Whole Dog Journal Editorial Staff – March 20, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holistic veterinarian Stacey Hershman, of Nyack, New York, took an interest in ear infections when she became a veterinary technician in her teens. \u201cThis is a subject that isn\u2019t covered much in vet school,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned about treating ear infections from the veterinarians I worked with over the years. Because they all had different techniques, I saw dozens of different treatments, and I kept track of what worked and what didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maintenance Cleaning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Hershman\u2019s healthy ears program starts with maintenance cleaning with ordinary cotton balls and cotton swabs. \u201cThis makes a lot of people nervous,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the canine ear canal isn\u2019t straight like the canal in our ears. Assuming you\u2019re reasonably gentle, you can\u2019t puncture the ear drum or do any structural damage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moisten the ear with green tea brewed as for drinking and cooled to room temperature, or use an acidic ear cleanser that does not contain alcohol. Dr. Hershman likes green tea for its mildness and its acidifying, antibacterial properties, but she also recommends peach-scented Derma- Pet MalAcetic Otic Ear Cleanser or Halo Natural Herbal Ear Wash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t pour the cleanser into the dog\u2019s ear,\u201d she warns, \u201cor it will just wash debris down and sit on the ear drum, irritating it.\u201d Instead, she says, lift the dog\u2019s ear flap while holding a moistened cotton ball between your thumb and index finger. Push the cotton down the opening behind the tragus (the horizontal ridge you see when you lift the ear flap) and scoop upward. Use a few dry cotton balls to clean out normal waxy buildup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, push a Q-tip into the vertical ear canal until it stops, then scoop upward while rubbing it against the walls of the vertical canal. Repeat several times, rubbing on different sides of the vertical canal. Depending on how much debris is present in each ear, you can moisten one or several cotton balls and use two or more Q-tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to push so hard that you cause pain,\u201d she says, \u201cbut for maintenance cleaning using gentle pressure, it\u2019s impossible to harm the eardrum. I refer to the external ear canal as an L-shaped tunnel, and I tell owners to think of the vertical canal as a cone of cartilage. People are always amazed at how deep the dog\u2019s ear canal can go. I often have them hold the end of the Q-tip while I demonstrate cleaning so they feel confident about doing it correctly without hurting their dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If excessive discharge requires the use of five or more Q-tips, or if the discharge is thick, black, or malodorous, Dr. Hershman recommends an ear flush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n