Ear Cleaning

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

What ear cleaner product do you all use to clean your adorable guys' and gals' ears? After a very fun session or bribing with chicken to clean his ears, Hendrix has decided he hates the foam cleaner and apparently only his groomer can clean his ears. He's usually okay with me poking and prodding around in his ears (he once lost a twig in there... Long story) and after losing his ear solution we grabbed something from the local speciality pet store. Frankly I don't blame him with the hatred of the foam; the stuff stinks. So before I go shopping again, I thought I'd ask here. As far as the frequency, his groomer recommend about every 2 weeks - does that sound about right?

[HeatherH]

He's use to me play with ears and paws and stuff and brush him. I clip usually just his duclaws. After long hike I give him a full body massage cause I want to make sure he's not bringing anything in with him or hurt. I use just a pet store cleaner and usually just wipe them from time to time. He puts up a fuss but I just give him a full kong he's happy.

Heather

[Stacy_R]

I don't ever clean ears just to clean ears...except for my min-pin because he is a yeasty dog and requires it.

Couple of questions:
1) Why did your groomer recommend every 2 weeks with a solution?
2) You aren't putting it down his ear canal are you?

If you are just cleaning the inside of his ears you can use witch hazel on a cotton ball. Witch hazel is natural and is a natural anti-fungal. And it's cheap.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Stacy - she said whatever cleaner I could get was her recommendation. I think she was mainly suggesting it as perhaps a precaution rater than scheduled maintenance? We live in a dusty city and his favorite past time is playing in the part of our garden where it's loose, dry dirt. So he will sometimes have dirty ears. Personally don't feel too good putting it down his ear canal so I usually put it on a cloth and wipe his ears if I notice they're a little dusty (after getting him to shake his head first) or he's scratching at them more than usual for a bit.

[Stacy_R]

If you are just wiping the ears to get rid of dust/dirt, I would just get some witch hazel. Soak a cotton ball with it and wipe until the ear is clean (this may take a couple of cotton balls). I wouldn't put anything down the canal unless you have an issue that needs to be addressed i.e. some sort of infection.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Awesome! I'll try that. Thanks Stacy!

[Stacy_R]

no problemo! I hope you get the results you are looking for.