(Copyright © 2001-2002 Linda K. Lawrie. All rights reserved.)
Goldens have long, floppy ears, yes or no? All of you
whose Golden has never had ear problems, raise your right hand. You may
skip past this article. For the rest of us -- just good reminders...read
on.
Ear problems appear in several flavors: 1) Ear
Mites; 2) Yeast or bacteria infections; 3) allergies; 4) Dirty ear; 5)
Foreign object in the ear. Several conditions may be interacting at once.
1) and 2) Ear mites and yeast infections have similar
appearances. Smelly ears with red to black "gunk" (that's a
technical term) can be seen in the ear. Dog scratches ear and/or
shakes. Cleaning does not seem to clear up the problem. Your vet
will have appropriate medications for these conditions -- they can also test
whether it is mites or infection. Be sure to administer all the
medication because the general appearance may clear up quickly but stopping too
soon may allow resistent strains to build. With ear mites, it is likely
all the dogs in the house should be treated.
3) Allergies. This will be much tougher as in
addition to scratchy, dirty ears, your dog may continually have ear
infections. The allergy may be lots of things but suspect a food
allergy. These are tough to diagnose. One GRRRR volunteer has
experience in this situation with her Crockett -- recurrent ear infections --
on "allergenic" food, but finally she is trying another food with
(cross your fingers) good results. There are also seasonal allergies in
dogs, just like in people.
4) Dirty ears. Some dogs just get dirty ears.
These won't smell as bad as infections. It might be a good idea to clean
your dog's ears weekly. There are several home recipes as well as
over-the-counter solutions and cremes to use. Some dogs ears may be
irritated already -- use alcohol containing products with caution. If you
live in a particularly humid area, you might consider some ear
"trimming" to get rid of hair around the ears that may prevent air
flow.
5) Foreign objects. In one of the websites below, a
person was treating her dog for ear mites. When she finally took him to
the vet, it turned out to be spear grass embedded in the ear drum! No
amount of medication would ever have helped.
Web sites (including one that has pictures of ear cleaning)
that may be useful:
http://www.moorevet.com/ear_cleaning.htm
http://www.hhnews.com/earcleaning.htm
http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0079.htm