Ear problems

janice7920 · Mar 14, 2016

Hi everyone, we have a 5 year old Sheltie girl who has been shaking her head, and cocking and scratching her left ear for about a week now. Took her to the vet last week and was given some ointment to apply to the inside of the ear daily. There appeared to be no infection. The ointment seems to help somewhat during the day but then it's efffects wear off and by the next morning she's back to shaking her head again. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced ear or head issues with shaking of the head where there was no infection present, thank you for reading.

tesslynn · Mar 14, 2016

janice7920 said:
Hi everyone, we have a 5 year old Sheltie girl who has been shaking her head, and cocking and scratching her left ear for about a week now. Took her to the vet last week and was given some ointment to apply to the inside of the ear daily. There appeared to be no infection. The ointment seems to help somewhat during the day but then it's efffects wear off and by the next morning she's back to shaking her head again. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced ear or head issues with shaking of the head where there was no infection present, thank you for reading.

have the Vet look deep for foreign matter. Sometimes it can be a dead bug, plant matter (seeds, tall grass parts, pollen) I would have them do an ear wash. Sometimes it is ear mites, or allergies. It can even be tied to their thyroid, so have them do a blood test to make sure that isn't low

janice7920 · Mar 15, 2016

Thank you for the reply. She hasn't shook or scratched at all this morning and now I'm really confused about whether I should still take her to the vet today. I don't know if the issur finally resolved itself through the use of the ointment or what but I hate to waste the vets time if nothing is happening. Will probably take her in anyway, hopefully vet won't get mad at me for returning!

Georgie'sMom · Mar 15, 2016

Gracie did that, we took her to vets, and they couldn't find a thing. We keep her ears clean. She stopped the shaking and scratching as suddenly as it began. It's a mystery!

Mignarda · Mar 15, 2016

It could be something as simple as ear hair poking into the inside of her ear where it's very sensitive. Dickens has had this problem on-and-off for quite some time, with no apparent cause; it'll start up and then go away within a day or so. (The vet recently pronounced his ears "the best she's seen." It's like an annoying nose hair or overgrown eyelash that can drive you crazy until you get rid of it. Hopefully that's all it is!

SKNerissa · Apr 13, 2016

I logged on because I'm having a similar problem with my Sheltie. He keeps shaking his head but he's been to the vet three times in a month and the vet can't find anything wrong. He said the ears are very clean right down to the membrane. Took a swab to check under the microscope and still nothing showed. Did a trial of Surolan because the cat had an ear infection but no improvement in my Sheltie. I've tried cleaning his ears more frequently, less frequently, and with a different ear cleaner but none of that helped. On the advice of our vet I also tried a couple drops of coconut oil each night for a week and then an oral herbal tincture for allergic dermatitis but neither of those things helped either. It's been going on for close to three months and it's driving me crazy not knowing for sure how much it bothers him, what he is feeling (ie pain vs itching vs a tickle ) or how to help him. :gaah

SKNerissa · May 10, 2016

Finally cured my little one's head shaking. It turns out that the ear cleaners I was using were the problem. I got the Vet's Best ear wash and dry system and within 24 hours the head shaking stopped. Might be worth a try. Just use a tiny bit of the dry solution though. It takes very little and will cake inside the canal if you use too much. If you do accidentally use too much you can just use plain water or the ear wash to get it out. A company rep suggested I put a drop on the back of my hand to see how it works and to help better judge the amount needed.

Cubby2014 · May 10, 2016

I LOVE Vet's Best Ear Wash & Dry. Melli gets yeast infections of the ear (and I had a cat that used to). I use this after every bath and if she gets really wet like in the rain. I haven't had a problem since.