# Ear Plucking Concerns



## Amccaughey

Hello, 

I am a new poodle owner! I purchased my 4 month old standard poodle in April and she came home to Alaska on May 31st.

Last week she went to the vet's office for her third series of vaccinations. She had A LOT of hair in her ears, im suprised she could even hear anything. The vet told me to wait an additional 2 weeks before taking her to the groomer, and since there was such a large amount of hair, the vet went ahead a plucked her ear hair.

It was horrible. She used hemostats, and pulled out a giant wad of hair all at once, poor Maizie screamed and yelped and I dont blame her.

I asked the vet if there was any potential complications that could come from ear plucking, she said no. However it has now been a few days and I have noticed what looks to be large amounts of dried blood in her ears.

Last night my husband and I gave her a bath and i used wet wipes with witch hazel to try to clean out the blood. She cried and yellped while I was cleaning out the left ear but not so bothered by the right ear.

Today I have noticed she is being whiney, following me everywhere, and hasnt had much of an appetite.

Has anyone else experienced dried blood in the pooch's ears after plucking the hair? I have done some research and found that plucking too much hair will expose the hair follicles and the ear becomes more suceptible to ear infections.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!


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## Feathersprings

I wonder if it is a yeast infection and not dried blood.. It would look dark reddish brown and can be dried out or sort of waxy. There are a lot of different opinions on pulling hair from ears. When i was grooming i did but not the way your groomer did it! Im sure that hurt. It is the opinion of some that the pupping hair can actually cause ear infections.. my Vet does not recommend it. I would just use a non alcohol ear cleaner and dont wipe.. it is probably very irritated.


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## 3dogs

You will find different theories on this subject. Poodles I do pluck out ear hair on. It can get very long & deep inside the ear. The more often one plucks the less ear hair there is to pluck & to get down in the ear canal. I pluck my dogs weekly. 6wks on some is way to long. I usually clip out as much hair as possible on the inside of the ear flap as well to get air down in there. I wouldn't use Witch Hazel that stuff can burn. Find some nice ear wash, use a q-tip & gently clean out the yuck in the folds. Put a few drops down in the canal, rub gently & let your pup shake about 5 minutes later clean out the gunk.
Yes, puppies do scream when plucking. It isn't suppose to hurt due to it being dead hair BUT I think if a young pup has not had the gentle exposure of a little plucking at a time then it is an uncomfortable experience. I just had to do 5 pups that ranged from 13-16wks that hadn't had their ears done & it went from no noise on 2 pups to all out scream on another. 
Now that the ears have been plucked, & cleaned you have a new slate to begin with. Use ear plucking powder or corn starch & put a little in the outside ear & gently pluck a few hairs at a time. I sometimes do this while on the couch with my dogs. Doing this weekly prevents buildup of hair, conditions your pup with positive praise & hopefully when your pup goes to the groomer there will be very little to pluck.


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## CharismaticMillie

Yes, like everyone said there are different theories about ear plucking, and, honestly, I think it depends on the dog. I am pretty sure I gave Millie and Tiger pretty bad bacterial ear infections from an attempt at plucking their ears. I have found that their ears do best if I just leave them. 

Now if your pup's ears were really that full of hair, I can see needing to eliminate some of the hair. Probably, rather than removing all of the hair at once and thus resulting in such trauma, I would have plucked a few hairs at a time, maybe every few days. Also getting some little scissors and trimming away some of the hair could have been less traumatic for a little pup.


I would take your pup to the vet. It sounds like she could have an infection from the plucking.


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## Countryboy

I thought that I was plucking Tonka's ears properly . . a few at a time . . and every third day or so. 'Til I got him to my groomer and watched her go in with a hemostat and pick out a lot of nasty hairs that I couldn't even see before! 

I still check his ears regularly. And just scrape out the very few small brown 'patches' with a fingernail.

I have limited experience with Poodles. But something that causes bleeding and scabs maybe is not such a great thing?


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## spoospirit

_I have had different experiences depending on the dog. Taffy, an apricot, had very little hair in her ears and never had a problem with ear infections. I used to use an ear cleaner solution with Q-tips and cotton balls to clean them out and she was good to go.

Billy, is black and has very thick hair in his ears. He does not get ear infections, but he does get the waxy buildup and it will smell. I clip his hair with a small pair of blunt ended scissors as much as possible. Then I use a hemostat to pull small sections of hair out at a time. 

I can't believe your vet went in and just grabbed a big wad of hair and pulled it. That had to be painful no matter how you look at it. 

The hair I pull from Billy is not dead but very attached and alive. I know he feels it as he makes a little grunt every now and then when I pull some.

I hope your baby's ears are okay._


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## Amccaughey

I have never owned, nor known anyone who has owned a poodle before so I was clueless as what to expect when it came to the ear plucking. She isnt acting like her ears are bothering her but I am going to keep a close eye on them for the next day or so, I may end up taking her back to the vet just to be sure there is not an infection. Does anyone have a particular brand of ear cleaner they prefer?


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## buddyrose

I use hemostats for my black toy poodle's ears but I never grab "a wad" more like tiny amounts. And once in awhile he'll yelp and then he's fine. I also keep my nails very short and sometimes use my fingers. The hairs come out easily that way. Like others, I have blunted scissors and I cut back the long hairs around his ear opening. I would never use witch hazel or alcohol wipes inside my dogs ears. Would hate for anything to drip into ear canal. One time I went too deep into the ear canal and he yelped so now I'm even more careful.

