Animals and Pet Care
Your Pets Ears
by
Dr. Rod Jouppi, Walden Animal
Clinic
INSTRUCTIONS FOR EAR CLEANING
Grasp the tip of the ear and pull it straight up and slightly away from
the head (toward you).
Fill the ear with cleaner until the
liquid just starts to spill out of the ear canal. Some of this cleaning
liquid can also be rubbed on the ear flap if necessary.
Grasp the ear cartilages at the base of the ear and gently squeeze or
massage the ear canal. You should hear the medication "squish" in the
ear. Continue with the massage for 1 to 2 minutes, then let the pet
shake the cleaning solution from the ear. Remove loose debris from the
ear flap and entrance to the ear canals with a dry cotton ball or cotton
swabs.
Never push cotton swabs down into the
canal of the ear. This will force debris further into the ear. Use the
swabs to clean debris only from those areas of the ear you can clearly
see.
Repeat the cleaning procedure .
Your ear medication should be paced in
the ear immediately after the cleaning procedure. Always consult a
Veterinarian if your pets ears look irritated, have excess discharge or
if your pet is shaking his head or scratching at the ears.
PROPER MEDICATION OF YOUR DOG'S EAR
After placing the medication in the ear, massage the canals as outlined
above for the cleaning procedure. If you have enough medication in the
ear, you will just begin to hear a "squishing" noise as you massage. I
the inner part of the ear flap is involved, place half of the prescribe
amount indicated above in the ear canal and place the other half on the
involved part of the flap. Spread the medication over the flap with your
finger (ideally covered with a finger cot or rubber glove.) The entire
affected area should be covered with a very thin layer of the
medication. If medication/debris is noted to accumulate on the flap part
of the ear, it can be washed away with a shampoo whenever necessary.
Prior to shampooing, however, the opening to the ear canal should be
plugged with dry cotton balls to prevent water from getting into the ear
canals.
