Canine Chronic Ear Infections: Phoenix’s Story

Ear infections in dogs typically secondary to another underlying condition—most commonly allergies.

Unless addressed, chronic ear infections will continue to worsen as the tissues change due to the condition.

Thank you, Brook, for sharing Phoenix’s story.

Chronic Ear Infections in Dogs: What You Need to Hear

Phoenix’s story

Phoenix is a fourteen-and-a-half-year-old male yellow Labrador Retriever. I received him from the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides when my first guide retired.

Phoenix and I bonded quickly and became inseparable within months.

He attended my final year of high school and then guided me through my Bachelor of Arts degree.

Phoenix was always a great worker and a wonderful companion, but he had one worrisome issue, constant ear infections.

Troublesome ears

For as long as Phoenix’s puppy raisers could remember, he has always had problems with his ears.

They told me that they had to clean them at least once a week. It was because Phoenix had at least two infections during the year they fostered him. When we were matched, they showed me how to clean his ears. They told me that I needed to purchase an ear cleaner and continue the weekly cleaning regimen.

Phoenix’s chronic ear infections

I did not realize that Phoenix would end up getting almost bi-monthly infections. Typically, he’d get major ones in the spring and fall.

For the first five years, his vets just treated the symptoms, which usually meant antibiotics and Surolan.

But, after having watched me pay the same amount of money each visit, my now husband, suggested we try looking for a different vet to care for him. Phoenix was about seven and a half at this point and had severe infections a little more frequently.

A new vet, a new plan

It didn’t take long with the new vet to have a new attack plan proposed.

After the second time we brought Phoenix in to see him, he suggested the ear infections and constant paw chewing (a symptom his old vets did not notice) could be caused by a food allergy and not just because he was prone to getting them.

We immediately started Phoenix on an elimination diet. After three days of fasting, he began twelve weeks of just eating hypoallergenic food.

Improvement

Within weeks we noticed Phoenix chewing his paws less. And, around the end of the twelve weeks, we hadn’t taken him to the vet in over two months!

We were then instructed to begin adding things back into his diet. We left three weeks between each new addition and watched for signs of allergies to return. If his symptoms returned, we’d stop whatever we had added and only feed what had already been determined as safe for six straight weeks before trying something else.

Phoenix has gluten allergy

This process helped us determine that a gluten allergy was causing Phoenix’s constant ear issues.

Phoenix’s ears remained almost infection-free for about five years. We only had to take him to the vet for annual check-ups and one or two infections a year. Phoenix was more likely to get them after swimming, a bath, or rolling in the snow.

He still got itchy ears during the summer. However, by giving him Benedryl or Allegra from April until October, he never really had any major ear problems.

A broken tooth

Shortly after Phoenix turned ten, he broke a tooth. It needed to come out to prevent an infection. Phoenix ended up having his tooth removed by a dental specialist. While waiting for Phoenix to come out of recovery, we learned of Dr. B and her more natural approach to veterinary medicine.

Even though Dr. B does not provide the service dog discount our previous vet offered, we were attracted by the option of house visits and her more holistic approach to veterinary care. We’ve enjoyed her service so much that we still bring the dogs to her, even after moving seven hours away.

Next April, Phoenix started his usual seasonal allergy issues. For the most part, we were able to control his ear issues with the daily dose of Allegra.

The infections get out of control

However, by summer he started developing an ear infection no matter what we did, it just wouldn’t clear up.

It would get close to resolving itself and then flare up again, leading us to look at other treatment options. We tried a new ear cleaner first, which seemed to help a bit, but then Dr. B suggested we try a different ear ointment from the usual Surolan we were using.

The new medication didn’t seem to help much. So we returned to the Surolan and did the best we could to keep his ears from getting any worse.

In November, while still battling the nasty ear infection, we were met with a new challenge. Phoenix’s head shaking got really bad and resulted in a hematoma. Phoenix’s ear flap looked as though someone had inserted a small egg.

