# Smelly ears



## Dina (Jan 24, 2016)

Hi everyone.

My mommy says my ears are smelly.. even since day 1. She has tried those ear cleaners on cotton balls and tissues. my ears seem clean but always smell funky. Oh and no ear infection here. Do you know any good products to help clean these stinkers out?

Are those ear wipes any good?










Xoxo Hugo

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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

Smelly ears are usually associated with an infection, did your vet have any ideas when you got his ears checked? I usually put the ear cleaner directly into the ear, then massage it (you can hear it squishing around as you massage), then let him shake and follow up by wiping the ear out with a cotton. Repeat until the cotton comes out clean.


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## Summerhouse (Jun 12, 2015)

I'm not a fan of ear plucking but I do trim out everything I can from in the ear and shave the inside of the ear leather to try and maximize air circulation. I also use otodex ear drops about once a month for a couple of days just wiping away any gunk that comes out.

That's a gorgeous photo


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## Dina (Jan 24, 2016)

The vet told us he was doing great. No issues whatsoever. When we got him groomed she trimmed as much as she could our of the ear and the ear leather. And we clean his ears 1-2 times per week. No gunk comes out but they just always seem to smell. We have tried dripping cleaner into the ear then massaging it in, then wiping with tissue, and the same with cotton balls. I have also tried putting some cleaner on the cotton ball and than massaging the ear with the cotton ball inside. His ears seem normal no problems just seem to stink. They are also not very hairy either.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Summerhouse said:


> I'm not a fan of ear plucking but I do trim out everything I can from in the ear and shave the inside of the ear leather to try and maximize air circulation. I also use otodex ear drops about once a month for a couple of days just wiping away any gunk that comes out.
> 
> That's a gorgeous photo


I had never heard of otodex so I googled it - it's an antibiotic. I'd be concerned that you might create antibiotic resistant bacteria using it often when there wasn't a true infection? I'm not a vet and I don't pretend to play one on TV, so I don't know how vets prescribe this medication and for what use.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Skylar said:


> I had never heard of otodex so I googled it - it's an antibiotic. I'd be concerned that you might create antibiotic resistant bacteria using it often when there wasn't a true infection? I'm not a vet and I don't pretend to play one on TV, so I don't know how vets prescribe this medication and for what use.


Skylar you are correct that chronic sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics can contribute to antimicrobial resistance. I would not use such a product without consulting a vet.

Wax in the ears can be a sign of allergy in addition to infection so that might be something for the OP to consider.


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## NatalieAnne (Jul 23, 2016)

It sounds like there could be a yeast or fungus infection. And, pulling hairs can leave increased places for pathogens to enter. Good bacteria can help keep yeast in check. Antibiotics get rid of both good & bad bacteria.

It seems one of those conditions that really needs to be diagnosed correctly to know how to treat it. A offensive odorous ear is not normal.


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## Dina (Jan 24, 2016)

Does anyone know an at home remedy maybe this cleaner isn't very good. Or even a good brand of ear cleaner 

this is the one we used.. https://www.amazon.ca/Essentials-70221-Cleaner-118ml-fluid-Ounce/dp/B001B7TZNE

I don't believe it is an infection though his ears would be sensitive and I'm sure he would display some other symptoms and the vet should have caught it. 

When he got him his ears were very dirty. The cotton ball and tissues were dark brown and it took 4-5 goes to clean them out. I may also however not be reaching in far enough.. I will keep you all updated


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

Did the groomer just clean out excessive hair or did she pluck? I'm not a fan of plucking either, if I were to have a problem I might try it, but until then I'll leave well enough alone. Abbey had a slight infection in her ear in the spring caused by an allergy, I was surprised because she also didn't have any gunk in her ear nor a smell. It might be worth checking with your vet again after the groom.


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## Dina (Jan 24, 2016)

No the groomer just used clippers and cleaned up the ear but did not go into the ear. I have not plucked his ears.. nor do I really want to.. I feel like if you pluck them once they will grow back twice as bad. Not until it becomes necessary I would like to leave them be. His ear isn't that hairy anyways. I have a feeling because his ears were so dirty when we had gotten him that it is deeper into the ear canal and cant be reached to be cleaned thoroughly. 

Ill give it another go tonight


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

How long has it been since the vet checked his ears? I took Blue in about ten days ago for an ear check. The right ear was bad, so the vet treated it, but the left ear was fine. Today he went back because the left ear was bothering him. Yep, infected and treated. So, if it's been any length of time since the vet took a look, it might be worth a recheck, especially as his ears were very dirty when you got him.


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## Dina (Jan 24, 2016)

we were at the vet 10 days ago and a month before than. I have contacted them so we will see


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

NatalieAnne said:


> It sounds like there could be a yeast or fungus infection. And, pulling hairs can leave increased places for pathogens to enter. Good bacteria can help keep yeast in check. Antibiotics get rid of both good & bad bacteria.
> 
> It seems one of those conditions that really needs to be diagnosed correctly to know how to treat it. A offensive odorous ear is not normal.


I would go back to your vet, or a vet specialist. A yeast or fungus infection can smell very bad, but may not make the ears painful. Ears may be a little red and itchy or even look normal, yet still smell. There are prescription anti-fungal medications.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Poppy came tto me with smelly ears, brown junk in there. I use Zymox ear cleaner and it works well. I warm up the solution by putting the bottle in a cup of warm water, who wants cold stuff poured in their ears? 

