Dog Grooming Pet Grooming: Dog Ear Cleaning Tips To Keep Your Dog Healthy

Regular ear check-ups and cleaning contributes to healthy ears, free of painful infections. We as owner are responsible to do regular ear health check-up for our dogs at home. If you are sending your pet to a groomer, ear inspection is one of the important area to care for. Did you notice that your dogs have hair growing inside the ear canal? Sometimes it can be quite smelly if not clean properly.

Basic Ear Cleaning Steps

1. Get ready the cleaning tools. Lift and expose the dog’s ear flap, using your thumb and index finger, remove hair as needed around the external ear opening.(Tips: Pull in the direction of hair growth and only small amounts of hair at one time. You can spray a light amount of medicated ear powder in ears and make the hair easier to pull)

2. If there is hair in the ear canal it should be removed when there are no signs of ear health problems. However, NEVER clean or remove hair more than one-half inch down into the ear opening, that area further down in the ear canal is best left to veterinary care.3. Using hemostats , carefully grasp small amounts of pet hair and pull outward toward you. Be very careful of their sensitive ears. Never probe further down than one-half inch into the ear canal opening. You must be extreme caution in order not to disturb or damage the ear drum. Clean the hemostats after drawing out hair and wax, and continue removing hair until done.4. Although you do not clean ears more than one-half inch into the ear canal, observe the condition of the pet’s ear beyond the cleaning limit and report any potential problems. You may see foreign matter, a discharge, heavy wax buildup or even a melanoma (tumor). Record your suspect observations so that you may accurately report them to the Vet.

5. Look for additional ear wax and matter to clean from the ear. Moisten cotton ball very lightly (absolutely no dripping) with a small amount of commercial ear cleaning solution, and swab and clean the ear canal area outward to the ear flap. Repeat as needed. This procedure may soothe irritated skin from the hair removal process depending upon the ear cleaning solution you use. Ensure you have removed all ear powder from ears.

6. Finally, it’s wise to sterilize tools and properly dispose of ear wastes and soiled cotton.Do not over clean your dog’s ear. If you over clean the ears, the result will be redness, or the dog may start scratching ears where it wasn’t before. Ears should be cleaned of matter as noted above, and reasonably freed of pet hair too. However, if you see the dog’s skin becoming irritated by the pulling, remove a reasonable amount of hair only and soothe pet’s ear with the lightly moistened cotton swab mentioned above.

As you clean ears you may uncover conditions that were previously not observed during the ear inspection procedure. You may discover a Hematomas, the swelling of the ear flap due to blood going into the tissue or serum under the skin, or foreign matter or swelling, etc. Discontinue further cleaning when you uncover any serious ear problem, and inform the pet owner that veterinary inspection is in order.

Water and excess ear cleaning solution must never get in pet ears. Do not use water in the cleaning process. Do not syringe pet ears; it is a veterinary procedure only. If you are uncertain how to proceed, don’t. Seek professional veterinary care. It is best to advise the pet owner to seek veterinary attention rather than your aggravating a condition. When you bathe any dog you should also place cotton in their ears to prevent water from entering the ear canal, and the ear area (especially on those dogs with ear flaps) must be completely dry so as not to provide a damp environment favored by bacteria and fungus.

Hope you’ve found this dog grooming tip useful !