Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 8/6/2009

Question
Our english mastiff has had a yeast infection in his ears and skin. His vet gave us ear drops and medicated shampoo. The drops helped a little and the shampoo did nothing. What do you recommend?

Answer
Almost every ear infection in dogs is the result of allergies.  So you will need to identify or treat the allergies first.  Yeasts grow because the ear skin is stimulated to produce oils and fats, which feed the yeasts.  So in the ears, a good deep ear cleaning is required to remove the wax in the ear.  This is usually done under anesthesia.  Then an antifungal medication is used in the ear canal.  Many ear medicines are oily and thick, which makes it hard to get the actual medicine where it needs to go. The same is true for the skin.  In order for the antifungal drug to get to the skin, the entire skin surface needs to be degreased.

A systemic medication called ketoconazole is usually prescribed for skin yeast infections.