Content

• Advice

• If the dog is in pain and makes the examination difficult, the veterinarian may give the dog a sedative and ear sanitizer. This helps the veterinarian see the eardrum and allows the topical medication to penetrate the skin.
• Do not use the medication on your dog without consulting your veterinarian. If the eardrum is damaged, the medication can get into the middle or inner ear and cause permanent imbalance or affect the dog's hearing (even deafness).

Look for symptoms of an ear infection. Ear infections are often extremely painful and uncomfortable for your dog, so be careful when your dog is constantly rubbing and scratching his ears. You may also notice that the dog's ears are red, swollen, hot to the touch, foul, and have pus discharge (like a thick layer of wax or pus). There are many causes of ear infections (ear lice, bacteria, or fungus). Therefore, you should take your dog for diagnosis at the vet.

• If you are not sure if your dog has an ear infection, compare the two dog ears. If one ear shows abnormal signs or irritation, the dog is likely to develop an ear infection.

Clean the dog's ears. You should choose a mild cleanser, a pH balanced, moisturizing and volatile. Choose water-based products instead of cleaning dog's ears, as water can penetrate deep into the ear canal to remove sticky pus and bacteria. Place the tap of the ear wash bottle into the ear canal and comfortably squeeze the water into the ear. Cover the ear canal with a cotton pad and massage the dog's head outside. Remove the cotton ball and wipe off any water that is dripping from the ear. Repeat until the dog's ears are completely clean.

• If you notice that your dog is tilting his head to one side, the dog most likely has torn her eardrum and ear wash could get into the middle or inner ear. You should stop using ear sanitizer and see your dog vet.
• Cleaning the ear pus can reduce the amount of bacteria and help relieve the itch. However, if cleaning your dog's ears causes pain or swelling in your dog's ears, stop and see the vet.

Look for signs of infection caused by an external parasite. If both ears are healthy but the dog is still scratching the ear, the dog is more likely to become infected with an external parasite (such as a flea or scabies).Check to see if fleas and flea feces (flea debris) are pushed from the hair into the ear and cause an ear infection in your dog.

• Fleas move very quickly so you can not always see them. Flea debris looks like brown dust and when wiping it with damp cotton you will notice an orange halo from the dried-blooded flea bites and recovery.
• The scabies lice are very small and cannot be seen with the naked eye. However, you may notice that the dog's coat is duller than usual, especially in the ear and legs.

Pay attention when your dog scratches his ears and tilts his head. Having a foreign object like grass or hay in the ear canal is a common problem in dogs. Watch for signs of a sudden itch after a walk or if a normal dog suddenly tilted his head to one side and frantically scratched his ears after a walk.

• Foreign objects such as grass can travel down the canals of a dog and cause severe itching. Your dog may tilt its head to the side if there is a foreign object in the ear.

Take your dog to the vet to get rid of the foreign object. You may not be able to look deeply into the dog's ear for a foreign object. Because the ear canal is shaped like an "L", foreign objects can slip into the deep. The veterinarian needs to use an ear canal (a magnifying and illuminating device) to look deeply into the dog's ear. The veterinarian can remove the irritating object from the ear with a particularly long forceps called a biopsy clamp.

• Removing the strange object does not take long and will not cause your dog pain.

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Advice

• Do not take standard over-the-counter medications to treat your dog's infection without first consulting your veterinarian. When infected, dogs need antibiotics to kill the bacteria or fungus. However, the antibiotic must be used under control so no over-the-counter or pet store product is allowed to contain the antibiotic ingredient. So over-the-counter medications may not be as effective or irritate your dog.