How to Spot Dog Ear Infection Symptoms: A Comprehensive Owner's Guide

I have two dogs with floppy ears (if I include Derby, three) and early on I learned the answer to the question: What Are Dog Ear Infection Symptoms?

Only a few months after I was born my parents got a pure bred Golden Retriever, named Kiko.  I wrote a little bit about her in my Puppy In Training Timeline.  One thing I did not mention in my timeline was the fact that poor Kiko had chronic ear infections.  Later I would discover that this very common in floppy eared dogs and both my Labrador Retrievers, Derby and Stetson have had reoccurring ear infections.

Dog Ear Infection Symptoms

image by seeks2dream

One of the many things we learn as Guide Dog puppy raisers is to inspect our dogs from head to toe on a daily basis.  We do this by first turning our dogs “belly up” between our legs, getting them relaxed, and then feeling and inspecting every part of their body including the ears.  It’s during these inspections that I will first notice any kind of ear infection.  Pretty much every time I’ve found an ear infection in my dogs it begins with one ear being a bit dirty usually from some kind of discharge.   Basically in my experience the discharge can look anything like a little bit of extra dirt to wet looking slime.  Another common thing I’ve noticed is a redness in the ear and also sometimes the inside flap of the ear gets a leathery appearance.  One final symptom I’ve noticed is a change in smell.  A smelly ear is another possible sign of an ear infection.

Those are some of the most common dog ear infection symptoms I’ve noticed.  However, I had one experience with Derby where I did not really notice any unusual discharge.  Here are the symptoms I noticed with Derby:

• Scratching the ear
• Redness inside the ear
• No discharge
• Shaking of the head

I did not suspect an ear infection after these symptoms, but after a routine check up the vet determined that he did indeed have an ear infection.

Just a couple weeks ago Stetson and I made a trip to the veterinarian’s office to have his ears check.  This time it was a bacterial infection causing the  infection.  Last time it was a yeast infection.  I’m not too sure how many different kinds of ear infections there are, but so far Stetson and Derby have both had yeast and bacterial infections in their ears.  Treatment is different depending on the infection so I would not try to self-diagnose your dog.  If you notice an infection in your dogs ear make sure you get him checked out by your veterinarian.

What Cause Dog Ear Infections

Check out this post at Petfinder.com: What causes dog ear infections, and how can I prevent them

In the petfinder.com article the question is about floppy eared black labs just like my two boys.  Here’s a little bit from the article:

After reading that paragraph I guess Stetson is doubly predisposed to ear infections because he has dog skin allergies and floppy ears…no wonder why he seems to get ear infections 3-4 times a year!  I had heard before that long eared floppy dogs are much more likely to get ear infections than dogs with cropped or ears pointing upward like a German Shepherd.  However, for some reason Linus and his floppy ears have been immune to the ear infection (knock on wood).  The difference I’ve noticed between Linus and my two Labs is that his ear canal is much wider than either Stetson’s or Derby’s.  I’m guessing that less debris or dirt gets caught up in his ear canal (because it is much wider) making Linus’s ear a less susceptible to bacteria compared to Stetson and Derby.

How Do I Prevent Dog Ear Infections

More from the Petfinder.com article:

Our veterinarian prescribed a cleaning solution for Stetson and Derby’s ear that we squirt and drain about once a week to keep the ear canal clean.  I’m not sure if this is the medicated cleaner mentioned in the article, but it seems to keep their ears clean.

One final point on prevention: If you take your dog swimming or give him a bath make sure you thoroughly dry out his ears.  If water gets trapped in the ear canal it could be the cause of your puppies next ear infection.

Do you have any tips on how to prevent dog ear infections?  Do you know of any early dog ear infection symptoms that might help prevent a visit to the veterinarian?

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