Dog Ear Care - Keeping Your Dog's Ears Healthy & Pain Free
Posted: Wednesday, December 15, 2004
by Teresa James
Dog-Supplies-Advisor.com
Importance of Regular Home Dog Ear Care
Routine home dog ear care is very important to the health of your dog. Performed between your regular checkups with the veterinarian, it will help keep your dog’s ears healthy and pain free. If you see signs of trouble you may be able to head them off before they require an extra visit to the vet. Excessive wax, foul odor, redness, constant scratching, excessive matting of hair in the external ear, rubbing the ears against other objects, head shaking, and disorientation can all be signs of ear problems.
By performing a home dog ear care inspection you will be able to detect problems early. Use both your eyes and your nose. If you need help seeing inside your dog’s ears you may want to invest in a pet scope. A tool very similar to the kind your doctor uses to check your ears. Check for redness, excessive wax build up or any other foreign matter.
Sniffing your dog’s ears is another way to detect problems early. Normally a dog’s ears shouldn’t smell foul in any way. If you see a dark waxy discharge this may be a sign of ear mites. On the other hand, if you see a pus-like discharge along with a foul smell this may be a sign of a bacterial infection. Allergies are also known to cause some dogs to have smelly ears. If you’re new to this and are unsure have the vet check your dog’s ears. Right after the vet gives your dog a clean bill of health make sure you inspect your dog’s ears. This way you will learn how your pet’s ears should normally look and smell.
Is Your Breed of Dog More Susceptible To Dog Ear Care Problems? Due to the warm, damp, and dark environment, as well as poor air circulation, your dog’s ear canal can be the prefect breeding ground for mites, yeast or bacterial infection. This is why, for certain breeds, home dog ear care is even more important. Some pets may require routine applications of dog ear care products to keep their ears free of mites, yeast or bacterial infections.
Some dog’s ears stand straight up which allows for more air to flow into the ear canal. Dogs with floppy ears, like spaniels and bloodhounds, are very prone to ear infections because very little air flows into their ear canals. There are also breeds, like the Lhasa, that have a heavy growth of hair inside their ears. This hair must be routinely removed as a prevention against chronic ear problems.
If Excess Ear Hair Is A Dog Ear Care Problem Learn How To Remove It If you suspect that excess ear hair is a problem, you may need to pluck the hair that grows inside your dog’s ears. This is a routine dog ear care task that can be performed at home and is much easier then it sounds. You will want to apply dog ear powder to the inside of both ears. Make sure that the hair is completely covered, especially at the base. Once the powder has dried start plucking a few hairs at a time with your fingers or a tweezers. Plucking just a few hairs at a time will be less irritating for the dog.
You may want to stop a few times to give your dog’s ears a good rub. Make sure you give your dog lots of praise and a few dog treats too. Once all the inside hair has been removed, follow up by cleaning and inspecting the ears. If you are unsure about this dog ear care procedure, have your vet or a professional groomer show you how to do it.
Things You Should Know About Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears Some vets recommend that owners routinely flush their dog’s ears with warm water at the slightest hint of odor. Other home dog ear care cleaning remedies include mineral oil, hydrogen peroxide, or a combination of equal parts of vinegar and rubbing alcohol. If your dog has open sores it's best not to use the vinegar and alcohol because it will cause a burning sensation.
If your dog is prone to ear infections you may want to use a pet ear care product that is specifically formulated to clean and dry up excess moisture in the ear canal. A dog ear wash containing Tea Tree Oil, which is also formulated to dry the ear canal is an excellent choice. Tea Tree Oil’s natural antiseptic, antibacterial and fungicidal properties can help keep your dog’s ears problem free.
It’s also a good idea to use a pet ear-drying agent after bathing or swimming especially if your dog's ears retain moisture and don't dry promptly. There are many good pet ear care products available for routine ear cleaning that will dissolve wax, remove foreign debris and dry the ear canal. There are also home dog care treatments available that will kill pesky ear mites and ear ticks.
A dog’s ear canal is L-shaped. It descends vertically and it makes a 90-degree horizontal turn before it reaches the eardrum. Even though your dog’s eardrum is better protected than a human’s, you should still proceed with caution when cleaning the ear canal. Many vets urge caution when inserting anything into the ear canal, especially cotton-tipped swabs. They can actually push dirt and foreign matter deeper into the ear if not handled properly. You can even lose the cotton tip in the ear canal.
