Otic gel treatment improves life for dogs with ear infections

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Treatment of canine otitis externa with owner-administered products can be difficult. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate otic treatment administered by a veterinarian on quality of life (QoL) of dogs with otitis externa and their owners, and on clinical and cytology parameters of otitis; compared to an owner-administered treatment. ANIMALS: Fifty client-owned dogs randomly randomized into two groups and treated for 2 weeks. METHODS: Veterinarians treated Group A dogs with a veterinary licensed otic gel on two occasions at a 1 week interval; owners treated Group B dogs once daily with a veterinary licensed otic drop based product along with twice weekly cleaning. Veterinarians evaluated otitis with the OTI-3 scale and semi-quantitative cytological examination on days 0, 7, 14 and 28. At each visit, owners assessed QoL with a validated questionnaire and pruritus with a Visual Analog Scale. Scores before and after treatment of each group, and differences between groups were analysed statistically. RESULTS: In both groups, all parameters improved significantly. There was a significantly higher improvement of QoL scores, for dogs and owners, in Group A, compared to Group B at all time points (P < 0.05), except for owner QoL on Day 28. There was no difference in improvement of OTI-3 between groups at any time point, whereas Group A cytology scores and pruritus improved significantly more by Day 7 (P = 0.0026 and P = 0.0294, respectively). CONCLUSION: A veterinarian-administered otic gel provided equivalent efficacy and higher QoL to dogs with otitis externa and their owners, compared to an owner-administered topical otic therapy.