Pet Ear Infections, Causes, Symptoms And Treatments

Ear infection also known as Otitis Externa is very common in dogs, it can cause a great deal of discomfort and pain to your dog. It is very important for a pet owner to detect its symptoms and treat it on time before it get worse.



The pet ear consists of 3 parts, outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The first part outer ear is most prone to the infection and it has been seen that almost 90% of the infections happen to the outer ear. It the reason most pet owner visit vets. If you notice your dog shaking its head more frequently than usual and scratching its ears, you dog may be suffering from ear infection.

What Causes Ear-Infection In Dogs?

Ear infection is a common problem for dogs because of their design. The vertical and horizontal components of it make it difficult for the foreign particles like water or debris to drain out. For the flop eared dogs it is difficult for air to flow inside and it exposes the ear to infection. The ear-infection is caused by bacteria, fungus or parasite. There are various factors that may lead to infection, some of them are:

• Water or hair in the ear

• Allergies

• Foreign material in the ear

• Trauma

• Autoimmune disease

• Tumors

• General skin disease

• Excessive secretion of earwax

• Swollen lymph nodes

• Food intolerance

These are the most common cause of ear-infection in dogs. The dog that spends lots of time outside or swimming are more prone to infections if you don't clean their ears regularly.

Symptoms Of Infections

There are several symptoms that you can watch for easily. If your dog is rubbing and scratching his ears regularly it may be an infection. Your dog's head might shake regularly, you may notice a strong and abnormal odor or black or yellow discharge excluding from the ears. You should check the ear of your dog you will notice the infection clearly after that.

Dog Ear Infection Prevention and Treatment

Once you notice the ear-infection it would be wise to go for the treatment before the condition get worse. Here are few things that you can try to avoid infection in your dog's ears:

• Clean your dog's ear regularly, if your dog's ear is clean always there is very less chances that it will get infected.

• Use mineral oil, apple cider vinegar, or any cleaning agent for the ear cleaning.

• Keep your dog's ear dry always.

• Maintain an appropriate hygienic practice.

These tips will help you to prevent the ear infection in your dog, but you should also know how to treat your dog if it's ear gets infected anyhow. If you want to give initial treat to your dog at home you should start by cleaning the infected ear by cotton balls with any cleaning solution. Then contact a vet for further treatment and medication. You need to act fast before the infection spreads to the inner part because once it gets there it would be very painful for your dog.

Reference:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6294027/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6190182/

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