# Standard poodle, ear wax/hair



## neVar (Dec 25, 2009)

is he on the same food as the last owner? my first guess would be food allergies. 

be careful with the cotton pads as they can scratch the inside of the ear if your not gentle. 

I rarely clean my guys' ears- i keep them plucked and i flush them when i bath her (every 1-2 months at our least frequent times)


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Swizzle had waxy ears when I first got him. The groomer said it was because his ears were not plucked. She keeps him plucked and I have not had an issue since. I cleaned his ears for a week or two when he had the wax issue. Since then (it has been almost a year) his ears have stayed clean and I have left them alone.


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## Arcticfox (Dec 12, 2011)

How do you pluck your dog's ears? I've tried a bit with Tesla and she HATES it. She'll let me touch and poke around, but as soon as I pluck even a tiny bit of hair she'll turn into crazy demon pup, and no amount of chicken will convince her to let me get my fingers in there.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

The only time my poodle had sensitive ears was after the groomer did a thorough cleaning with Qtips and pulled every lick of hair out of her ears. I was pretty annoyed. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. A little ear wax is normal. As long as it doesn't smell, leave it alone or take a cotton ball and gently (emphasis on gently) wipe out any extra wax with a slightly damp cotton ball (I use a natural ear wash product). I haven't done that much in the last few months. When she was bathed the groomer was also putting a drying agent in her ears, but I asked them to stop that and hand dry them with a soft cloth. Mine hasn't had an ear infection yet. Not messing with her ears too much is working for her, but I do check them and wipe them out if they look dirty. 

It sounds like your guy might have gotten water in his ears that wasn't dried out well and he got a bit of a yeast infection. Yeast can be hard to get rid of. My SIL poodle got a yeast infection that took several treatments to get rid of. His ears had been left wet inside after a bath and his ears are long and heavy for a little guy. He has been fine for several months now. 

I instructed my groomer to hand pull a few hairs with each groom (no more thorough clearing out of hair!) and only if there appeared to be a lot of hair in there. I think a poodle is okay with a bit of hair in the ears, but some get so much it blocks the ear. Most poodles need some ear hair pulled.

As a breed, poodles do have ear issues, but not as much as a breed like a cocker spaniel. All breed with hanging down, floppy ears need them tended to a little bit.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 28, 2011)

I'm with outwest, if it ain't broke don't fix it!! I don't even use cotton in Trev's ears, I've heard that it leaves tiny scratches, which can open the skin to an infection. Same with ear plucking...it opens the surface of the ear to any germs that are in there and allows them to take hold. I usually just flush his ears with plain warm water once a month or so, then make sure they get good and dry afterwards. I rarely pluck his ears, he doesn't grow too terribly much anyway. Every 3-4 months is sufficient for him. And I don't get every hair, just the ones blocking the ear canal. I also make sure I smell his ears regularly...clean ears just smell a little waxy, any other odor and you've got a problem.

I would just finish whatever treatment your vet gave you, (If you suspect a yeast infection, I would recommend making sure that the vet didn't give you an antibiotic...I've heard they can make yeast infections worse. Yeast is a fungus, not a bacteria. Unfortunately, a lot of vets haven't made the connection yet, or so I've heard. ) then afterwards try not cleaning the ears too much, (maybe 1-2X a month) plucking out only the necessary hairs, and see if that helps. Shaving around the ear opening can be helpful for air flow too.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I don't pluck Swizzle's ear hairs - I let the groomer do it. Swizzle has a LOT of hair in his ears unless they are plucked. If this was not the case I would not have them plucked. He has never had an ear infection but before his ears were plucked he had lots of wax and his ears seemed damp - an infection waiting to happen. You will have to judge if your dog needs this. Whatever technique the groomer uses must be good because Swizzle will let you play with his ears and examine them ect. I know there is a powder to help you get a good grip on ear hairs, I have it, but I am happy to leave it to the groomer as she knows what she is doing. I am worried that I would do it wrong hurt Swizzle and then he would give the groomer a hard time.


