Keeping Your Dog's Ears Clean

Your canine companion's lifeline to the world are his senses. You need to clean your dog's ears periodically if you want to keep them free from infection. When hair and moisture build up inside your dog's warm ear canal, conditions become ripe for bacterial growth to bloom, so you need to clean your dog's ears to keep the oxygen flowing.

Watch your dog for signs of ear infection that include:

* Cyclic shaking of the head.

* Fetid odor coming from the ear.

* Red inflammation of the leather of the ear.

* Brownish "gunk" accumulation inside the ear canal.

Cleaning your dog's ears yourself is very easy and can be done by using Earthbath Grooming Wipes, Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. First, use the wipes to gently clean your dog's ears on the leather near the canal. Once this area is free of debris, moisten a Q-tip with the alcohol and gently work around the contours and protrusions inside the outmost portion of the canal itself. Never put a Q-tip in any part of your dog's ear that you cannot see. You could rupture his eardrum or cause other damage.

Once you clean your dog's ears of as much debris as you can, it's time to decide if you need to remove any hair. This is not as difficult as it sounds if you have the right tool. A pair of small forceps or long tweezers are ideal for grasping and pulling small sections of hair out as you clean your dog's ears. Do your best not to actually pull the hair out; you're only removing it from his ear canal. Doggie ear grooming powder also improves your grip as well as aids the ears to dry out again. By pulling out small sections at a time your pet shouldn't feel too much discomfort if any.

Keeping your dog's ears clean is easy to do once you get in the habit of doing it on a regular basis. If more than two cleaning cycles go by and your dog is still shaking his head and you are still noticing brownish build up in his ears, take him to your veterinarian as he may have a world class case of ear mites or other illness and it should be addressed immediately.
 by www.pawshop.com - Your pet gift headquarters