Shar-Pei Ears Well this is perhaps one of the most talked about subjects with reference to the shar-pei breed, EARS. Do they require ear re-sections? Do they require ear flushes? Do they require ear meds? Do they require antibiotics? Do they??????? And what happened way back when humans were not around to do this? Most veterinarians answers in the past have been YES. My answer is NO to ALL of the above. I was once a FIRST TIME shar-pei owner. Naive, inexperienced, praying the breeder I bought my first shar-pei from could help me with all my new buyer questions. My biggest disappointment was, that my breeder was not there to help me out, and really didn't even care. So I was left to deal with SKIN, COAT, EARS, EYES..........all by myself, with the assistance of a veterinarian not familiar with the breed (which you can imagine back in 1983/84)and my nursing background. The heartache was about to begin. Both my sister and I had shar-pei. I do remember one thing I was told by a large, well known, well educated American breeder, who was also I would consider, a shar-pei expert at that time, and I state the last words out of the mouth of that breeder was "NEVER get a shar-pei ears flushed........so many have come away with broken ears drums and chronic ear problems". Being new to the breed I "listened to my veterinarian". Lets start with ear flushes, antibiotics and then an ear re-section - been there and done it all. END RESULTS - no improvement or just a slight improvement. So my research began - i) A breed with lots of medium brown to dark brown chunks of smelly debris - a build up of wax, that some get a lot of and some don't, ii) A breed that is one of the oldest breeds in the world ?? what went on with ears back then ??? iii) A breed that reacts to diet as prime cause of allergies and wax build up, iv) a breed that reacts to stress and ear and eye maintenance increase as result of stress, Just to point out a few things that all affect their overall health, including ears and eyes. Experiencing the ear flushes and ear re-section first hand and realizing that this was only a temporary solution and that all of the above would just repeat over and over again, I was now on an expedition of breed information and health research, not excluding my noted health background with people, what works and what doesn't. To stop for a minute and ask what happens when you get fluid in your ears, how would you like this done every day or every other day? Reading much of the breed info written by old time experts and breeders, some the first to be in the breed, I started to adopt their ear cleaning methods, coupled with my own research and common sense. My first step was to wait for another droopy ear, and shaking head. Then I decided to let nature do its thing and leave the ear alone. So untouched, I discovered that my shar-pei had the capability of letting its own immune system take care of the infection or pending infection, or moisture build up due to seasonal change - whatever the reason that particular ear acted up, it was duly noted - IT CLEARED UP ON ITS OWN. Took about 2 weeks. After watching this with every shar-pei I had and was to own in the future, many of my dogs NEVER even required ear cleaning of any type anymore and the ones that did, it is only a surface wipe of the inside of ear flap. Interesting yes, truthful yes, do I recommend it, yes. It has been observed that over the years, the minute the ears are touched by way of flushing or over cleaning, that ear maintenance becomes chronic and yeast is a constant battle. It has been observed by instructing my puppy buyers to leave the ears alone, and let nature build up its own defense mechanism to fight back naturally, that this has been the most successful approach to ear maintenance in the breed. If the dog food you are feeding your dog is one of the triggers then this will be an on going battle. How bad does it or can it get?? It can get very smelly, lots of bacteria and yeast discharge.........but how is the body to build up any type of natural defense if we keep taking away what the body is to fight and battle against, in order to bring it to a controllable level within their own body immunity.... making it more likely to be worse, the next time around, and now becoming resistant to many of the ear ointments, antibiotics etc. Many of the old time breeders have also adopted "leave the ears alone methods" with the same results. When there is a wax plug in the ears sometimes I will see my adults take their toenails (which are naturally long) and pick these chunks out. It is safe to just clean the inner ear flap with an oil alcohol solution of choice. I know for a fact if for some reason there were no more humans left on this planet, my dogs ears would be fine - would yours? If and I say IF, a dog has or is a candidate for familial shar-pei fever and swollen hock syndrome, amyloidosis, or a condition that is an immune system problem, I feel ears will be right there in the thick of it, and if the ears of the shar-pei do not clear up on their own, then I would again, put it in the category of "NOT FOR BREEDING" for my experience nows tells me by way of my dozen dogs here, that ears of a healthy shar-pei require very little maintenance. It certainly is not a matter of lines or pedigrees here, but common sense. And if it IS, a "genetic" thing, which is not out of the question, then why are breeders breeding dogs that require heavy duty ear maintenance - to me this is no better than breeding dogs with skin problems etc. Do you all syringe your ears and clean them the way many clean a shar-pei ears, if you did, believe me you would have chronic ear problems also. Again my personal experiences and opinion and, it will be left at, what works best for the breeder and buyer, and end result rests with what procedures the owner is comfortable with doing, or not doing. Again some all natural food for thought, and if one does note that after the onset of an ear infection, and left untouched, it starts to clear up on its own, you have gained new knowledge, if is does not start to clear up between 1 - 2 weeks, then you have lost nothing in returning to the ways of modern day medicine. One all natural hint to cleaning up ears ~ add natural yogurt no sugar, as sugar feeds yeast, to the diet and switch diets completely, the closer to all natural diet the dog eats, the cleaner the ears. Wipe the inside of the ear with a moistened cloth with diluted vinegar to clean and dry the ear tissue. Vinegar evaporates quickly, and drys. Avoid antibiotics whenever possible. They are notorious for killing off good bacteria as well as bad bacteria. When the body's natural balance of flora is disrupted, yeast often gains a strong grip that can be extremely hard to reverse. Ask you vet about Zymox, a non-prescription treatment containing enzymatic anti-microbials. One daily dose of Zymox cleans, medicates, and may prevent your dog’s yeast overgrowth, if you have to use something. To take the heat and irritation out for a couple of days REQUEST PANALOGUE, removes and heat and itch and lets the ears return to normal. Used sparingly and only for bad bouts. If you feel your dog already has many health issues, skin infections, eye infections and a compromised immune system, you may have to follow the protocol of antibiotics and ear cleaning recommended by your medical practitioner, and should you see pus in any dogs ears, the problem could be more severe and a secondary condition. which would have to be corrected before tackling ears alone. As stated above this was my personal experiences over the last 25 years and may not work for all shar pei. You must decide what works best for you. These pages are copyright 2010 of Shar-Pei Canadiana. Original Web Site opened October 25, 1997. Web page designed by Vicky McBeth. |
 |
 |
