Dog: Outer ear hot spots

[DanielleDL]

Bobby's ears have been red, itchy, scabby, flakey (in varying degrees, sometimes better, sometimes worse) since March (BEAM has been good this whole time, but you can tell he's getting tired of his itchy ears and me constantly messing with his ears to treat them, but if I don't, he scratches wounds into them). I suspect seasonal allergies combined with possible detox due to converting to full raw. Exercise, enrichment, and diet strategies are pretty sound, so now I'm focusing on reducing his itching/keep the outer ears clean/soften the scabs and flakes with various things: diluted H202, aloe gelly, calendula oil, True Blue wipes, sweet almond oil, and (internally) structured water to increase his hydration so that if he is detoxing, and CBD oil for general health/detox (and it also seems to make him less itchy). I feel like progress is happening slowly, but I really want to alleviate his itching so that the scabs will heal and he won't create any new wounds. The things I've tried thus far haven't been as effective as I think he needs (as shown by continued wounds from scratching. It seems like as soon as we make progress, he scratches small wounds into his ears again). I have some Tomlyn Hot Spot Spray and was wondering if it's appropriate to use on the outer ear (applied with a cotton ball to avoid dripping into the ear canal). Here are the ingredients:

Active Ingredients​

Lidocaine hydrochloride	2.4%
Benzalkonium chloride	0.1%

Inactive Ingredients​

Purified Water, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, PEG-75 Lanolin, Cetrimonium Chloride, Allantoin, Aloe Barbadensis (aloe vera) Leaf Juice, Propylene Glycol, Denatonium Benzoate, Methylisothiazolinone, Red 40.

Is this too "chemically" to try? Or should it just not be used on ears, full stop?

Any thoughts?

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Seems fine to me for partially numbing the areas where you put it.

Try to use it judiciously as benzalkonium is not great for him in longer time frames and higher doses.

 

[DanielleDL]

Great info @Dr. Jeff . Yes, this would be last resort kinda stuff. I only have it cuz I bought it before we went holistic (he had a really bad hot spot on his surgery leg from the splint months ago), but his left ear is particularly scabby today, so I wanted to give him a little relief if the healing process makes it too itchy to stand. Thanks!

I think I'll dilute it with aloe gel as well. Just want to take the edge off.