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## MrsKaia (Dec 3, 2011)

I pluck Cal's ears every once in a while. I check his ears almost daily. To free the ear opening from any excess hair, I use a hemostat. The hemostat is not to allow me to go all the way down his ear canal. It's just to get a good grip on the hair. I only pluck what I can see, and as much as he'll let me. Most of the time it's only small plucks at a time. I do not want to stress him by taking out a whole bunch of hair in one pluck. And if I have to do the one ear today, and the other one tomorrow, that is okay too. Obviously he's not a big fan of the plucking thing, but he lets me do it. Of course I make sure to always have some treats at hand, to let him know what a good boy he's been  Any left over excess hair that doesn't need plucking, I trim away with a small side burn-clipper that runs on batteries. I trim my husband's side burns with a comb and scissors  The side burn-clipper can't handle a lot of hair, but it works great on poodle ear openings. I also use a pair of small curved scissors with a round tip, for whenever that comes in handy. Sometimes I use the hemostat to keep the hair up from places where it seems more sensitive to pluck, and then cut those hairs with the round tipped scissors. I never pluck all the way baby bottom smooth sort of thing. As long as the ear hair in there doesn't look like an upside down safety net that traps the nasty stuff in there. Whenever he starts to shake his ears exessively (like, after every bark), It's time to flush his ears. But it's some months ago since I last had to flush. I never pluck and flush on the same day!


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## Yaddaluvpoodles (Mar 20, 2010)

Two thumbs up to not fixing it if it isn't broken!

When I first got my first poodle.. a few years back, I wouldn't have considered not plucking. I had never heard of not plucking.. it just wasn't done (at least not with the poodle people I knew). If you had a poodle, ears got plucked. Ears were also known as being high risk for infection.. so you plucked, you flushed, you dried.. etc. Everyone I knew had multiple ear care products and remedies for ear problems.

So I plucked Vic's ears. Every so often she would get an ear infection and I would have it treated. Vic is an avid swimmer and water lover, always in the water. If the water isn't deep enough to swim in.. well she puts her head in it. I've seen her drop things into a five gallon bucket of water so that she can plunge her head in and get them out. Silly girl.. but I think you're starting to get the idea here...

Pluck, ear infection, pluck, ear infection. At some point Vic started hating having her ears plucked..and I started questioning whether or not it needed to be done. So I quit plucking. Took her to the vet something.. they plucked (how could you let her ear hair get so long, she's a poodle, gotta pluck them or she's going to get an infection) of course a week later, she had an infection (bad owner.. see. .you should have plucked! Now she has an infection and it's all because you didn't pluck!) 

Ok, so time went on, I tried all sorts of things (never use Nair! I think I may have shared that incident on here previously). Gradually my ear care routine came down to this:

No plucking
Any time Vic may have water in her ears (after swimming, bathing.. playing in the rain.. etc) I put in a few drops of straight everclear (yup, the drink from the liquor store). Massage it around and that's it. In the event I don't have everclear I use one of these options: rubbing alchohol, rubbing alcohol mixed half and half with vinegar, or epiotic if I happen to have a bottle on hand.
Every so often I "straighten" Vic's ear hairs, meaning I just guide them (gentle pull.. not as in pulling them out) so that they are aimed out of her ears.. rather than curling up inside. When I do this, I also check for odor or wax. If there is excessive wax I use one of the solutions above to rinse her ears with.

I keep the hair on the underside of her ear leather and close to her ear clipped short, as the ear hairs grow out of the canal, I scissor them (carefully so that no hair falls back into the canal) even with the ear).

That's it. Easy and Vic hasn't had ear problems in many years.

Now that I have other poodles as well (who also don't get their ears plucked), I have learned that, just as in humans, each poodle is individual. Some poodles build more wax, some less, some have hairier ears than others. What you feed can make a difference in ear health. The seasons and humidity can make a difference. I use the same technique with each of my poodles that I do with Vic and have not had problems with any ear infections for years.


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## cdnchick (Jan 1, 2012)

Arcticfox said:


> How do you pluck your dog's ears? I've tried a bit with Tesla and she HATES it. She'll let me touch and poke around, but as soon as I pluck even a tiny bit of hair she'll turn into crazy demon pup, and no amount of chicken will convince her to let me get my fingers in there.


The first time I did Finley's ears, she went a little bonkers as well so we started off with only a little bit and a lot of treats. 

The second time around, she must have remembered the treats because she was much better about it. Also helped that she was tired out a bit (can't remember from what but the fatigue helped). 

Now, she doesn't really mind it. And when we're done, she get up and look at me like "I just sat through that... now where's my treats?!"

Just don't pull too much at a time... think whatever-hairs-might-catch-between-two-finger-nails amount at a time. 

I find dry ear powder for dogs works REALLY well in allowing your fingers to get a good grip.


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