Bosun chronic ear infection

[2jazzy]

Bosun is nearly 14. He is on pain relief for arthritis, his kidneys are starting to fail and on top of that has an ear infection which just doesn’t clear up. The antibiotic (2nd or third one ) is the one shown by swab to be most effective. We know his time is running out but he still gets excited at meal times, tries to play at times but we can see his ears bother him in spite of daily antibiotic and cleaning. The vet doesn’t seem to have anything else to offer.

[Bevjparkes]

Hi. Sorry to hear that you old lad is struggling with an ear infection. We’ve had the same trouble with our boy, but we are hopeful that we’ve cracked it at long last - after nearly a year!  Murphy had swabs taken on a number of occasions and it was pseudomonas. He also was treated with an antibiotic that the swab showed was suitable, but it didn’t clear up. A later swab showed that he’d become resistant to that one, so it was changed, but again it didn’t work. After some research on this forum, I saw that someone had had some success with a human antibiotic called Flamazine and I spoke to the vet about this. We tried it (it’s a cream so they have to make it into a suspension with saline) and after a month on this it actually seems to have gone at long last. There has been no sign of the pseudomonas for weeks now. Maybe speak to your vet about trying Flamazine. Best of luck.

[Finvarra]

Sorry to hear about your poor old boy. My previous cocker had a bad ear infection and lost his eardrums, and was on anti biopics and cleansing regime for half his life. One thing I did to make him more comfortable was to clip the hair inside his ear and ear flap, and sometimes I tied his ears back to let the air get to them - cocker ears are a moist, warm environment conducive to infections, made worse by warmth. Hope you can find a solution with the antibiotics, maybe a second opinion?
Lesley and Dylan

[2jazzy]

Thank you both. Will talk to vet about flamazine. We have clipped the hair but will try tying back his ears too. Makes sense getting air to them might help. He has always been prone to ear infections and was operated on in the past but is too frail now. Be good if we can just make him comfortable. We also have some drops to try because we think some of the problem is irritation from the constant cleaning.
Appreciate the help.

[Mari]

Bosun is nearly 14. He is on pain relief for arthritis, his kidneys are starting to fail and on top of that has an ear infection which just doesn’t clear up. The antibiotic (2nd or third one ) is the one shown by swab to be most effective. We know his time is running out but he still gets excited at meal times, tries to play at times but we can see his ears bother him in spite of daily antibiotic and cleaning. The vet doesn’t seem to have anything else to offer.

I'm guessing he is on NSAID medication for the arthritis? Of not, then cortisone is great for calming down the inflammation and making the ears less itchy. It can't be combined with NSAID's so maybe that's why Bosun is not on it. But maybe ask the vet if local treatment is an option? It won't cure the infection, but it can help with the discomfort.  My vet always said "ears love cortisone". But, of course, discuss with your vet because I know it can have pretty bad side-effects so not always a good option for everyone.

[2jazzy]

Certainly worth asking about. We know he’s on borrowed time now but want him to enjoy the time he has. Reducing the itch would definitely help. Thank you for this.