Ear diseases in our pets cause them much pain and discomfort. The most common ear disease that is seen in dogs and cats is ear mites. You will notice that your dog or cat is scratching furiously at his or her ears and they shake their heads a lot as well. The mites are living down inside of the ear and they crawl around inside of your pet’s ears and cause much discomfort to your pet. The scratching may become so intense that the ears may start to bleed. Dogs may even scratch at their faces too as a way to relieve the discomfort that they are experiencing with ear mites.
You can look down inside of the ears on your dog and cat and you may notice that the ears have what looks like black dirt inside of them. This is a sure sign of possible ear mites. The ear mites are more easily visible underneath a microscope. There bodies are flat and sort of round in shape and they have eight little legs and they are black in color. If you do suspect that your dog or cat has ear mites, take your pet to your local vet and what they will do is take a sample of the “dirt” from the ear canal and place this onto a glass slide and then look under the microscope for any movements.
If the problem is ear mites you will be sent home with an over the counter medication which will probably be a tube of ointment and you will apply the medicine down inside of the ear twice daily. If you do have any other pets at home but you have not noticed them scratching their ears it is still a good idea to go ahead and treat their ears for ear mites as well since it is very contagious from animal to animal.
Another common reason for a dog or cat to scratch their ears and shake their head is because they have an ear infection. This can cause as much discomfort and sometimes more just like ear mites do. You may not notice any “black dirt” inside of the ears but there will be a foul odor from the ears and this is a good sign of an ear infection.
The symptoms are the same as they are for ear mites and with an ear infection. You will see your dog or cat scratching profusely at their ears and constantly shaking their head. You may even hear your pet whining a lot too because they are in so much discomfort. Your local vet will take an ear swab and then smear the sample onto a glass slide and then look at this sample under a microscope.
Your vet will send home a tube of ointment to use twice daily and in some cases oral antibiotics are sent home with the animal.
There is also another problem that can occur to your pet’s ears if the scratching and and head shaking has gone on for a while without attention. A hematoma can come up on the ear. This is cause by excessive trauma to the ear caused from scratching. A hematoma can occur when ear mites are present or an ear infection. A hematoma is caused by the buildup of blood and fluid in the ear between the skin and the cartilage.
There is a medical procedure to take care of this problem. The vet will make an incision on the underside of the ear and drain the fluid out. Then the area will be flushed out with an antibacterial solution and possibly sutured and a small drain tube may be placed at the incision site to make sure all of the bacteria gets drained out. Oral antibiotics are sometimes prescribed and you will be given a tube of ointment to apply to your pet’s ear twice daily.
Ear mites and ear infections can occur in dogs and cats and they do not have an age or sex preference. Ear mites are most commonly seen in cats but they do affect dogs as well. If you notice your pet’s behavior changing in anyway contact your local vet.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a licensed vet but I did learn many useful tips and information during my many years working for one.