Like I said in another thread, hearing my little dog cry gives me the willies.


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## Doggroomer812

*Plucking ears*

As a Groomer, I see all types, thicknesses, volumes, and degree-of-attached-ness in ear hair. Each dog reacts differently, as each dog's hair pulls differently. Some dogs hair practically falls out at the lightest touch, while other hair won't budge even with tons of ear power and strength. Some dogs react better and have cleaner canals with a better longterm prognosis with plucking the ears... Others do better leaving the hair (if it isn't overly substantial) and just trimming the length. However, if the hair is left in the canal, it needs to be monitored so it doesn't get matted.

It is important to use an ear powder to give you a grip on the hair, some powders also have a numbing effect which can help with the process. The technique you use to pull the hair can depend on what the dog will tolerate. Some dogs prefer just a few hairs pulled by hand at a time. Other dogs do just fine grabbing a larger section and twirling the hemostats to relase hairs one by one as e hair gets pulled tighter. 

The key is frequent plucking if you are going to pluck... So you aren't pulling a rug out each time.


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## Liafast

I have found that using Listerine on the ear leather really cleans up the wax. I put it on a cotton ball and the wax rubs right off, for inside the ears I use ear cleaner.


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## JE-UK

Well, kudos to your vet ... what a terrific way to build a lifelong phobia to ear handling in your pup ...

I pluck, but not all the hair, and I do it two hairs at a time, and I use lots of treats. 

If I were you, I would start some remedial, reward-based lesson immediately, using lots of yummy treats to minimise the discomfort. Your poor girl!


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## poodlemommy1

I use epiotic solution (get it at the vet's) for ear wash. It's gentle, yet dries out the ear enough to keep 'em clean. 

I've had 2 standards that had chronic ear infections, I had to keep on 'em all the time -- and I mean ALL the time-- or they'd get so bad I'd have to get the "magic potion" from the vet, some combination of antifungal and cortisone for the itching that she puts into a small squeeze bottle. Both of those girls (the dogs) had lots and lots of hair in the ear. But the 2nd one didn't ever have an ear infection until someone was telling me about the great powder they had for ear hair, dumped some in her ear, and that was the beginning of her ear infections. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but that was the beginning. I hate the stuff.

My male standard has the teensiest ear canals I've ever seen, I can't even get a q-tip in there. I've never plucked his ears much, but the couple times I did the hair came out really easy.

I've used needle nose pliers to pluck the hair. And I agree, cutting it (if you dare to use a tiny pair of scissors around that area - my poos are not very trusting of that- poke 'em once and they get the googly eyes, trying to watch what you're doing...) does help prior to the plucking.


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## poodlemommy1

Liafast said:


> I have found that using Listerine on the ear leather really cleans up the wax. I put it on a cotton ball and the wax rubs right off, for inside the ears I use ear cleaner.


Man, Listerine burns my MOUTH, I can't even think of putting it in an ear....


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## Fluffyspoos

I normally pluck then clean the next day. Last friday I plucked Vegas's ears, cleaned them right after with an alcohol solution, then we went hiking, where he proceeded to play in the waterfall.

We are now treating a very red, angry ear with zymox while his head is coned. My mistake, miserable poodle.

Make sure not to clean and pluck on the same day! Give the hair follicles a chance to close before irritating them with cleaner, because Vegas also scratched his ears and scratched the inside, causing more damage.


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## outwest

My groomer pulls some hair out of my pups ears every time she goes. Usually she leaves a little in there and she has never had issues with ear infections or them bothering her. This time I picked her up and she has been shaking her head on and off all day. I looked in there and those ears are clean as a whistle, not a hair in sight! And, they are red.  I put some neosporin on my finger and rubbed it around in there and she seemed much better after that. Hopefully, tomorrow they won't be irritated. I think I will ask her not to pull ALL the hair out of there.


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## Rowan

Feathersprings said:


> I wonder if it is a yeast infection and not dried blood.. It would look dark reddish brown and can be dried out or sort of waxy. There are a lot of different opinions on pulling hair from ears. When i was grooming i did but not the way your groomer did it! Im sure that hurt. It is the opinion of some that the pupping hair can actually cause ear infections.. *my Vet does not recommend it.* I would just use a non alcohol ear cleaner and dont wipe.. it is probably very irritated.


My vet is the same, and considers each poodle on a case-by-case basis. If there's a lot of hair, she'll recommend pulling what can be reached (not with hemostats and _not _all at once). If a dog is prone to infections, she recommends keeping the area under the ear shaved and clean/dry. In such cases, she recommends pulling the hair but not all of it---just enough so you can easily clean and dry the ear. Doing it in small increments seems to be key.

ETA: I just thought of this. All three of my rescues had horrible ear infections. It took over a month to clear Merlin's up. But now that it's gone, his ears are nice, dry and don't smell. He doesn't shake his head or scratch any more. And you know what? I haven't plucked a single hair out of his ears. (I didn't pluck Brandy or Lord Byron's either for that matter.) I think diet plays a role as does "hygiene" to some extent, because these are the only two factors that changed upon adoption. 

If someone ripped my hair out like that, I'd do more than bite them. I feel bad for your little pup and hope she's okay!


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## faerie

i don't do a lot of plucking on temperance's ears. just a bit here and there and what i can get with my fingers. she has a fairly small hole. seelie'shas more hair in there, so i'm more apt to pluck a bit more, but only what i can pull w/ my fingers.


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