Question: My dog has been scratching his ears and shaking his head. My friend said he must have ear mites. I have been giving him ear mite drops in his ears every day for two weeks now and he is scratching his ears so bad that they are starting to bleed. What else can I do for ear mites? ? Jim
Answer: Ear mites are very tiny parasites that can only be seen with magnification. Your vet will need to look into the ear with an otoscope that has good magnification power in order to see them. A sample of the debris from your dog?s ear can be placed on a microscope slide to examine under the microscope for the tiny creatures. Ear mites are easily treated with topical medications. Many products are available to kill the mites in the ear but newer products like Revolution are applied to the skin on the back of the neck.
Many people see their dogs scratching at the ears and assume it must be ear mites, however bacterial and yeast infections are much more common. Your veterinarian can examine the ears and determine what is causing the problem. Sometimes a sample of the ear debris is placed on a microscope slide and stained. It can then be read under the microscope to determine what kind of bacteria or yeast is present. The proper treatment can then be selected.
Regardless of what caused the infection, it is important to keep the ears clean and dry. Use a good-quality commercial ear cleaning solution to clean out the ears daily for a week, and then switch to once a week for maintenance. Keep your dog clean and dry, no swimming or digging until the ears are totally cleared up!
It is very important to have a follow-up visit with your veterinarian when the medication is finished to make sure the infection is gone. Dogs have very deep ear canals and the outside ear can look normal while infection is still lingering deep inside. If you stop medicating too soon the infection will return with a vengeance.
Dr. Baker
Baker Veterinary Clinic
1801 S. Congress Ave.
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
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