Question submitted by the audience in our recent webinar: "The Itchy Dog":
I raise Labradors and often have people tell me their dogs have dirty, itchy ears. For some reason, mine rarely do. I know some people have switched to grain free food and think it helps with the ear problems. Do you think there is a correlation between the food and ears and do you think the ear problems are a type of allergy?
Answer by: Andrew Hillier, BVSc, MANZCVS, DACVD
Chronic or recurrent irritation of the ears or infections in the ears is a very common problem in allergic dogs (usually food allergy or atopic dermatitis). In fact, as many as 85% of allergic dogs may have ear disease along with itching. Just why your dogs do not have ear disease may be because of their genetic makeup and lack of some environmental stimulators for allergy – as implied in the webinar, allergic dermatitis is a very complex multifactorial disease.