Then I fill up the ear, squish it around and use cotton pads on my finger, lots of them, to absorb the junk that comes out. Then I do the other ear. After she flaps and gets out more junk I do it a second time. Then I wet a wash cloth and wipe off all her ear leather to get the rest of the solution off otherwise it dries kind of stiff and sticky. Do it again in 2-3 days, then go to once a week or every two weeks. I do it once a month now and no more brown junk.

Iris never had gunky ears, Poppy does. The vet checked her twice and there is no infection or yeast, but if there were the Zymox would fix , if caught early.


By the way, your kiddo is very very cute.?


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

It seems to me you're cleaning the ears too much. Having ears wet 2-3 times a week will leave them constantly moist. Bacterias like moisture, even if it's not infected yet.

I clean my dog's ears when I bathe him, sometimes just once a month if he doesn't get dirty. And he's fine. And I don't always put the liquid cleaner in, sometimes I just clean the outer ear. I do pluck, though, so his ear canal is not too full of hair and the air can go through.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Skylar good point on the anti-fungal vs. a regular antibiotic. Antibiotics treat bacteria (prokaryotes) while fungi are eukaryotes and penicillin and related drugs have no effect on yeast and fungi.

Also on the ear plucking point, Lily doesn't have particularly hairy ears so I really don't pluck hers, but Javelin has tons of ear hair, a coarse coat and if I don't pluck I would expect to find a good crop of potatoes dangling under his ear leather. I really feel that to have any decent air circulation in his ears they have to be plucked, but like Dechi I only do it once a month or so. Knock wood so far the only ear problem any dog at my house has had was Peeves who had excessively waxy ears that we figured out was because he is allergic to cheese. So for him no cheese equals nice clean pink ears.


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Plucking ears will not make them grow back worse.
I virtually never clean my dogs' ears. My 5 month old is young enough that I'm not sure how his ears will be(so far they have never been cleaned), but my other dogs have never had ear infections and I'm in the camp of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. Only one of my older dogs has hair in the ears (not a ton of it but enough that it could be plucked), and I rarely pluck them either. Again if not broke, don't fix.
Generally dogs that get infections are going to be dogs that get infections. Sometimes changing food can help, but for a large majority of dogs if they get more than one ear infection then they are just dogs prone to ear infections. If your dog is one of these then you have to do the extra steps of possibly cleaning, plucking, giving meds. If your dog isn't one of these, I like to leave the ears mostly alone.


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## sidewinder (Feb 3, 2016)

I agree with Mysticrealm. Don't clean ears unless you really really need to. Ear cleaner will change the natural ph balance in the ear, as well as kill off some of the bacteria that keep the yeast in check. Of course you can clean if it's really dirty, but I suspect that the smell may be from overdoing things, and the yeast is on the rise, so to speak!  I'd stop putting anything in his ears for a month or so and see if the smell subsides. If it gets worse, it's probably a yeast infection and you need specialized eardrops. You will know if it's a vet issue.


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## Summerhouse (Jun 12, 2015)

Skylar said:


> I had never heard of otodex so I googled it - it's an antibiotic. I'd be concerned that you might create antibiotic resistant bacteria using it often when there wasn't a true infection? I'm not a vet and I don't pretend to play one on TV, so I don't know how vets prescribe this medication and for what use.


You got me worried when I read this. I've looked up the active ingredients as listed on the packet and there are no antibiotics in it. One of them has antibacterial properties (in the way that manuka honey is) but not antibiotic. It is not a prescription drug and is on sale at most pet stores. 

I have discussed its use with my vet when he advised against ear plucking and he was in agreement that it was ok to keep his ears healthy.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Summerhouse said:


> You got me worried when I read this. I've looked up the active ingredients as listed on the packet and there are no antibiotics in it. One of them has antibacterial properties (in the way that manuka honey is) but not antibiotic. It is not a prescription drug and is on sale at most pet stores.
> 
> I have discussed its use with my vet when he advised against ear plucking and he was in agreement that it was ok to keep his ears healthy.


Could it be that there are two different products named OTODEX ear drops? 

Here is a link to two of the sites I found when I googled OTODEX ear drops.

Otodex Ear drops - myDr.com.au

https://www.medicanimal.com/Otodex-Ear-Drops/p/I0004263


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Skylar said:


> Could it be that there are two different products named OTODEX ear drops?
> 
> Here is a link to two of the sites I found when I googled OTODEX ear drops.
> 
> ...



It looks like there are two different products. The link for the first one lists two ingredients that are anti-bacterials and one that is anti-inflammatory (a steroid) and looks like it requires a prescription. The second one looks like a veterinary OTC.


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## Summerhouse (Jun 12, 2015)

It also appears the antibiotic one is just for hoomans and not dogs at all!

That's a bit bad though two different types of ear product one being for humans and one for dogs and they've got the same name.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Summerhouse said:


> It also appears the antibiotic one is just for hoomans and not dogs at all!
> 
> That's a bit bad though two different types of ear product one being for humans and one for dogs and they've got the same name.


That is confusing - well I'm glad you're using the correct one for dogs.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Summerhouse said:


> It also appears the antibiotic one is just for hoomans and not dogs at all!
> 
> That's a bit bad though two different types of ear product one being for humans and one for dogs and they've got the same name.


I agree it is really sort of stupid to have two products for similar uses one human and one veterinary with the same name.


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