Have you ever thought about cleaning your dog’s ears but aren’t quite sure how to go about it? What do you use? When should you go to the vet for an ear problem?

We are here to provide you with some helpful advice on cleaning your dog’s ears and how to know when you really have a problem!

With that said, let’s dive into 5 Things To Know When Cleaning Your Dog’s Ears!

1. Use The Right Cleaner

One of the most common questions we get at our hospital is what can clients use to clean their dog’s ears. This is really simple: all we recommend for most dogs is using a gentle commercial ear cleaner that can be purchased over-the-counter.

Don’t use water. Don’t use alcohol. Yes, there is a mixture of vinegar and water you could use, but we don’t recommend it because it requires careful measuring and it’s just more difficult than using a commercial cleaner.

What sets a good commercial ear cleaner apart from home remedies?

  • Self-drying – usually there’s some type of drying agent within the cleaner that will no moisture behind. Water left inside the ear will likely result in an ear infection.
  • Non-irritating – If anything, there will be something within the cleaner that will soothe the ear canal such as salicylic acid
  • Good Track Record – I always recommend products that either I’ve personally used or ones that have very high ratings on Amazon with hundreds or thousands of reviews.

There are a couple great ear cleaners you can get on Amazon. The Epi-Otic product is something we’ve used for years in our own hospital. For some reason, it apparently isn’t capable of being shipped everywhere.

Another great product is from the folks at Pet MD and contains medications in it that can help to control chronic infections in dogs. Ketoconazole within the ear cleaner is a great controlling agent for many dogs that fight chronic issues.

2. Use The Correct Technique

You can search on YouTube or Google and find 100 different ways to clean a dog’s ears. The reality is very simple. Using a bottle of commercial ear cleaner, stick the open end of the bottle into the ear canal and squeeze gently. You want enough fluid into the ear canal that you can hear that distinctive squishing sound when you rub the base of the ear.

After you rubbed the base of the ear, then stand back and let them shake their head and try and dislodge as much of the fluid as possible.  This is probably too late to mention maybe you want to clean those ears outside or in an area that is easily cleaned like a bathroom.

Once they’ve gotten a good shake of the head and plastered your walls, take a soft piece of tissue or gauze, cover your index finger (really any finger is okay) and wipe out the discharge you can see. 

3. Don’t Go Farther Into The Ear Than You Can See

While it’s not easy to push a piece of tissue or cotton ball so far into the ear canal that you can no longer see it, it is possible. It’s also possible that, while cleaning the ear, your dog will suddenly jerk their head or move in a way that could cause damage to their ear drum if you’re too far down the ear canal.

As Far As You Should Go

If the ears are that bad that you feel you need to clean that far down, then you likely need to see the vet anyway. We will talk more about this further down in the article.

4. You Don’t Need To Always Pluck Ear Hair

Many dog breeds (such as Poodles) naturally have big tufts of hair growing out from inside their ear canals. While it can be tempting to think you need to clean this hair out in order to keep the hair clean, the opposite is commonly true.

Dogs with lots of hair in the ear canal usually find protection in that hair. The only reason to remove the hair in the canal is if there is an ear infection and the hair is impeding your ability to instill medicine and clean the ear.

5. When You Need To See The Vet For An Ear Problem

There are a few basic issues that should prompt you to call the vet for an appointment concerning the ears:

  • Pain – is your dog constantly shaking its head? Crying when he/she scratches the ears? Have you tried to look into the ear but they resist you mightily when normally they don’t care? Go to the vet.
  • Swelling – if the flap of the ear is swollen you should see the vet. While this is usually a condition called an ear hematoma, it requires treatment of one kind or another. This depends on the true origin of the problem so your vet will know what to do.
  • Copious Discharge – Copious means that it seems like you’ll never get all of the debris out of the ear. It can also mean that, while you cleaned the ear just yesterday, there’s so much discharge in the ear again that you need to clean today. This usually signifies an infection.

Know When Your Dog Needs An Ear Cleaning

If your dog has chronic ear infections, I recommend weekly and sometimes bi-weekly ear cleanings to stay on top of what’s being produced in those ears. 

For the regular dog that rarely has issues with the ears, you should make sure that those ears are cleaned with a commercial ear cleaner after they are bathed or after they’ve been outside in the rain or snow. 

Make checking your dog’s ears a regular part of your daily routine. Everyone rubs on their dogs heads and it’s becoming more and more common to see people applying toothpaste to their dog’s mouth daily. Why not add in an ear check that literally takes three seconds?

Just flip the ear flap up so you can see if there’s any discharge or redness. Does the ear seem painful? Does it smell?  

Pretty Clean Ear – Very Mild Discharge

Should I Clean The Ear If I Know I’m Going To The Vet

If you’re going into the vet that day, don’t clean the ear. We like to see just how bad the ears truly are in order to give us a sense of how aggressively we need to treat the ears.

It can also affect test results. Many times we like to get a sample of that discharge to examine under a microscope. We can see bacteria and/or yeast organisms that way and if you clean the ear right before the visit it can present an altered picture of what is really happening.

My Dog Always Seems To Have Ear Infections

When a patient of mine comes in with an infection seemingly every few months or at least I see them 3-4 times a year with an ear infection (especially if it’s in the same ear), I think one of two things:

  • We never finished eliminating the prior ear infection. Just because the ear smells and look clean doesn’t mean an infection isn’t there. A vet will have to utilize their fancy otoscope (that device that they use to look down into the ear canal) to look deep into the ear canal down to the eardrum to certify an eye truly clean.
    • A cytology can be very beneficial to identifying what type of infection is present and to guide the vet in their treatment decisions. You can’t just treat based on the way the discharge appears. 
    • If you’ve been treating an infection and it’s not going away, it could be because your dog is being treated mostly for a yeast infection when it’s actually bacterial. 
  • There’s An Underlying Cause That Hasn’t Been Addressed.  See our article on Why Does My Dog Have an Ear Infection (coming soon) for a more in-depth look at what causes ear infections.  

In Conclusion

We hope you got some great insights about your dog’s ears in this video. We highly recommend following up with your vet if you dog has any ear problems.