Basic Ear Care For Dogs - How to Diagnose and Treat Problems

A dog’s hearing is one of his best developed senses. He can hear sounds too faint for us to detect. He can also hear noises pitched at a much higher frequency. Because his hearing is so sensitive, the dog relies heavily on it to alert him to his surroundings. Sound, which is really air vibrations, is reflected off the external ear (pinna) and enters the comparatively large external ear opening. Vibrations travel down the external auditory canal to the ear drum (tympanic membrane). Movements of the ear drum are transmitted to the chain of three tiny bones, called the auditory ossicles, and then to a fluid filling the body canals of the inner ear. Within the body labyrinth lies the cochlea, a system of tubes in which fluid waves are translated into nerve impulses. These nerve impulses are conducted to the hearing center of the brain by the auditory nerve.

In dogs, ears come in all sizes and shapes—erect, tulip-shaped, and flopped-over (lop-ears). The skin on the outside is covered with hair and like the rest of the dog’s body, susceptible to the same diseases. Hair also is present on the inside flap, although more sparsely distributed. The skin on the inside is light pink in color, or in some breeds, spotted. A small amount of light brown waxy secretion in the ear canals is normal.

Cleaning the Ears

Most dogs seldom need to have their ears cleaned. Excess cleaning is not desirable because a certain amount of wax is needed to maintain the health of the tissues. To clean a dirty ear, moisten a cloth with mineral oil and wrap it around your finger. Then insert your finger into the ear canal as far as it will go and gently wipe the surfaces to remove dirt, excess wax and debris. Also clean the skin on the inside of the ear flap.

Folds and crevices which cannot be reached with the cloth can be cleansed with a cotton-tipped applicator, moistened with the mineral oil. The ear canal drops vertically for a considerable distance before it takes a sharp turn and continues as the horizontal ear canal, ending at the ear drum. The vertical canal can be swabbed without danger of damaging the ear drum as long as the applicator is held vertically and directed downwards. The dog must not be allowed to jerk his head, as the tip of the applicator can then injure the delicate skin lining the sides of the passage. A dirty ear is usually an indication of ear problems. It should be watched closely.

How to Avoid Ear Problems

When bathing your dog, see to it that no water gets into his ears. Prevent by inserting cotton wadding into the ear canals before bathing. Do not syringe, swab or irrigate your dog’s ears with ether, alcohol, or other irritating solvents. They are extremely painful and cause swelling of the tissues. Use mineral oil. Foreign bodies in the ear passages cause irritation and later infection. Frequently, they are due to plant material which enters the ear by first clinging to hair surrounding the opening of the ear canal. For this reason always groom under the ear flaps, especially after your dog has been running in tall grass, weeds and brush.

Always check the ear flaps after dog fights. Serum and blood make an excellent media for bacterial growth. When hair beneath the ear flap is thick enough to interfere with air circulation, it should be removed. This reduces the chance of ear infection. A common practice in some grooming parlors is to pluck excess hair out of the ear canals. Serum then oozes from the hair pores. For this reason, ear infections are more frequent among Poodles, Schnauzers and other breeds groomed professionally. When hair has been plucked from the ear to improve air circulation, an antibiotic preparation should be instilled to prevent this complication.

As an alternative to pulling the hairs out, they can be clipped. In some cases, however, the hair has formed a wad acting like an obstructing foreign body in the ear; then the hair must be pulled out and the ear medicated.