Doggie Earaches and Ear Infections

Brinkley has been struggling with earaches and ear infections ever since he was a few months old. Over the past year, I’ve learned some effective ways to lower his pain while avoiding costly vet bills.

Before talking about solutions, I wanted to share a philosophy that helped me understand why Brinkley is so prone to ear issues.

Galen, a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher, mapped a matrix called the Four Temperaments based on the Four Elements- Air, Fire, Water and Earth. The matrix consists of four elements:  hot or cold and wet or dry. This matrix has been applied to countless things, but in this case, it was used as a way to describe dogs.

A holistic vet shared that dogs can either be hot or cold, wet or dry. Brinkley is a hot, wet dog, which means that his internal nature is typically hot and wet. Heat and wetness are easy targets for infections due to the moisture. All of this makes sense when thinking about how much build up could get in his hot, wet ears.

Because of his hot/wet nature, Brinkley’s ears need constant care. I’ve come up with a strategy to keeping his poor ears clean. While the strategy is effective, it’s not enjoyed by Brinkley. It is a good way to avoid ear infections, unpleasant vet appointments, and the bills associated with it.

Cleaning Ears:

A dogs ears should be routinely cleaned out to prevent ear infections and big amounts of build up. Depending on what you think your dogs Four Element nature is depends on how often you should clean their ears. If you think your dog has a hot or wet nature, ears should be cleaned on a monthly or weekly basis. Brinkley’s vet recommended that his ears be cleaned once a week.

Supplies:

When cleaning Brinkley’s ears, I use the following products.

1.     Medical Gauze- medical gauze is used to get the build up out of the ears. It’s thinner and easier to use than a towel, but doesn’t disintegrate like a tissue or paper towel.

2.     Ear Cleanser- You can buy ear cleanser from your neighborhood pet store or your vet to flush your dog’s ears out.

3.     Ear Powder- I picked some of this helpful product at PetSmart.

How-to:

Have your dog lay on one of its sides. Pick up the ear cleanser and squirt a good amount in the ear canal until the ear is filled with the fluid. Massage the ear slowly while the fluid drains. Once the canal is empty, use the gauze to clean the ear of any build up. Once the ear is completely dry, use the ear powder to squeeze in the ear. The powder helps a lot if your dog typically has wet or hot ears. Once done, give your patient pup a treat and flip them over to the other side and repeat.

Warning: your dog probably wont like this. I don’t like having my ear full of cold liquid, and neither does Brinkley. In fact, he knows where his ear-cleaning products are. If I open the closet door, he will immediately try to quietly run away and hide. While not pleasant, his ears are in much better shape now that they are cleaned on a regular basis.