Hi all, I have a 10 month old girl. How often should I be cleaning her ears? She has not started swimming but once the weather turns warm here, I know that we will be having her play in the water Since this is my first puppy and I am a big wuss, I have been taking her to the groomers to get her nails trimmed and ears cleaned. I am thinking of doing it myself now that she is older. So, how often should I clean them and what products do you recommend? Thanks, Priya
I never clean my dogs' ears. You shouldn't unless there is a problem as you can mess with their self-cleaning mechanisms and make them more prone to infection.
Thanks for respoding @snowbunny! Didn't know that either...she is not in any discomfort but her ears smell a a little. Natural doggy smell I guess
If the ears smell, then there may be an infection or mites, so it's worth having it looked at. There shouldn't really be any noticeable smell from the ears.
Hi Priya My boy Pongo has recurring ear infections (yeast/bacterial), so I do pay attention to his ears. I use wipes every few days to gently clean just his outer ear (the inside of the flap), but I do not regularly put any drops into his ear canal - I have been told that that can make problems worse (because it encourages the inner ear to get moist, and that encourages infections to breed). When he has a flare-up of infection (I usually check this out with the vet), I do put "Surolan" drops in his ears twice a day for a few days, and that clears them up. But I try to avoid this as much as possible - they are antibiotic medication, and I don't want to use them unless absolutely necessary). Certainly I know that he is most likely to get a flare up when he has been swimming and got water in his ears, so I watch very carefully then. Pongo is quite patient with me when I need to put drops in, although he doesn't enjoy it. I make a point of being very gentle with his ears when I am wiping them, and trying to make it feel pleasant and comforting, so that he is more happy with me doing nastier things every now and then. And when I do need to put drops in, he know that he always gets a fabulous treat afterwards!
We have to treat Tilly's ears on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes cleaner, and sometimes anti-bacterial. She has had yeast infections from an early age. Cooper has never had her ears cleaned, and does not have any issues.
The ear infection period passes for most. For us I'd say when he reached 15 months. Before that I would use a cotton ball and some special cleaner from the vet and just wipe them out, especially after a lake swim. Yellow gunk and smell is a sure sign of infection.