Start cleaning the external part of the ear by swabbing inside the earflaps and all around the gnarled area at the entrance of the ear canal. If you choose to use a cotton-tipped swab you will need a long type since a dog’s ear canal is much deeper than ours. If your dog will tolerate it, gently and carefully swab the inside of the ear canal. A much safer method is to fill the ear canal with a pet ear cleaning solution and gently massage the outer ear. After a few minutes allow your dog to shake his head to help clear the ear canal. If you’re using a commercial pet ear care product be sure to follow the instructions carefully.
Make Ear Inspections An Important Part Of Your Home Dog Ear Care Routine
Checking your dog’s ears only takes a few minutes so make it a part of your dog grooming routine. And when your dog’s ears need a cleaning don’t put it off. Remember regular cleanings can prevent many common ear problems. If you think a problem may be developing that is beyond the scope of your home dog ear care routine, take your dog to the vet for a check up immediately. An infection, if left untreated, can be very painful for your dog and could even damage your dog’s hearing.
Related Articles:
What are dog ear mites? How do you know if your dog has them? How do you get rid of dog ear mites?
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Yes, I was searching for an answer as to the benefits of flushing my dog's ear with warm water. My understanding from the article is that using a solution which dries the ear canal is better than using water. thanks.
We have a white shepherd with big ears. Our vet has given us a product called Oti-Clear which helps.
My dog has gone through hell with vets and his poor ear. One day after a long swim some nasty guy rubed his ears and he's had very bad infection. He hated the solution the vet used so much that he attacked me when last I tried to apply it.
thats because it was painfull for him... So here's what I came up with and after over a year of an ongoing progresive infection this is how we cured it.
in a 250 ml bottle mix 33 percent organic apple cider vinigar 20 percent peroxiede (standard drug store mix 2.99) and 20 percent alchool. Drop in the top warm water and 6 drops of tea tree oil. Shake well. let sit
clean as much goo as you can with a cotton ball first cause what comes out will be overwealming to begin with.
now fill his ear with the solution. and rub the outer ear for a good minuite or two. Let him shake it out after. Here is where most of the goo comes out. Then clean his ear with cottons swabs press in gently you should see much goo still coming out.
When the ear and cannal look clean. Saturate a Cue tip with tea tree oil.(make sure you know if your dogs skin can take it.) Do not place the cue tip any where you cant see the end. Just press it in where the outer ear funnels out of site so that the oil presses off. that way only a small bit of pure oil gets in as too much oil in the inner ear will be quite uncomfortable. But its very effective. In one treatment my dog went from running into walls from unbalnced inner ear problem to being his old self.
repeat the wash twice daily and for the direct tea tree application you only need to do this once. after the first time you should dilute it with very good Olive oil. one drop of tea tree for 5 drops of oil then drop in 5 drops in total.
Only do the direct application if your dog has allot of goo deep down. It will naturaly absorve itself in the slime and make it come out on the first application. I stress future applications must be done with Diluted oil. TOTAL COST WAS 18 DOLLARS FOR ALL THE THINGS WE USED. Thats a crap load better than the 1500i spent at the vet over the last year... Who wanted to take out his ear the last time we vistited. What a jerk.. My dog is totaly cured!
Wow, your story about the vet wanting to remove your dogs ear is just so wrong. I am continuously reminded of just how greedy people can be. To think that a vet would remove your babies ear, for $$ in his pocket, rather than telling you of an alternative natural way (that we both know, he is aware of), is disturbing. Makes one question the credibility of our own "medical professionals". I have often doubted the necessity of a "veterinarian" or "physician". I am so glad that you did what you did to save your dogs ear. I do not have the $$ to take my dogs to the vet, and I love them almost as much as my kids. Because of my financial inability to pay, I have been forced to research other method s of treatment. I have saved hundreds of dollars. Vaccines only cost $5 -$7 at a local feed store. Do the math. Anyway, great job looking out for your pet. I hope your story makes others more careful with their choices concerning their animals and loved ones. Alot of medical professionals, are not concerned with our health as a whole, but rather what we hold in our pockets. And they always be looking out for that "sucker".
Thank you for telling your story.I had a simular situation years ago when a Vet wanted to remove my cockers ears.Because of such bad ear infections. I could not afford the treatment.But the jerk was ready to drop the price to have my dog put to sleep.After that we tryed everything at home that we could with no help.We then took our poor boy to VCA animal hospital and thay have been great for our babies for the last 10 years.The vets are carring and when my husband lost his job thay made payment plains for us.Thay know one of our dogs just by her name Panda,She hates the vets office and thay are so good with her.thay know her growl has no bite,so thay never stress her out with a muzzel.Thank you VCA.Thank you.
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