chronic ear infection in golden retriever/st bernard mix

Question
I have a 2 1/2 year old golden retriever/st. bernard mix.  He looks and acts more golden.  He has been plagued with chronic ear infections most of his life.  Smelly, greasy black and sometmes bloody puss in both ears, that itch him greatly.  Sometimes its so bad that he will not let me even pet his ears.

Anyway, we've been to the vet many times and always it's the same, yeast ear infection.  No wonder it stinks so much! So "Sebastian" gets his steriod shot and his Amoxicillin and ear wash, I pay over a hundred bucks, and we go home.  He will not let me clean out the surface gunk, and he's usually too swollen for the vet to flush his ears.  He starts to feel better in a few days, I play tricks trying to get the amox in him, but usually manage with cheese or vanilla ice cream.  BUT these infections always come back!

what can I do???? is it his food?  his environment?  my other dog (border collie/sheltie mix)?  the cats?  Help please

Answer
Your dog obviously has allergies. It could be a food allergy or a pollen/mold/insect allergy. Steroids are the answer to most of these problems but follow the shot with alternate day steroid tablets to keep the inflammation of the ear and skin to a  minimum.  Sometimes you have to keep these dogs on steroids until the allergy season is over or if the dog is allergic to something in the house, it may be yearlong.  Also bathing the whole dog and flushing the ears out helps.

I don't know what the amoxicillin is for.  It really does not work for ear infections.  Ketoconazole or itraconazole both help yeast infections but they have to be give by mouth for a minimum of 3 weeks.  That can be expensive in a dog as big as yours.

The ear wash you should be using is an acid based ear cleaner to kill the yeasts and to remove the wax and debris in the ear.  I recommend Malacetic Otic (see www.dermapet.com) which is a mixture of acetic acid and boric acid.