Ear infection in dog-- update

[DesertBlossom]

For the life of me I can not find my original thread about my dog's ears. Weird. 

 

I've taken my 10+ year old Lab to the vet twice and they cleaned her ears and put oti-packs in them and she was on steroids for quite a while to bring down inflammation. I changed her dog food to a salmon and sweet potato recipe. (though I know she sometimes eats the chicken feed the kids spill so she's not entirely grain-free) I put her on claritin. When that bottle ran out, I bought zyrtec and we're trying that. As soon as the 2 weeks was over from her last oti-pak (where they told me not to do anything for 2 weeks) I started putting the blue powder ear treatment in her ears every day. One ear looks great. The other is still oozing dark black gunk. It's gross.

 

The vet said that the next step was to culture the stuff in her ears. I know that's expensive. And I'm frustrated.  Is that my best next option though?  I've already spent $200 in vet bills and I certainly don't want her ears to get bad again but I want to throw my money at something that will work! 

 

 

[ktgrok]

I'd culture it at this point, for sure. That way you can use a medication that actually will work on whatever is growing in there.