Horse itching ear bloody

[Lah0808]

Wondering if anyone has any ideas that we (vet, myself and barn owner) haven’t thought of.

This horse (26 years old) has always itched and rubbed his ears and likes having them cleaned out and scratched. This year however has been a totally different story. Noticed about 6 weeks ago his left ear was swelling a bit and knew he had been itching them because he had a little raw spot on each ear. The raw spot wasn’t anything new but the slight swelling was. Gave him some banamine and just kind of kept any eye on them, they didn’t get any worse. Until about 2 weeks later barn owner texts me a picture, he rubbed his one ear so badly he gave himself a huge bloody raw spot where the previous tiny raw spot was. And now inner ear was really swollen.

Vet comes out, has to tranq him he’s so head shy over it. Outer part heals pretty quickly but inner ear is just a swollen mess. Vet initially thought maybe a tick but no foreign body is in there and she can’t see any tumors or anything like that. Both inner ears are swollen, the left is just much worse than the right. Its all just solid swollen flesh, nothing to drain. She’s never seen a horse do something like that before. She prescribes SMZs just in case of infection, dex and zyrtec. Its been 2.5 weeks and it really hasn’t gotten better. She said to increase the dex even more and after 4 days of the higher dose (4 - 4mg tablets daily) the swelling has gone down a bit. Still quite swollen but now he’ll at least let me handle his ears and I can fit a finger in the bad ear where before I couldn’t at all.

Problem is he is still itching like crazy. Just today saw him go at that ear with his hind foot. He will not wear a fly mask, I have tried several different styles and brands and he gets them off every time. I’m worried if I can even find one he can’t get off, he’ll go nuts trying to get it off anyway.

Can anyone think of anything else we can possibly try for him? The vet says other than what we are doing, there just isn’t much else to do. I feel so bad for him, he’s obviously uncomfortable.

[crosscreeksh]

After I rule out ticks…I dab a bit of “Bag Balm” on the outer ear…it works well to repel bugs/ticks and relieve the itch. No harm if the balm melts and runs down into the ear…JMO.

[walkinthewalk]

If your local small animal vet carries "Mal-A-Ketic, buy a bottle. If not, the product is not prescription and you can buy it at Allivet; I just received two bottles from them.

http://www.allivet.com/p-6972-mal-a-…dta-flush.aspx

my barn cat has had three operations on his ears for cancer ---- they seep and he digs. The vet sold me this stuff to keep his ears dry and not itch as bad.

So, I tried it on the horses ears and they love the stuff. I soak a small piece of paper towel, gently wipe their ears, then put hemorrhoid ointment in their ears to stop the gnats from getting in there.

My IR horse always itches his left ear. Three vets have examined that ear, each multiple times over six years. They can’t find anything. In his case, I am really concerned about a swollen gland or possible tumor. As he has a gland in his threat latch that is perpetually swollen.

Keep the vet away from your horse’s ears. Sounds like you have to start over desensitizing him. Don’t look up at his ears, look at the floor. I discovered that worked much better on one of my horses by accident. I had had vertigo and couldn’t look up; it was amazing how much better he did with his ear cleaning, lol

[freshman]

I disagree. Something is clearly wrong with this horse and it is causing him what amounts to physical torment. Horses don’t have routine itchy/scratchy/swollen/yeasty ears or any other similar problem like dogs. Which sounds horrible enough me, honestly. There is something quite abnormal about this presentation for a horse, especially because it is bilateral, and involves both ears.

Please ask for a referral to a large equine speciality practice. They will have internal med and derm specialists to address the issue. And a surgery service if ti comes to it. Your horse might need an endoscopic exam of the ears, and even a surgical plan from there depending on what findings.

This is not a common problem, obviously. I wish you both the best.

Kristin

[polkadotedpony]

@freshman

I disagree. Something is clearly wrong with this horse and it is causing him what amounts to physical torment. Horses don’t have routine itchy/scratchy/swollen/yeasty ears or any other similar problem like dogs. Which sounds horrible enough me, honestly. There is something quite abnormal about this presentation for a horse, especially because it is bilateral, and involves both ears.

Please ask for a referral to a large equine speciality practice. They will have internal med and derm specialists to address the issue. And a surgery service if ti comes to it. Your horse might need an endoscopic exam of the ears, and even a surgical plan from there depending on what findings.

This is not a common problem, obviously. I wish you both the best.

Kristin

Not a vet, but a human ear doctor here and I would agree with the above, more work up sounds worth it. I’d start with swabs from inside the ear and culturing that at a minimum to see what you’re dealing with. If it’s both ears I think an infection is much more likely than a tumor. If that fails then you can look in the ears with a scope. I’ve used my skinny spaghetti shaped throat endoscope to look in human ears in a pinch and I think a similar setup would work great for a horse’s ears. The fact that the inside of ear is so swollen makes me think that’s the source of the problem and the outside is just from rubbing. Honestly many ear canal issues are better treated topically with drops than with systemic medicines which may be why you haven’t seen much improvement with the described regimen. To be honest the cocktail you described sounds like a typical kitchen sink reaction from a doctor who doesn’t know what they’re treating. The improvement on the steroids is probably treating the symptoms rather than the disease.