It sounds like he has Ear Mites. I would go to a Health Food store and see if they have Ear Drops with Grapefruit Seed Extract and Tea Tree Oil in it. It would be okay for a Dog. You could mix it up youself with water I guess, but I have no idea what the correct ratio would be.

Another thing would be to buy a Zapper and Zap your Dog, if you could hold him still long enough. This will get rid of the Ear Mites.

Treating the surface of the ears with peroxide will only make things worse. The gooey putrid black fluid is probably coagulated blood heavily contaminated with bacteria and yeast. The ears will first need a cleaning by the Vet, before Ottomax can have any effect. In addition since the infection is severe you'll need Antibiotics such as Cephalexin to treat from the inside out. Probably 3-5 days you'll see dramatic improvement.

Then you can address the underlying cause. A Lab's ear has the length and width that enhances the entrapment of moisture. Perfect environment for bacteria and yeast. My previous dog a 1/2 Lab, 1/2 Golden would frequently pick up bacterial/yeast infections during the summer from the pond. The equivalent of swimmer's ear. A good preventative was to treat with a 1:3 White Vinegar to water solution, lowering the pH making for a less favorable environment for bacteria and especially yeast. There are also commercial cleaners you can obtain from your Vet. Likewise the dog may have an environmental allergy that is causing the initial scratching. In this case giving Benedryl when the itching begins along with Ottomax can prevent additional problems. As another poster points out, ear mites can be an underlying cause.

Once the ecology of the dog's ear is disturbed by infection, it will be prone to infections there after.

Your plan should be to work with your Vet to get rid of the apparent severe infection, and then look for the underlying cause to minimize reoccurance.

Retrievers are prone to this. You could also try ear drops containing aloe vera and calendula. The aloe is good for inflamation, allergies and healing the ears and the calendula has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. I am selling nothing and I have no idea if these work or not, but here is a link to some drops that contain calendula and you can buy aloe vera at any health food store.

http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/ear-dr-pet-ear-mites-remedies.html


You said you tried changing the food from one commercial brand to another. Have you considered trying to switch him to a totally raw food meaty bones diet? This may address a potential underlying food allergy to commercial foods. A raw food diet will boost his immune system in a big way.

Here is a good site to evaluate to see if this might be an option for you.
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/


Good luck and good healing.

Critterkids

Many good suggestions here, and I will look into all of them. The trip to the vet will be unavoidable but our vet clinic is wonderful and I'll also look into the raw-foods diet. This dog will eat ANYthing - from grapes to tomatoes, so I don't think I'll have a problem with adjusting his diet.

Thanks, again!

Sounds like my Beagle. Yeast infection in the ears and yeast problems because of the vaccines the damn pound gave him. Thick brown junk (No ear mites, vet looked under the microscope), head shaking and it reeks. If you do go to the vet you should try and get him to a holistic vet.

I haven't used these products but you might find these site interesting..

http://www.nzymes.com
http://www.petmedicinechest.com