring infections) , I dry their ears with leftover cotton batting. I dothis on a fairly regular basis or when ever they have gotten them wet , particulary after a bath or swimming. There is also a salve that is a sulfur base that I used periodically , squirting about 1 tsp into the ear canal and massaging it in.
I also notice a tendancy to have ear wax build up. I can usually tell because they "flip/flop" their ears back and forth a bit more than normal. Keeping the ear wax out is important as it traps the moisture in the ears and promotes bacteria growth. If the wax issue is a constant they sell a ear cleaner ( its blue ) at any pet supply , I squirt in a few table spoons and then massage to break up any build up and remove by using cotton batting scraps , working the batting into the crevises.
Once I really caught on about the water in the ears and periodically cleaning them I was able to keep the infections at a minium. If I senced there was a bigger problem on the verge ... I used the sulfer ointment a few times in a day and problem averted.
Oh one other thing .. when ever they are sleeping I flip up their ears so they can "breathe" that really seems to help alot.
So .. keep the ears as dry as possible.. bacteria just love the moisture. I know Newfies just love the water!
I was so greatful I had a vet that had four Saint Bernards ( yes at one time) of his own and was very familar with giant floppy ear dogs and their issues.
Hugs to your big fuzzy one!!

I would defintely ask the vet to do a culture before he gives you any more antibiotics. Our Dalmatian got frequent ear infection, treated him with antibx, repeated. Finally a culture showed it was a yeast infection in his ears. The treatment: (are you ready?) Monistat vaginal yeast cream!! Yep, got it at Walmart and used it in his ears for 7 days and they cleared right up. Don't use this unless you get it cultured but it's worth mentioning to your vet. Good luck!

When I took my dogs of grain based kibble, their ear problems cleared up. Turned out they were allergic to wheat gluten.

I had this same issue with our Golden retriever. She would get one if she slept on her left side too much..always the same ear!

I learned how to wash/dry and keep that ear clean. The vet gave us a bottle of ear wash stuff...

after the first year of vet trip, after vet trip, we managed to keep them down to about 2 a year..and always caught them when they started so they did not get too bad.

The RX he gave us for her was kept in the fridge and was good for 3 years! I just through it out last month(she died in March), or I could have given you the name of it!

I would definitely check with your vet before trying this on your dog - but if he has a problem with ear wax build-up, hydrogen peroxide will dissolve the wax. You can use a cotton ball or q-tip dipped in the peroxide and swipe it around the ear.

This would be my suggestion as well. I don't feed my dogs any grain.

My dal suffered constant ear infections until put on a grain free diet. Made a big difference within a week. The food may be expensive but will save you $$ by not going to the vet so often.