german shepherd perforated eardrum

Question
hi, i have a 10 year old german shepherd, he had a really bad ear infection so we took him to the vet, the vet put him under to clear out his ear, but said when he finished that the dog had got a perforated eardrum due to an infection and put a drain in for a burst blood vessel from where he had been shaking his head alot and put him on antibiotics and eardrops, his ear seemed to be getting better and we kept using the drops daily but now it seems it is getting painfull for him when we put his eardrops in now and im worried he might be getting another infection eventhough we keep his ears as clean as possible, i have read some posts about giving dogs with ear infections apple-cider-vinegar or white vinegar drops but i dont know if its a good idea because of his perforated eardrum. is there anything i can use that would hurt the dog or anything i can do?
we have an appointment at the vets for them to take another look and clean the inside of the ear out again if necessary but i am just worried incase they just pescribe some more antibiotics and eardrops and it just clears it up again for a few more weeks just to start again and cause him more pain.

Answer
White vinegar diluted half and half with water will not hurt anything even if the eardrum is ruptured.  Many Shepherds get a bad bacteria in the middle ear called Pseudomonas and it is very difficult to treat.  It may take several rounds of antibiotic therapy to kill all of the bacteria.  This bacteria can cause ulcers in the ear and they are very painful.  Is your dog on a high dose oral steroid drug as well as the ear treatment?  That is recommended.