We are seeing a lot of otitis externa this time of year. Some
symptoms you may notice are a bad odor from the ear, shaking the head,
scratching the ears, or even debris in the ears. The doctors do recommend
routine ear cleaning to help prevent this.
Otitis externa is inflammation or “infection” of the external ear canal.
It is almost always caused by allergies and can often lead to a secondary yeast
or bacterial infection. There are different types of allergies that can cause
otitis externa from inhalant to food allergies.
Step 1: Instill a liberal amount of ear cleaner into the ear canals. The ear
cleaner should be gentle on the ears. We recommend using one that does not
contain alcohol, such as Epi-Otic Advance.
Step 2: Massage the cleanser into the canal by rubbing the base of the ear. This
step also breaks up the debris.
Step 3: Wipe out what you can see and reach with a cotton ball. Dogs and cats
have “L” shaped ear canals, so you will not be able to reach in far enough to
hit the ear drum. You do not want to use Q-Tips down in the canal.
Step 4: Instill any medications as prescribed by Dr. Emmert or Dr. Diemer.
