Tips and Tricks for Cleaning Your Dog's Ears!

Source: https://www.replenishdog.com/vet-notes/tips-and-tricks-for-cleaning-your-dogs-ears-83h99

Have the recent pollen and environmental allergies caused your dog to scratch its ears? Rub his face and ears on the ground? Are you seeing brown or black ear discharge?

A few thorough ear cleanings can help clear up ear discomfort and prevent ear infections! Read below for some tips and tricks of how to clean your dog’s ears.

First off, here’s a quick description of what a dog’s ear looks like. A dog’s ear canal is actually in an “L” shape with a vertical canal and a horizontal canal. Because of this L shape, it is hard for wax and gunk to get pushed up and out of their ears in comparison to our ears where wax just has to go straight out. For this reason, dog ears tend to get more ear debris build up and are more prone to ear infections.

Here are the steps for how to clean your dog’s ears at home:

Purchase an ear flush made for dogs

• Hold your dog’s ear flap straight up and pour the ear solution down the vertical canal
• NOTE: It is safe to put the ear flush nozzle into the ear canal. Since their inner ears are in a “L” shape it is extremely hard to hit the ear drum
• IF your dog will not let you flush the solution down its ear, another trick is to fill a cotton ball with ear cleaning solution and then massage the cotton ball around the inside of the ear and gently let the solution fall into the ear
• Next, massage the base of the ear where it meets the top of the head to help break up any gunk that might be stuck in the ear
• After this step, STAND BACK, because your dog will likely shake all of the ear gunk all over you 😊
• Then, go back and wipe out the inside of the ear with a tissue or gauze. Remember, it is very hard to hit their ear drum so use your finger to wipe out the inside of the ear as far as you can gently go.

Some gentle and effective ear cleaners that I really like using are the following brands:

1. Epi Otic by Virbac
2. Triz Ultra + Keto by Dechra
3. pHnotix by Vetoquinol

If there is a significant amount of black or brown ear discharge try cleaning their ears daily until it resolves. If the discomfort and discharge persist, seek medical advice from your veterinarian.

Now for the hard part… Trying to catch and hold your dog for the whole ear cleaning process… Good Luck!