Ear infection.

Dr. Marie replied:

Sorry to hear that you are having these frustrating problems! I have several patients with chronic ear problems and it can be challenging to deal with them.

It is unlikely that the spot in Selena's eye is related to her ear infections. If it is a little white spot on the cornea it could be a scar from a previous injury, or it could be a calcium or lipid deposit. We usually don't get too worried about any of these.

I have a few thoughts for you on the ear infection. I always advise that my patients come back for a recheck a few days after their ear medicines are cleared up. Sometimes the ear can look normal, but there is still a small amount of bacteria or yeast present. If we stop treatment too soon it will just come back again.

Your vet may want to do a culture of the ear. This is definitely recommended for a dog with repeated ear infections. This is to make sure that there is no resistant strain of bacteria growing. If there is one, the lab report will tell us which medication is going to be the best to treat it with.

You may also want to talk to your vet about the possibility of allergies. Some dogs with allergies will get repeated ear infections. If we can keep the allergies under control then the ear infections usually go away.

I just had one other thought. Although it is not terribly common in lhasas or maltese you could ask your vet about the possibility of hypothyroidism. Dogs with this condition tend to have more skin and ear problems and sometimes they can have high lipid levels which can cause the white spot in the eye.

I hope everything goes ok!

Dr. Marie.

---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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