What should I give my dog for her ears?

Question

My dog always had problems with her ears. She hates when I put medication or ear cleansing solution in her ears. She had a hematoma in her left ear and I was wondering what preventive measures can I take to make sure this doesn't happen again. Can someone recommend what I can do and how much I should do and how often? I asked my vet this question and he said when she start shaking her head and scratching at her ears bring her in. I feel like he could have told me to purchase something, clean her ears, flush her ears, something else besides just bring her in when she start shaking her head. As a matter of fact, when she started shaking her head I immediately put medication in her ears, looked in her ears and it didn't seem serious, but the next day there was a lump on her ear and it was hematoma. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks!

Update:

Well, my dog shakes her head all the time. I don't want to take her to the vet every single time she starts shaking her head. It's expensive. $35.00 a visit and then add on the treatment he wants to give her. He told me she's scratching from pollen and I think he said that about her ears too. So, maybe it's allergies. If you think that's the case, what should I give her and for how long and how much?

Rexydoberman · Accepted Answer

The hematoma is caused by the dog shaking their heads and rupturing the blood vessels. And you will want to find the cause of the head shaking, was it from water in the ear or allergies, or an ear infection? I'd just use a dog ear cleansing solution every week and clean the ear.But if it's allergies like my dog had- then I gave him Clemastine daily as an antihistamine as a preventative so he won't feel the need to shake his head.

Yogi and Me · Answer

Vet won't tell you to buy something because if your dog got sick off it, you can sue him. Sorry they will never give you medical advice unless the dog is present and they know what is wrong with him. When a dog shake their head it could be an ear infection and ear infection can be caused by different reasons and that would require different medication. That's why he would rather ask you to bring him in. 
If you want to buy something get ear solution to clean his ears but you have to make sure the solution doesn't stay in the ear and cause an infection. I clean my dogs' outer ear (the flappy part on the inside) with ear solution and cotton ball/q-tips. Sometime even baby wipes help to clean off debris or dirt. When moisture accumulate, that's when they get infections. So keeping it clean helps.

2talll · Answer

Petco sells these wipes that you could use to clean out her ears. Our cocker spaniel is always getting his ears in his water and dirty from just sniffing around. When we were at the vet for his initial check-up the vet said he had a little ear infection and gave us drops to clear it up. She said that since cocker spaniel's ears hang so low that ear infections are common. What my girlfriend likes to do when he's tired and sleepy (so he doesn't think she's playing) is just use a tissue to wipe out the inside of ears every other day or so. We're going to look into getting the wipes from Petco as well hoping that will work better than a simple tissue.

What should I give my dog for her ears?

3 Answers