How do you prevent ear infections in dogs?

Question

I have a cocker spaniel which I adopted about 6 mos ago. But as soon as she gets over an ear infection she has another one. My vet tells me to keep her ears clean with the solution I have... but she hates me putting anything in her ears. She starts biting and barking. Now she has another ear infection and the only thing she will let me do is massage her ears. My pockets are running on empty with buying meds that she shakes out of her ears... HELP!

Answer 1

Yeasty ears are a sign of food allergies. If feeding kibble look for one with no grains or at least one with no corn. You'll be amazed at the difference, You dog will be much happier too.

Answer 2

If she is continually having ear infections then the barking and biting is probably because her ears are sore. Definitely do what was suggested and switch her food to see if that helps. She will need to be on the new food for about a month before you will see the difference, but a good dog food will definitely help.
If she will let you massage her ears then do so with a kleenex or paper towel (just be careful how hard you rub with a paper towel). This will help to get the wax out of her ears also. After she gets used to you doing that then work your way towards the medicines and solutions. Lots of praise.
If this doesn't work and she continues to bite at you then you may have to consider muzzling her just so you can clean her ears. It is for her health and well being, not punishment.
Luckily she's a small enough dog that holding her down shouldn't be much of a problem, but if it is then first wrap her in a towel, put her between your legs and have her lying down. Most dogs can't shake their head crazily unless they're standing. Even if you can keep her down for 10 minutes, that will help the solution to get down into the ear. She's going to shake some of it out, that's normal, but shouldn't dispose of all of it.
We don't use a vet supplied solution, we use peroxide. All 3 of my dogs have floppy ears too...so far no one has had any problems and their ears stay clean.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

Ear infections are so common with the breeds that have floppy ears like this. We have a Dachshund and went thru exactly the same problems. He was getting chronic ear infections and we could not figure out how to stop it. He was on meds all the time, and no luck. Finally, our vet suggested that when we bathed our Doxie, that we put some cotton in his ears. Not too deep, but just enuf to hold thru the bath and prevent water from getting into his ear canals. The moisture that can get in their from bath time was our culprit. After we began using the cotton balls, we were able to get the infections cleared up and haven't had one in a few years now.

Hope this helps and that your dogs ears can get healed up soon.

Answer 4

When dogs get reoccurring ear infections it can often be related to food. You most definitely should look at changing her diet. We have a lab who suffered with ear problems and skin allergies her entire life. Diet changes have made an incredible difference in her life. The reoccurring ear problems are gone and the allergies are minimal now.

You can learn alot about food, diet, ear problems and solutions at the following website:

Answer 5

You know better then the puppy about what's good for it, so clean those ears! Get help from someone else, use a muzzle if you need to, but get it done. The best thing you can do at this point is get her used to the process - she may not like it, but it is what's best.

Answer 6

i have a dog proned to ear infections, it was a food sensitivity. definately try switiching the food to a grainless food, or a different single protein source and a different single starch source. a fish and sweet potato formula is a good place to start