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Dog ear infection still painful after meds. What helps before culture?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | English Cocker Spaniel | Male | neutered | 14 years and 4 months old | 38 lbs

Our dog has had terrible ear infection for a couple of months. Finally doing a culture. Waiting fir results. In the meantime pain! They prescribed galliprant and also habapentin as well as 2 courses of antibiotics. Still in pain! I did a vinegar peroxide rinse to entire body as I am suspecting yeast. Still in lots of pain. What is best fir pain til I get results from culture.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Crystal L. Nelson

Veterinary Technician

Published on May 5th, 2017

I'm very sorry that Joe is in pain. It's common for Cocker Spaniels to have chronic ear infections resulting in just this type of situation. I'm so glad you able to get in to see your local Veterinarian. The mediations he/she has prescribe should help some with the pain. If Joe seems restless and can't get comfortable, you'l want to call your doctor and verify that he's on the appropriate dosage and maybe ask if he can take a little more. Your doctor may also be able to prescribe a light sedative. Unfortunately, a vinegar bath probably won't do much. It's really a just going to take patience. The inflammation should go down within a few days and Joe will have some relief. Please keep us up to date with his progression. If you notice he's uncomfortable eating, you might offer a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice. Try to keep his ears as clean and dry as possible. While he's sleeping you can lay his ears open or find a way to keep them up so that the air will circulate. Yeast and bacteria love a wet warm environment. The more they air out, the quicker the healing. Please let us know if you have any other questions or if there's more we can do.

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    Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Ouch! Joe's ears are certainly inflamed and irritated! Fortunately, your vet already started him on two great pain medications. Galliprant is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) that will help both with inflammation and pain. Gabapentin will help with any nerve pain associated with this infection. These medications will help to control the pain until the source of the pain (the infection itself) is managed. The culture results will determine the source of infection (specifically which bacteria and/or yeast are causing the issues) as well as determining which medication is appropriate for the given infection. I would avoid future rinses with vinegar and peroxide, as this is unlikely to help his skin and may delay any skin healing. Just keep him on the medications his vet prescribed until the culture comes back!

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