Ears

Not enough is discussed about Ears!! More specifically Dogs Ears! And getting them clean.

I the picture you can see the opening, the part with all the nobbly bits that folks look at when they look into their dogs ears. But in the picture, you will see the long canal down from that, which is well beyond the nobbly bits and will remain dark & damp, ideal breeding ground for bacteria, fungus and somewhere for maggots to have a nibble, protected & out of the way of claw, shake or cotton bud.

Recently I have come across dogs living with owners that have had really bad ear problems. One was full of running puss & blood was dripping, this had been like this for sometime and the owner had not ( and still has not ) done anything about it.

Another dog I have met, had maggots crawling around in the canal and even after 2 weeks of supposed cleaning, the ear is still full of gunge and very smelly. No maggots though!

The canal is difficult to clean as we are all frightened about going too far in, after our own human experiences of sticking the cotton bud in just too far and seeing our eyes cross in the mirror!

This issue may well be associated with human nature. There is an old English saying "what the eye doesn't see the mind won't grieve" and another "Out of sight out of mind".

If a dogs outer ear is dirty, the canal will also be dirty.

All pet shops & vet clinics stock ear cleaning fluid and whether its tissue or cotton wool, both are readily available in most households. All that is needed is 5 minutes to clean their ears before they get dirty.