Idiopathic Issues

When you diagnose a patient with otitis externa, you will likely be reaching for topical medication for treatment.

Owners often ask if there’s “a pill” they can give instead of having to clean and medicate their dog’s ears, but the reality is that oral medications are typically only used in cases of ulcerative or proliferative otitis externa or when concurrent otitis media is suspected.

When I was in vet school, I was under the impression that I would be performing ear cultures on a semi-regular basis. After all, how else would I know if and when I was treating a resistant infection?