The only way to be sure that an ear infection, or any other allergy symptoms, are caused by food is to do a complete food trial. If food is a problem, your dog should have symptoms year round. If her symptoms are not year round, she probably has environmental allergies and not food allergies. 1. All infections must be properly treated and gone. The Rx your vet gave should clear up any type of ear infection with the exception of ear mites, unless the infection is resistant. The fact that the infection came back within days of stopping treatment makes me think that the medication course wasn't long enough or that the infection is resistant. The infection must be cleared before starting the counting phase of the food trial. You should still feed the new food during the time that you are trying to control the infection, in case food is a problem. Otherwise, you will have a lot of trouble clearing the infection. 2. The counting phase starts after all infections are cleared and continues for 8 full weeks. During this phase, the only thing your dog can eat is the new food. You also have to change heartworm prevention to Heartgard Unflavored or to oral ivermectin, because all other heartworm preventions have beef and other flavorings in them that can interfere with the food trial. No treats, bones, or anything else besides the food can be given during this time. If something is accidently fed, you have to start the countdown all over again, because it takes about 8 weeks for the body to clear the effects of the inflammation. 3. The next phase is the challenge phase. This is often not done, but it absolutely necessary if you want to be sure that there is a food allergy. If your dog showed an improvement during the countdown phase, you feed the original food for about a week. The symptoms should return- ie your dog will get another ear infection. If the symptoms do not return, it was not a food allergy. If there was no improvement during the countdown phase then either your dog is also allergic to the new food, or she doesn't have a food allergy. I really like Natural Balance foods for diet trials, as opposed to most of the foods vets recommend (usually Science Diet, which I hate). You could also do raw or homemade diets, but it is difficult to afford foods that your dog hasn't eaten before. Duck is expensive when you buy at the grocery store, at least around here.

