How To Clean & Treat A Dog's Itchy Ears: A 2-Step Process
Does your dog have ear gunk?
Ours does.
Here's a vet-recommended 2-step process for cleaning and treating your dog's itchy (and dirty) ears.
Dogs and ear problems go hand in hand -- especially in the summertime.
Our 3-year-old Black Lab, Destin, always gets that brownish-black gunky stuff in his ears.
The vet said this is a form of yeast infection, and the best way to treat it is to follow this 2-step procedure:
1. Clean the ears thoroughly with a dog-approved ear wash. (We use Corium 20 -- got it at the vet.) Bonus: It makes your dog's ears smell GREAT!
How to do it:
- Squirt a good bit directly into the dog's ear canal -- you can't use too much. (When squirting, be careful not to touch the insides of the ear with the tip of the bottle, because your dog will likely jump when the cold liquid hits his ear, and you could hurt his inner ear with the bottle if you're not careful.)
- Use the dog's own ear to close the ear opening and massage all of the liquid around inside his ear -- up high and down low. Use a fair amount of pressure to literally massage the inner ear and work the liquid down into the canal itself. But don't rub too hard -- you'll know when you're being too hard... dogs typically enjoy a light massaging of the ears.
- Then, let go of his ear, and let your dog shake all of the excess ear wash out of his inner ear. You won't have to do anything to prompt him to do this. Your dog will be eager to give a good head shake the very moment you stop massaging his ear... so watch out!
- After a quick "treat" for good behavior, get your dog back into a position that will enable you to look into his ear while his head is resting either on the floor, or on your lap.
- Finally, tear a cotton ball in two or more smaller pieces. Hold your dog's ear "open" with one hand, while wiping a small piece of cotton through the entire inside of his ear. For our Black Lab, it takes about 4 or 5 "wipings" with small cotton balls to get all of the now-loosened gunk out of one ear.
2. Treat the ears immediately with a prescription antibiotic and/or antifungal and/or anti-inflammatory medicine.
We use Otomax -- got it at the vet. (You can also get it here.) Otomax is the absolute best choices for dogs' ears because it's one of the few doggie ear meds that has all three -- antibiotic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory medication -- in one.
How to do it:
- Simply squirt one big drop in each ear.
- Use the dog's own ear to close the opening to the ear and massage the liquid all around the inner ear.
That's it...
This 2-step process typically keeps Destin's ears clean, gunk-free, and itch-free for about 2 months -- sometimes longer! The process itself takes about 5 minutes to do both ears.
If at-home remedies for ear cleaning are preferred, the best mixture to reach for is white vinegar in water as a 50/50 mixture. The vinegar acts to break down the wax in the ear, and creates a pH in the ear which prohibits the growth of bacteria and yeast.
-- Vet4Petz
Why Dogs Get Icky & Itchy Ears
About the only thing we can do is to prevent this from happening more frequently is to keep his ears as dry as possible.
So after he goes swimming, or gets a bath, we use a cotton ball to dry up any water & moisture that remain in his ears.
Since we keep an eye on it, it hasn't really been much of a problem for us. But in those early days, when he was a pup, he was coming down with ear infections every month. Now, it's just part of his grooming routine to get his ears cleaned & treated on occasion.
Oh, and how do we know when it's time to go through the process of cleaning and then treating Destin's ears again?... He will usually start pawing at his ears, scratching them, or tilting his head to one side, like his ear is bothering him. That's when we break out the dog ear cleaner, and the dog ear medicine and we "do ears" -- he knows exactly what to expect.
RELATED:
Home Remedies For Yeast Infections In Dogs' Ears
Natural Remedies For Ear Infections In Dogs
Common Causes & Predispositions For Ear Infections In Dogs
thanks, my dog will now get some vinegar wash since he had disgusted me with frequent visits by the vet who take s my money for ear drops that work for a short time
Thanks for info. Mos scratching has been making her and me very miserable. I will start with vinegar wash. Thanks again
Hi there. I have a 13 year-old husky/lab mix, Caine, who has had itchy ears for the past couple years and it seems to be getting worse. He has been to vet several times and they keep prescribing the same ear drops, which don't work at all! His one ear is so itchy that he is now licking the hair off his one paw in order to wash/itch his ear! I've thought about bringing him to a natural therapist, and I'm also hoping to find a natural remedy to help him. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! =)
I have a chocolate lab, she's 13 yrs. old. Since she was a pup she has suffered with ear infections. I have noticed every time we use the Otomax she becomes deaf. It will last sometimes for 2 weeks. Then she gets doggie vertigo : ( We try to just keep them clean with the 1/2 water, 1/2 white vinegar. That seems to do the trick.
