FAQ: My dog has an ear infection. Does he/she need treatment?

Описание: Dr. Christina Chambreau answers Frequently Asked pet parent Questions.
Today's question is My dog has an ear infection. Does he/she need treatment?

The first question to ask is if the problem your dog is showing with her ears if it's really an infection or not. Infection means there's a lot of bacteria present. However, we can have many other problems in the ear. We can have ear mites. We can have inflammation, secondary to allergies where the ear is just red and swollen but there's no discharge. Usually, with infection, there's a discharge. So regardless of whether it's an infection or something else it also could be a splinter that is stuck in the ear or an on from the plant-ons depending on where you live that can be very common.

So the first step anytime your dog is shaking his head and having any problems with the ears, take a little bit of olive oil, then add a couple of drops of Rescue Remedy to it and put a few drops in the ear, and then gently massage underneath the ear until you hear squishy-squishy and, it’s good to do it outside, let your dog shake and see what comes out. Then write down everything you notice. Whether the ear is red or swollen or itchy or has a discharge, has a smell, so pay attention to all of that.

Now if the cleaning out doesn't do it, you can try apple cider vinegar. Dilute it, put it into the ears, again squished around. Colloidal silver, herbs, flower essences are all other approaches that you can use to help clear out ears. Now if your dog's ears are giving him a lot of pain or you’ve tried some of these holistic approaches for a few days and you're not getting anywhere, be sure you go to your veterinarian so they can use their otoscope and take a good look inside those ears in case it's something like a plant-on stuck in there or a deeper infection.

I’m Dr. Christina Chambreau, a licensed veterinarian with HolisticActions!. Have a great day.

Learn all about holistic and homeopathic pet care integrated with modern diagnostics: https://www.HolisticActions.com