Cleaning Ears.

[Harpster]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but whats the best way of cleaning lab's ears is there a right and wrong way of doing it

Chris..

[_Diesel_]

I dont know if theres a wrong was of doing it but i do the following

I use either cotton wool or ear cleaning wipes.
Pull the ear back
Wrap the wipe around my finger
Put my finger down the ear canal and gently rub

Diesel loves it, he usually rubs his head against my finger whilst its in his ear
There is a clensing solution you can but but i got some wipes from P@H as they last a lot longer.
Hope this helps you

[TOPDOG1]

Another ear question.

How often should you do this as we've never done this with Max? Our vet told us just to check his ears and that they would smell if there was a problem, otherwise just leave them alone.

Anyone have any views on this?

[Harpster]

Thanks, i am a bit worried about pushing my finger in to far causing the muck to go further in, didnt want to make things worse.

Chris..

[_Diesel_]

I have to admit i was worried about making it worse too but it seams to work and hes fine with it. I can poke and pull alot and Diesel doesnt seam to bother. He just sits there and enjoys it

I rarely have to clean his ears. The only time they start to get dirty is when hes brewing an ear infection. Everytime i go to clean them they are usually already clean.
Id say i clean them about once a month if that and thats only if they need it.

[lyndseyandalfie]

I use cotton wool, just rub in round in my hands to make sure its moulded into a proper ball and then wipe. I can normally just tell how far to go. Alfie loves it to

[Tarimoor_Art]

I rarely clean Tau's, but she doesn't usually get mucky ears. Unfortunately Indie does, and I use cotton buds to get any big bits I can see, and just give them a wipe round with a slightly damp piece of kitchen towel. I tend to put the buds/kitchen towel in, and only wipe up and away from the ear canal if that makes sense? Once they've dried, I treat with thornit powder as a preventative. Her ears tend to get worse with damp wet weather, but she is a real muck tub and loves splashing in every puddle!!

[Silke]

I use baby wipes (non scented, sensitive skin ones) as recommended by someone on here and used as described expertly by Kate above!

I tend to clean them if I see Buddy shaking his head a lot or holding it over to one side. Or if there is a lot of obvious dirt / wax in there. Not that often, maybe once a month-ish? I have no idea if that's right but it seems to work for Buddy, no ear infections yet (touches wood).

[Basil]

I tend to only clear the mud n gunk from the outer ear, I leave the canal well alone as really ears are designed for the gunk to work it's way out naturally.

IF the canal needs cleaning, build up of wax or infection then it should be done with a cleansing solution.
The correct way to use this is to open the ear flap lift the ear upwards and pop the nozzle into the canal. If it is in correctly the nozzle should pretty much stand up in the ear on it's own without you holding (ie it should be in quite far).
Then squirt. Remove bottle. Holding ear flap up still to prevent shaking massage the ear canal - to do this you actually massage the side of the head just below the ear (imagine where it runs from throat to ear and follow that). Work from the bottom up for 30 seconds.
Then allow to shake and wipe the excess gunk and cleanser gently with a clean cotton ball pad.

My dogs are both prone to ear infections so I'm sadly well practiced at cleaning.

Alternatively you can buy thornit which is a dry powder that draws gunk out of the ear. A tiny pinch is placed in the outer ear once a week.

[pam1]

I don't mess with my girls ear either but I check them regular, make sure they are pink.