See your vet! That sounds really bad, I'm no vet but I would not try a home remedy if you think your dog is likely to go deaf.
Hello, I have a 3 yr old chocolate lab with a nasty ear problem. I can clean her ears with the ear cleanser the vet gave me (Malaseb)before we go to bed at night and she is waking me up at 7 and 8 in the morning because she scratches the inside of her ears to the point she whines. I have give anti histamines for allergies and I have given drops that are supposed to provide some relief but nothing has worked. I am a 23 yr old college student I can't afford to keep making vet visits. I saw one reader give their dog yogurt, does that work? What are some other home remedies I could use that would bring her comfort but still keep me out of the negative. Please help!
hi my these 8yr old terrier has had ear problems for 8mnths.all vet was giving was antibiotics,steroids and drops butprblem would return after about 5 wks.gave up with the vet for now started using thornit and within 2 days,ears are looking much improved.id be careful about putting liquids in his ears because if ears dont dry properly the dogs can get yeast infections
thank you for the tip about the vingar it seems to be working for my 14 year old wheaton terrie
I was pleased to see that we are not the only ones that have itchy ears in the "family"!! I did use the same medication as you did but found that the ears became bright red and I mean bright red which seemed as though it was causing pain. Did you have the same effect with your dogs? I have 3 siberian huskies, but only the white one has this problem.
i have a yorkie and his ears just itch like crazy!! we even got him eardrops but there not working! what should i do now?? when you read this immediately e-mail me at: aurrietaylor@yahoo.com or aurrieakacutie@mchsi.com..thank you. get back at me ASAP!! thank you again.
My dog is fifteen,she has chronic ear infections. I noticed she has a crusty sore over her eardrum. I'm very worried because she seems deaf. I was wondering if it is ok to use vinegar and water mixture?
I have a shih tzu and hes been itching his ears alot and i tried cleaning it and he keeps moving or at the end he would scratch his ears even more. im so sad i dont know what to do. Take him to the vet is going to be the same they're just goin to inform me on cleaning his ears. Shih tzu are the kind of dogs that are usually NOT SUPPOSED to get water in their ears. So if i SQUIRT the ear cleaning solution in his ears would that be okay? Someone Pleaseeeeee help :[
i have a 7 yr old white female lab - skyy - cronic ear infections - shakes her head so much that she had to have surgery to remove the hemotomas - used the stuff from the vet - but it has alcohol and burns and she is quite displeased with this aspect- have switched to a natural clove based product and she is doing better - but yeast infections keep coming back - going to try yogurt in food - we feed twice a day - plus 50/50 white vinegar and watch - and use the soak the cotton ball, squeeze it out, put several in ear flap and hold for 30 seconds - remove cotton balls - let her shake like crazy and then put in dry cotton balls and massage to remove any guck and dry the inside of the ear and flap - wish me luck - this procedure will probably be a several treat - lots of mommy loves you situation
Thank You so much for such great advice. I'm postive Pepper will love me even more for fixing his problem. Now he will have more time to play instead of stoping every 5 min. to scratch his little ears. Thank You Again , Adam and Pepperoni
Thx, will give it a try.
I took my 4 year old shih-poo in for his yearly checkup yesterday. He's my first dog and thought a little ear scratching was normal. I've been getting him groomed every 2-3 months and having his ears cleaned but I'm not sure if he let them do it. The vet told me yesterday that he has a yeast infection. I've done pretty well for a first night of cleaning and antibiodics but your site was really helpful for other tips.
Thank you so much! It's 4:54 AM and my little Maltese woke me up by shaking her head so much. I found your site by googling it but have now bookmarked it. I have cleaned out her ears but will be taking her to the Vet as soon as he opens for some antibiotics. Thanks so much for your page! It lessened my anxiety about what was wrong with my sweet baby! Thanks again, Kiki
I found this site very useful. We've got a 9 year old Mini American Eskimo (female). She's been pretty healthy, up until recently, her ear has been bothering her. A fair amount of wax came out of her ear and it was very smelly. I've been reading all the feedback on other sites about home remedies and some of them seem very worthy of trying. I want to try using equal parts vinegar and water tonight and continue for the next week or so, and a little eucalyptus oil as well. I'm not about to go to the VET right away and pay a small fortune. Anyone out there have any success with vinegar and water? Or even perocide and alcohol?
gail