How to Clean Your Dog’s Ears
Not unlike humans, dogs experience waxy buildup and dirt in their ears. Unfortunately, they have to rely on their human caretakers to clean those ears for them. It’s not difficult to do and can be done at home with relatively little distress to dog and human.
Step 1: Help wanted. Enlist the help of your spouse or a friend. This person will be responsible for soothing and calming your pet throughout the cleaning process.
Step 2: Take a good look inside. Make sure that what you’re about to tackle is only waxy buildup and/or dirt. If you suspect your dog might have an infection or ear mites, or if you see discharge or redness or if there is an odor coming from your dog’s ears, it’s time to call your veterinarian.
Step 3: Get started. Once your dog is comfortable and calm, fold back his ear and apply about 10 drops of an ear cleaning solution directly into his ear canal. (If you want your dog to be organic, you can use olive oil or mineral oil instead.)
Step 4: That feels good! Fold his ear back and massage it gently for about 2-3 minutes.
Step 5: Get out of the way. As soon as you let go of his ear, your dog will understandably shake his head back and forth.
Step 6: Be gentle. With a cotton ball, wipe in and around the ear canal, removing excess wax and dirt. Don’t be afraid to use several cotton balls, but do take care not to probe too deeply into his ear. A general rule is to clean only as far as you can see.
Step 7: Repeat. It’s time to repeat the same process with your pup’s other ear.
Keep an eye on your dog’s ears. How often you will have to clean his ears depends on breed of dog, length of hair around his ear and how much time he spends rolling around in the dirt.
This article was provided by authors from pet-super-store which is an online pet store carrying name brand products from PetSafe, Innotek and Dogtra.