How do I clean my puppy's ears?

Hello Fellow Calavlierers!

My puppy has brown wax inside her ears. How do I clean this out? Should I use a baby wipe? I don't want to irritate her?

Chelsea's Mum

The brown wax might be an infection. I don't think brown wax is normal - Lucky only had it when he had an infection. Has your puppy been scratching his ears or rubbing his face on teh floor?

Unless your vet has already looked at his ears recently, you might want to take him for a checkup to be sure it is not an infection.

There are ear cleaners you can get and your vet would probably give you one too. My vet gave me a cleaner called Oti-Rinse. http://www.1800petmeds.com/pdetail.asp?SK=2715.

You squirt it down the ear canals, then rub on the ear canal to losen the gunk, and then soak up the cleanser with cotton balls. That's not a very vivid discription, I know .... my vet showed me. Hopefully someone else here (or your vet) can explain it better.

Good Luck.

I would also have the vet take a look at the ears, if there is a lot of wax there may be some infection or something going on. I've never had any wax in Bentley's ears, and he is going on 2 years now (maybe I'm just lucky?!).

You need to purchase a solution designed specifically for ear cleaning. I use clean ear solution by bayer but there are many on the market. I would check with your vet though what they recommend.

I find it easier to use a syringe and put about 1ml into the ear canal (you need to fill it) I then massage the ear for a few minute and wipe out the ear to get the solution and dirt out.

My dogs wax is brown so it may be normal however cavs are prone to problems with their ears so it might pay to see your vet anyway get their recommendation on what products to use, they can do it for the first time and show you how to do it properly and check the ear out also ?

If there are any signs of scratching or discomfort then I would definately see your vet as some ear cleaners can really hurt an infected or scratched ear.

Mine have had wax, with no infection. it's natures way of cleaning out debris. I use Leo ear Cleaner, though Logic (they do ear as well as teeth cleaner) is as good. Leo is the brand my vet prescribes, but it's cheaper off the net.

Zola has always had trouble with her left ear, from major infections to just lots of brown wax and a bit of a funky smell. Anything I got from the vet cleared the problem temporarily and I started to look for alternatives. I came across this on the internet and gave it a go - http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/EarCleanerRecipe.txt
I had to get the boric acid from ebay, but the rest of the ingredients I got in a chemist. I've been using it for about a month and so far it is more effective than anything I have used before. All her gunk was gone within a week and I'm now cleaning about once a week and her ear is the clearest it's ever been.

Dittoing what most have already said here. If the wax is brown I'd get the vet to take a look as ear mites are a rusty brown colour, as can be some infections.

I clean my dogs' ears with a product called Epi-Otic. The instructions are to squirt the solution right into the ear canal, massage & then stand back while the dog shakes his ears violently... letting fly all that gungy stuff. Then gently wipe out with cotton balls or cloth.

You can clean all parts of the dog's ear that is visible to you, but do not poke anything down the ear canal.... that is... into the parts of the ear that you can not easily see into. I use a cotton bud, but I hold it very close to the end that is being inserted into the ear-folds, so that if the dog should move suddenly there is no risk of jabbing the bud too far in or hurting the dog.

When you are next at the vets, get him to show you a picture or an anatomical model of a dog's ear. With a knowledge of the anatomy you will have confidence about what parts to clean & what parts to leave alone.

My first suggestion is to smell it. As you and the dog grow together you will be able to smell the difference between yeast, fungus, and just gunk! As I'm always saying, when it doubt get thee to a vet.

My groomer suggested using equal parts of vinegar and water or vinegar and alcohol (if there is no sign of abrassion). I haven't tried this yet but don't see how they could hurt.

You do need to check out the anatomy of the dog's ear somewhere. Unlike human ears, their ears have a turn in them which makes it very difficult to actually get to their ear drum. HOWEVER, you should still be very, very careful!

Wow thank you so much for the advice - ill get her straight into the vet.... better to be safe than sorry!

the best ways to keep ears clean is to wipe them round inside with a cotton pad with a little surgical spirit until clean then add a little thornit powder this keeps the bugs and mites away

I do this once a week and non of mine have ever had wax build up or ear mites