# Helpful Ear Hair Photos



## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

I thought I would post this, since my family owns a dog that is anatomically (if frankensteinishly) useful. I hope it will help everyone learn about their dog's ear anatomy, where all that hair comes from, and how far down you can clean!









This is Pepper, my parents' 9-year-old enormous Spoo (old photo is old, he does not have his moustache anymore!). He is their first poodle, and since they refused to take their more educated groomer daughter with them on their puppy search, they came home with a BYB puppy. We certainly still love him, of course, but he has his problems, and one of those problems was a chronic terrible ear infection for the first two years of his life. It was treated with the usual cleanings, ointments, drops, antibiotics, even (ugh) steroids, but never fully went away, so we had to take the extreme measure of having a lateral resection surgery on that ear. As it turned out, he had an abnormal flap of skin over the entrance of the middle ear canal that kept all the medication from reaching the infection in the first place. He has never had an infection since the surgery and is far happier for it.

A *lateral canal resection* means they surgically open the upper part of the ear canal where it runs just inside the skin and cartilage to the point where it makes a sharp turn into the middle ear, which is deeper in the head. So the opening of Pepper's ear is about an inch and a half lower down on the side of his head, behind the cheek muscle.

This is a photo of his frankenstein ear prior to plucking and cleaning. Notice where the majority of the hair is, most of it as at the top, where the natural opening previously was.









Here is the same ear after plucking/cleaning.








The blue dotted line is where Pepper's ear was surgically separated. On your poodles, this whole section, called the upper ear canal, is closed up. It's about an inch, to an inch and a half deep on most Spoos. The majority of the ear hair most poodles grow is right at the natural opening (the part at and above the blue arrows seen here). Pepper does not grow much ear hair, which is why I don't bother to pluck it more than a few times a year (if there isn't enough of it to block or fill up the canal, it likely will not cause a problem). Some poodles (particularly those with very dense, heavy coats) will grow a lot more hair than this, some of which is deeper in this upper section of the canal. The hole at the bottom is the entrance to the middle ear canal. They DO NOT grow hair farther into the middle ear.

Personally, I only pluck ear hair with my fingers and ear powder for grip. I will only use hemostats if the hair is so greasy and dirty that even with powder I can't get a hold of it. I hate the "grab it all and twist" method with hemostats that many groomers employ. The dogs hate it, and by ripping out big chunks at a time, you can cause raw spots and thereby infections. I simply pluck a little at a time with powder and my fingers until it's all gone. I always keep my fingernails short for this reason! Your mileage may vary.

When you use your favorite ear cleaning solution, you can typically spread open this whole area (on a cooperative SPoo) and get a whole knuckle's worth of your finger in there with a cotton ball to wipe it out. On Minis and Toys, naturally this area is much smaller. You can only clean what you can reach, but no matter what size your poodle is, you can't reach the eardrum which is deep inside its head. Just the same, don't stick Q-tips or hemostats down in there, they don't like it and you can still hurt them by doing so, especially if they don't cooperate. You can also use the method of tipping a few drops of solution down into the canal and letting the dog shake its head. This can help break up wax in the middle ear and the head shake brings it out into the upper canal, where you can wipe it out.

I hope this is helpful!


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## Rowan (May 27, 2011)

Wow--great info! 

As for ear cleaning solutions, do you have a preference (brand)?? There are so many--foaming cleansers, gel cleansers, natural ones. I purchased the Virbac Epi-Otic for my new addition Merlin who has a yeast infection. Is this a good one?

When I was at the vet with Merlin, the vet tech squeezed a _lot _of ear cleanser into his ear and then massaged it in. She didn't do much to remove it, except dig around with a few swabs. :-( 

My other poodles don't have much ear hair and don't get infections so all I do is wipe the 'outer ear' with a wipe. (Vet always says they have nice, clean ears--I must be lucky on that front.) 

So...this (deep) ear cleaning thing is unchartered territory for me. 

Thank you! This is really great info and you went above and beyond with the visual aids.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Rowan said:


> When I was at the vet with Merlin, the vet tech squeezed a _lot _of ear cleanser into his ear and then massaged it in. She didn't do much to remove it, except dig around with a few swabs. :-(


Yes, that is how you flush the ear. This is exactly what I do to mine each week. I pour it in liberally, massage the base of the ear, and then let them shake their heads. Then, I wipe it out with a cotton ball.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

> As for ear cleaning solutions, do you have a preference (brand)??


I prefer cleaners that aim for natural ingredients, and barring that, at least one that doesn't have alcohol. At work we use a brand similar to Oxyfresh (I can't remember it off the top of my head). It has a slight hydrogen peroxide solution which makes it bubbly to break up wax. At home, I just wipe my dog's ears with witch hazel. As long as they don't have any soreness, it seems to work just fine.

There are many different homemade ear cleaning recipes as well, some with white vinegar, some with gentian violet. Generally they need something astringent in them to break up wax.

If you are dealing with a bacterial or fungal issue like yeast, however, those need stronger treatments (as you are dealing with microscopic beasties you need to kill), from the vet or otherwise. I'm not familiar with the one you mention so I can't give an opinion there.


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## sneakers012 (Jun 2, 2011)

Wow! You must by psychic! I have calls into about 4 groomers now, asking them if they pluck poodle ear canals and none have called me back! I guess I will try it myself with the help of your visual aids!!


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## littlestitches (Dec 28, 2009)

Those are great instructions. 

My son had similar surgery on his ear just before Christmas to repair damage he had to his ear drum and to remove a tumor like growth in his middle ear. They also made his ear canal larger, nothing like the enlargement Pepper has, but I would say twice the size it was before. He has tiny ear canals, I doubt that they are 1/2 a centimeter in diameter. 

If Pepper felt anything like my son, his ear feels much better now.

Paula


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

I do the same as ChocolateMillie, except with surgical spirit (aka rubbing alcohol). I wouldn't use it very often, as it can be drying, but he only needs his ears done every couple of weeks. I squirt a load in, fold his ear flap down and massage, massage, massage (while Vasco moans in ecstasy :smile, then wipe it out with a cotton pad. Then he runs around like a maniac shaking his head and rubbing his face on the sofa. Then we do the other ear. That, and some plucking (not all the hair, though) seems to work for us.


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