I am always amazed by the number of 'experts' on food allergies on the various web sites I peruse (usually in my case limited to plants since that is my primary hobby). And one of the most commonly expressed opinions about dog food and its relationship to allergies in dogs is the often maligned corn ingredient. I have done some research on this topic, but I certainly do not consider myself an expert, despite having practiced as a small animal veterinarian for over 24 years. In fact, of all my veterinary colleagues that I know personally, none consider themselves experts on dog or cat food or the ingredients they consist of. I think we as a group tend to be a bit more informed than the average pet owner, however. Still, there are many veterinary nutrition experts out there we refer to and it still is interesting how much is not known about dog food allergies. Yet there do appear to be no shortage of experts in these discussion groups. I am certainly not going to say that a dog with itchy ears cannot have an allergy to corn. I am sure there are dogs out there with corn allergies and some will have itchy ears. However, I do not understand why corn has been picked out among all the ingredients in dog foods as the bad guy. Research has shown beyond a doubt that beef, chicken, dairy products, soy, wheat and even eggs are more commonly involved in causing allergies and food intolerances in pet dogs. Why are these products not mentioned in these discussions? And how is one able to diagnose a food allergy versus the far more common allergies such as pollens, other plant materials, house dust mites, fleas, and a myriad of other environmental allergens, just on the basis of a symptom such as itchy ears? Food is in fact a relatively rare allergy in the pet dog. According to the experts in the field only 5-10% of all allergies in dogs have even the remotest relationship to what is in a dog's diet. Allergies in dogs are indeed most often displayed as itchiness and skin problems, unlike us humans who tend to be more respiratory in our allergic symptoms. There are many people with food allergies and intolerances as well, and often they exhibit primarily gastrointestinal symptoms. Dogs show their intolerances similarly, but true allergies show up usually as itchiness and/or less commonly as stomach,intestine problems. But true food allergies in dogs are far less common than food intolerances. And food allergies are indeed rather difficult to diagnose and distinguish from the more common causes of allergies. If one has a dog that has allergic symptoms that seem to persist year round unabated, then one's suspicion of food allergy should increase. But most allergies in dogs tend to by cyclic or even seasonal, making food allergy far less likely to be the culprit. Itchy ears is one of the most common symptoms of allergies in dogs, perhaps second only to licking feet, at least in those dogs who do not have a flea allergy. Flea allergies are by far the most common of all allergies in dogs, but those dogs are usually itchy all over or at least around their rump, and rarely is itchy ears the only symptom of a flea allergy. However, itchy ears is very commonly the only symptom of a pollen allergy. And once a dog has allergic itchy ears, secondary yeast and bacterial infections are a common end result. Ear mites, on the other hand, are a far overdiagnosed cause of itchiness in dog ear problems, and though they do occur, they are almost exclusively limited to puppies or to dogs in situations where they are living with many many other dogs. I have diagnosed maybe 10-15 dogs as having ear mites in the last 24 years as a vet... yet have seen maybe 5000 cases of ear infections/itchy ears in dogs. So though your dog may indeed, as the above experts have suggested, be allegic to a food, or even be one of those very rare dogs with a corn allergy, I might research other more likely possibilities before you do something drastic like change your dog's diet (and possibly cause a myriad of other problems, like vomiting or diarrhea). Anyway, I hope you discover the cause and find an appropriate treatment. I understand you may not want to pay for a vet bill right now, but I do have a few suggestions if you want to try some things as home. Cleaning the ears is one that someone did mention, though I would NOT use soap and water. Soap, in particular, is quite irritating to the sensitive tissues of the ear canal, and to the ear drum, and it is not all that easy to get out of the ear once you put it in there. There are many ear cleaners far more suitable for cleaning and rinsing out a dog's ear and you can get most at a pet store. Mineral oil can be a bit soothing, but it too is not easy to get out after it's put in, so do not put in much if that is what you chose to do. It also does very little for the allergy or possible infection that may be going on.. and could conceivably worsen the infection. You can also try putting in an astringent (drying solution). Some ear cleaners are also astringents, but you can mix alcohol (isopropyl) and white vinegar (3 parts to 1 part)- very similar to what's in swimmer's ear- and apply a few drops into each ear. This may sting if the ear is badly infected or sore from being scratched, but it will tend to dry the ear out (which always helps an ear with fluid in it) and that combination has a pretty good antifungal effect as well (yeast is a super common complication of ear allergies and infections). I do not recommend physically cleaning an ear other than swabbing gunk out gently with a cotton swab only as far down as your finger will go, but rinsing the ear with a cleaning product using a bulb or syringe and massaging the ear canal below the opening (side of a dog's face) will help often dislodge stuff.. and the dog shaking his head will do the rest. This is not as good as getting an ear professionally cleaned or using an ear antibiotic solution/ointment, but it will often help. It will nothing for the allergic problem, though... for that you might try some antihistamines, but I am not comfortable giving you doses.. .you will need to consult your local vet for those- someone who knows your dog and what he/she weighs, etc. But before you even do the ear rinse thing, you should know that many dogs with ear infections have ruptured ear drums (this is a very common situation). A rupture in an ear drum will mean that anything you put in your dog's ear will go beyond the ear drum into the middle and possibly the inner ear (close to the brain!).. some ingredients that get in this area can cause serious problems (like permanent deafness). For that reason, I always recommend a flushing out of anything you put in there either a sterile saline solution (not always that easy to find) or at least water. Water is not great to leave in an ear, but at least it is relatively benign compared to most ear cleaning solutions, and certainly to soap, peroxide (don't leave that in there... or even use it!), alcohol etc. This is why I still recommend you see your vet, even if it's just to have him/her look at the ear drum and make sure it's intact. Good luck!!

Thank you for asking and i am sorry I forgot to post my results. I'm not sure why or how but the problem seems to have gone away...at least by 90%. DH and I went out the other night and the area we were in was very hilly. Every time we went down a hill my ears popped and by the time I got home they felt better. I am guessing it is just a pressure problem. I have been taking a different route to work and I go up this steep incline. That's when the problem started. I think from now on I will take the easier route and avoid the hill. I'm just happy it wasn't an infection. SamKaren your resident DJ

Rita, it probably does need some organic matter around it. That's the one place I didn't put any mulch last year because it had potted plants on the ground. Still does. I've been tossing some kitchen scraps around it lately. I hope this rain gets things growing!