We could not get to Dr. B until after the weekend. As a result, she instructed us to start cleaning his ears daily and keep him from shaking his head when possible.

At the veterinarian

When we finally reached her office, she inserted an IV catheter and withdrew over 20cc of blood and fluids.

She then flopped his ear onto the top of his head and wrapped his head in a colorful vet wrap. With time, his ear flap sort of returned to normal but has more of a crinkled look to it now. We also returned to using the Surolan, hoping it would finally resolve his infection.

Loss of balance

Well, on the 1st of December, Phoenix came out of the bedroom, where his favorite spot to sleep is, and began trembling before he fell onto his right side.

He tried to get back up but couldn’t – we thought he had had a stroke!

My step-dad had been taking care of him for us while we were away, so he did all he could for him until we returned the following night.

When we pulled up, Dad came out with a distraught look on his face and said that something had happened to Phoenix.

He explained the whole scene, and we rushed inside to be with him. Phoenix could barely hold up his head (which was tilted to the right), he was drooling excessively, his eyes were twitching, his nose was running, and he couldn’t get up at all, but he wagged his tail like crazy as I approached.

It was already 10:00 pm, so we knew there was nothing we could do until the following morning, so we put Phoenix on our bed and tried to rest up for the long drive.

It was a terrible night.

Phoenix was having so much trouble staying comfortable because he couldn’t adjust himself, and if he laid on his right, he had to hold his head in an almost upside-down position.

Around eight o’clock the following morning, we put all the dogs into the truck and had Phoenix lie on a blanket between us in the backseat while Dad drove.

It was a tense ride, but we knew that we had to do what was suitable for Phoenix and that if Dr. B said there was nothing we could do, we had to let him go. It wasn’t fair to ask him to live this way. Well, after a brief stop at his puppy raiser’s house for a “final” goodbye (we wanted them to be prepared), we arrived at Dr. B’s office and carried him in.

Vestibular disease

After a brief examination, Dr. B looked up and told us it wasn’t as bad as it looked before I could say anything.

Phoenix was diagnosed with Idiopathic Vestibular Disease.

She explained that there wasn’t really any treatment and that it would just take time and patience for him to recover almost fully. She then looked him over a little more thoroughly before giving him a homeopathic remedy. Next, she instructed us to make his kibble into a mushy consistency and add canned food for palatability.

Changing diet

At this point, she suggested we begin looking into a homemade or raw diet.

She was convinced it would help alleviate some of the ongoing ear issues because she was concerned that he might aspirate on the kibble when vacuuming up his meals.

Within a few hours of getting his first dose of the homeopathic remedy, Phoenix became more alert and able to hold his head a little steadier.

After about seventy-two hours, he was somewhat weight bare and continued to improve steadily from there. He was pretty much back to himself by Christmas and even joined us on a 3km walk we took on Christmas Day.

I think the most amazing part of this whole experience, though, was to watch Phoenix’s high level of determination to get better and the fact he never once had an accident but instead made sure we knew he had to go out and wait to be set down on the grass.

Since then, we’ve started Phoenix on a raw diet and a semi-regular homeopathic regiment for his ears.

He got his first dose around the end of February, and his energy level increased, along with some improvements in his ear health.

Then, around the end of March, we noticed his energy level decreasing and his ears backtracking, so we asked Dr. B for a phone consult. She instructed us to give him another dose of the remedy and then let her know what happened after two weeks.

Dramatic improvement

It has been three weeks since Phoenix received the second dose, and his ears are now at the same stage in healing, with very little inflammation or discharge – a drastic improvement!

I’m not sure if we’ll need to repeat the remedy again, but since the diet change and the implementation of the homeopathic regiment, we’ve noticed he sheds less, moves around easier, and seems more alert and cheery, as well as being more energetic and having his ears begin to clear up after a year and a half of issues.

I hope that Phoenix’s story might help other dogs who’d been suffering from a lifetime of ear problems.

Further reading:
Chronic Ear Infections in Dogs: What You Need to Hear