Ear infections: Glen Kolenc Following on from our intro to skin allergies, the first thing to talk about in detail is ear infections. Ear infections in Frenchies are common and can sometimes be a frustrating thing to clear up. But does having an ear infection mean your Frenchie has a skin allergy? The answer is…..maybe!!! Here is all the important info you need to know on ear infections. Symptoms of ear infections: • Head shaking • Scratching at the head • Red, sore looking ears • A bad smell coming from the ears • One dog licking constantly at another dogs ears Diagnosing ear infections: Ear infections are fairly easy to diagnose based on the symptoms, and a vet looking down the ear. However they are not so straightforward to treat, because the actual infection may be caused by different “bugs”. Mites, yeast and range of different species of bacteria may cause an ear infection and each of these bugs require a different treatment. Sometimes there is a mixture of bugs in one ear, and if both ears have an infection in them, there may be a different cocktail of bugs in each ear. To determine which bugs are causing an ear infection, each infected ear should, by your vet, have a swab put down it, then rolled onto a slide and looked at under the microscope. This is called doing “ear cytology”. They will be able to see which bug(s) are present. If there are different species of bacteria present, or certain nasty looking species of bacteria seen, then a further test, usually sent off to a laboratory should ideally be performed. This test identifies which bacteria are present and tests them for the most suitable antibiotic(s) to use. This is called doing a “culture and sensitivity”.
French Bulldog Magazine: July 2015 Page: 73