We have a rescued Black Labrador (approx 8 years old). He's generally in good health, not overweight and relatively fit, but has a recurring problem with his ears. He gets a very strong smelling, black sludgy discharge, predominantly in one ear but affecting both. It causes irritation (scratching & shaking head). He has been treated for ear mites with drops supplied by the vet, but this was uneffective. We've also tried herbal drops, which helped to alleviate the soreness and reduce the smell, but they still failed to cure the problem. The vet has checked his ear canal and said it's normal. This has been an ongoing problem for several years, and we'd be very grateful for any suggestions

You need thornit powder. The best thing ever for bad ears. You can get it from Championpets on the net, There is another one that does it cheaper (Denbar I think) so best do a search.
Bec

Thanks for the advice, Thornit ordered - fingers crossed!!!!!

Hi, I have a black Lab (my best friend, my lovable Nikki) and she's also has bad ears. I took her to the vet and of course we went thru the same waist of money ear drops and flushing. A couple of weeks later I came across this website and the stories of Thornit Powder. I ordered it that same day and started using it immediately. Now two weeks later she's stopped yelping from being in pain, but now their is a horrible smell and yellow goop coming from her ears, also the inside of her ears are so swollen you cant see down the cannel. I feel is not normal with use of Thornit powder. Now I have to take her back to the Vet to spend the outrageous fees. I feel so bad for my Nikki. We are back were we started. Any advice, has this happened to anyone else?
Thanks

Hi S.Rowe, recurring ear problems are usually due to some kind of allergy or vaccine/chemical/damage overload. Here is a link for a natural remedy you can make youself & give it a try. I have used on one of my dogs with great success & it also has several other uses as well. Thornit is very good as well. You really need to find the underlying cause for the problem tho.
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/BLUE.HTM

Christine Spain.

Hi,
My last dog had a recurring ear problem for most of his life, nothing seemed to help and the constant scratching and shaking left the skin around his ears very thickened. It cost us a fortune in vets bills for medications that never worked and the vet never could find anything wrong! It got to the stage where they wanted to open his neck and ear and leave it that way for it to drain (Afghan coat!!) - this was refused for obvious reasons. Then when he was 10 years old he needed his teeth cleaned so I asked them to have a really good look in his ears to see what was wrong (I always suspected a polyp but this was scoffed at) and guess what ....it was a polyp growing on a long stalk from the base of his ear canal, they snipped it and removed it and he had no further trouble with his ears till he was pts at 15.

Hi there,
We had this problem with our dog. One vet was saying it was an ear infection (smelly, Black wax etc), wasn't getting ant better.
We got a second opinion with a vet who took a swab and anylised it under the microscope to find it was an yeast infection. Corect ear drops precribed and now all clear.