posted 05-17-2003 10:42 AM         

Poor circulation inside your dog’s ears is the main reason disease and bugs form there. You need to make sure they get a decent level of oxygen, and that can be difficult if your dog is one that has floppy ears.

Ears can be a great place for mites, yeast infections and plenty of different types of bacteria to form. And these things do appear in dog’s ears at one time or another. But if you clean your dog’s ears regularly, that won’t be as big of a problem.

Cleaning your dog’s ears, believe it or not, starts at bath time. You should put cotton in your dog’s ears to keep water from getting inside them. Moisture provides a great condition for these dreadful problems to occur inside your dog’s ears. If you do get water in your dog’s ears, make sure they dry properly. And that can be difficult if your dog has floppy ears. You’ll want to hold them open for a few hours while your dog dries off.

If your dog is one that has hair on the inner ears, you’ll likely have to pluck some hair out of them before you can begin a regularly cleaning process as dictated by your vet. You should do this when your dog is tired, right after a big meal in the evening, so he won’t mind the plucking as much.

Your vet will likely give you a cleaning solution to use when cleaning your dog’s ears. This solution will be different depending on the type of ears your dog has. When you go to clean your dog’s ears, give your pet a treat and squirt some of the solution inside his ears. Then sit there and massage his ears for 30 seconds or a minute and praise him extensively while the solution breaks apart any unwanted substances inside. You may then use cotton swabs to clean out the dirt and grime.