How do you treat a dogs ear infection at home?

Answer 1

The infection will usually clear up if you can clean the ears. There are many brands of ear drops that you can buy at pet stores. They generally consist of sweet oil and glycerine. If the dog will let you, put several drops of the warm oil in his ear and massage the base of the ear--then stand back. The dog will vigorously shake his head and sling oily crud all over the place. It is best to do this outside. Repeat this once a day until the dog stops pawing at his ears then continue treatment on a monthly basis or after you wash the animal to keep the ears clean and the infection from returning. Do not be tempted to insert any tool (cotton swab etc.) into the dog's ear canal since this can cause permanent damage and will probably get you bitten. If the infection is so bad that the dog won't let you touch his ears, you need to get the animal to a vet for treatment. If the infection is accompanied by foul-smelling drainage, does not improve or if it worsens after a couple of days of the above treatment, the infection may be the result of ear mites or some other more serious cause. Take the animal to a vet.

Answer 2

The best answer is to take the dog to the veterinarian to have the infection diagnosed properly - sometimes dogs have itchy, red, smelly ears for reasons other than infections. The veterinarian should make a microscope slide of some of the exudate (the smelly ear-wax like stuff in the outer ear) and also closely examine the internal ear structure with an otoscope. Based on this, the veterinarian will be able to tell you if the infection is just in the outer ear canal (and therefore likely to be treatable at home) or if the ear drum is ruptured (which will likely need surgical drainage by a veterinarian). The veterinarian will also be able to tell you if there are Gram positive, Gram negative or yeast organisms in the ear, which will dictate what kind of medication will work best.