Dog Ear Infection Treatment

Dog ear infection treatment can help your sick dog. Home remedies dog ear infection includes cleaning and hair trimming. For an alternative dog ear infection home remedy, use water and white vinegar.

If you have a dog that suffers from ear infections then you may be looking for an effective dog ear infection treatment. You see your pup scratching their ear or shaking their head regularly. When you look at the ear, it’s reddish, smells nasty and looks like it needs a serious cleaning. What do you do?

The most obvious answer is calling a veterinarian. There are several prescription plans for a dog ear infection. However, if you’re on a budget or want alternatives that aren’t chemically based, those exist too. A lot of families find that the cost of veterinary care is unaffordable. So when you want to try a natural approach it may be worth a try.

Consider natural home remedies after consulting your vet on a 'first' visit - ask your vet for low-cost options; a good vet will care enough about the pet to give you good advice. Some vets also have call-in radio or television shows - call in for advice but make sure that you have all your symptoms clearly written out before you call.)

Why home remedies? Because many dog ear infections can be cleared up without medication. A good ear cleaning and on-going monitoring can fix the situation. By regularly checking your dog's ears, you will be able to notice changes in color, smell, and discharge early enough to develop effective at-home treatments; if you let it go unchecked or don't catch the problem early on - visit your veterinarian for help and advice.

Dogs with floppy ears, and those who love to swim, most commonly develop ear problems. Also, watch out in the summer months if you turn the sprinkler on (and your dog loves to run through it) or if you turn the water hose on your dog - avoid the ears, and the head.

Dog owners need to be diligent about cleaning their dog’s ears and trimming the hair so that the ear canal receives adequate air to lower the risk of infection. And dry off your dog’s ears after a wash or swim or other water activities.

• Ear mites
• Chronic ear infections
• Basic ear infections (note that about 1/5 of all dogs with basic ear infections also have food allergies that alleviate the problem once discovered)
• Secondary infections - your dog has developed a viral infection that spreads to the glands and causes the ears to become inflamed and infected.

If you’re looking for home remedies - dog ear infection, then the easiest thing to do to clean your dog’s ears is make a solution that is half water and half vinegar. Use cotton balls to apply it, gently rubbing. You can add a little rubbing alcohol (about 1 tbs. to one cup water/vinegar) for dogs in a high risk category.

Next, please remember that keeping a dog’s ears clean is very important. Even after the infection clears up, if you don’t do regular maintenance they’re very likely to have a recurrence.

Once the dog’s ear is clean and dry, consider a dog ear infection home remedy of olive oil. A drop of olive oil on a clean cotton ball or cotton cloth, and gently wiping the outer ear area will help to keep the ear lubricated but not moist. (This can also help with dry scaly skin on the ear - which is sometimes a side effect from over-cleaning.)

If your dog does not respond to home remedies, please take them to see your vet. It may well be that infection is in the middle ear or inner ear (which makes it more difficult to treat topically) and it will require medical attention. These infections tend to be far more severe than outer ear infections and can become very dangerous to your dog.

If you go to your vet, an antibiotic may be prescribed as a topical treatment (this is a common dog ear infection treatment). Like any medication, this must be used appropriately or it will only exasperate the condition. If your dog’s condition is caused by allergy, it may be controllable by anti-histamine or by carefully regulating the canine’s diet.

The best prevention: check your dog’s ears regularly, and keep them clean, dry and well maintained.

We also recommend PetAlive's Ear Dr. for dog ear mites and ear infections if you need a good dog ear infection treatment for your pet.

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