r/Pets•
FalloutTubes

Dog has loose hair in her ears

My dog’s a short hair with a double coat, so she’s shedding a bunch as the weather warms up. I noticed she’s been scratching at her ears and going ham for us scratching them lately, so I looked inside them, and there’s visible loose hairs that have fallen into her ear canals. I’m sure these are contributing to the irritation, so what’s the best way to get them out? I’m nervous about using something like tweezers in such a delicate area, and q-tips might not be great. The area they’re in is too narrow to reach with a finger, is there a cleaner solution or something that would work? Or should I just use tweezers?

Edit: I guess the obvious solution is to let them be expelled naturally, but she’s going at her ears so hard she’s made herself bleed a bit. They also don’t smell off or look infected, so I think it’s probably just the hair.

Posted Apr 7, 2018, 4:26 AM UTC · edited

33
livermuncher•

ear infections don't always smell/are obvious. My dog gets frequent ear infections from allergies and 90% of the time the only way I know is her scratching/shaking her head. the last time she saw the vet (a locum) said she didn't see signs of an infection and I said "look with a scope and I bet it's pus-y down there". She was surprised to see I was right, there was pus down in the ear canal when she looked properly.

I suspect it isn't the hair causing the irritation.

2
bradyisthegoat69•

Get a cleaning solution for dog ears, their ear canal is shaped like an L so once you put it in let it sit for a second or so you can stick your finger wrapped in a paper towel straight into their ear and youll feel when you hit the bottom and just try and clean it out.

1
FalloutTubesOP•

Thanks, i’ve always had long curly haired dogs before (tended to shed clumps rather than individual hairs) so i’ve never encountered this problem.

1