Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How reliable is ear cytology for diagnosing dog ear infections
By Lehner, G et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2010·Small Animal Medicine Clinic, Germany·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Reproducibility of ear cytology in dogs with otitis externa.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 83 dogs, including Golden Retrievers and West Highland White Terriers, showed signs of ear infections (otitis externa) and had microbial organisms found in their ear samples. The study involved taking swabs from both ears to check for bacteria and yeast. It was noted that dogs with floppy ears were more likely to develop these infections. The results from two swabs taken from the same ear were consistent for bacteria, but there was only moderate agreement for yeast. This suggests that ear cytology can be a reliable method for diagnosing ear infections in dogs.
People also search for: dog ear infection treatment · why is my dog shaking his head · Golden Retriever ear problems · West Highland White Terrier ear infection · dog yeast infection in ears
Abstract
Eighty-three dogs with clinical signs of otitis externa and with ear cytology revealing microbial organisms were studied. Samples were collected from both ears of each dog by inserting two swabs successively into each ear canal, rotating each once through 360 degrees and then rolling it out in a line on to a glass slide. For each animal, four single parallel smears (SPS) were made on one slide, which was then appropriately labelled to identify the animal as well as the order of the samples. The slides, one representing each animal, were subsequently stained with modified Wright's stain. Six high-power fields of every SPS were counted. Golden retrievers and West Highland white terriers were found to be predisposed to developing otitis externa (P=0.0006 and P=0.0123, respectively). Otitis externa occurred significantly more frequently in dogs with pendulous pinnae than in dogs with erect pinnae (P=0.0009). There was no significant difference between the first and the second samples with respect to the number of microorganisms found (P>0.1 for cocci and P>0.5 for rods and yeasts), and there was a substantial agreement between the results of the two successive swabs for the presence of cocci (kappa=0.765) and rods (kappa=0.705). For yeasts, the agreement was only moderate (kappa=0.581).
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20605955/