Properly Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears
Keeping your dog’s ears clean is extremely important to ensure the health of your dog.
It’s best to check your dog’s ears weekly. Make sure there is no unusual redness or swelling, and that no fleas, ticks or mites have taken up residence.
If your dog is itching his or her ears, it is best to take your dog in to your veterinary professional to have his ears checked. This could be the result of a bacterial or yeast infection, or of fleas, ticks, mites or other risks associated with being outdoors, especially in the summer time. If this is the case, medical treatment is required, usually in the form of a topical treatment, or sometimes as an antibiotic injection or pill. Most of these cases are very easily treatable.
Fleas, ticks or mites are also easily preventable. We recommend a monthly topical preventative, such as Vectra or Sentinel, to protect your dog’s ears and overall health.
If your veterinary professional does find an infection in your dog’s ears, he or she will likely take a swab and look at the specimen under a microscope to determine if it is a bacterial or yeast infection. This will determine the most appropriate medical treatment.
Make sure if you do maintenance cleaning of your dog’s ears at home that you use an anti-fungal, anti-bacterial dog ear cleaner, available at your veterinarian, and clean your dog’s ears gently using cotton balls, not q-tips. Q-tips can cause more damage by poking the dog’s ear drum and possibly injuring it. Regular, gentle cleaning will decrease the chances of your dog developing a fungal or bacterial infection.
View our How to Properly Clean Your Dog’s Ears Video here