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ear wax

my dog has ear wax and keepd shaking her head. What do you advise to clear the problem?

Symptoms: Itching & Scratching, Ears

•   Ashley Harris says:

  January 27th, 2009 at 04:13 PM

  What color is the wax? Although wax doesn't usually cause head shaking and scratching it's not a ruleout. There may be some debri in the ear that looks like wax but it may not be and that could be making your dog shake her head.Infected ears debri can present in a few different ways. When you have signs of head shaking and scratching this is the first thing we think of. Some ear debri can be really dark looking almost black,crusty,thick, purulent,creamy colored,and have a really bad odor. If this is the caes then you should have a vet see your dog. They can do an ear cytology where they take a swab of the debri and place it on a slide. They stain it and then look at it under a microscope as well as a visual look at the inside of the ear canal to make sure everything is intact.If it is an infection the vet will prescrive a suitable ear cleaner and some ear medications. Sometimes ear infections can take a while to clear up . If it's not an ear infection and it is just wax the vet can unplug the ear wax for the dog's comfort. Little advice on the ear issue : I always suggest to have any ear issues looked at regardless. Reason is,the ear pinna( ear flap) is lined with blood vessels. Vigorous shaking and scratching can cause these blood vessels to pop and it can turn into something more serious called a Aural Hematoma. It's just a pocket full of blood where the vessels have popped and it has to be drained and surgically repaired. To be honest ,this takes a while to heal and the cost isn't cheap to fix the problem. I've seen this a lot when owners either don't know that their dog has an ear infection or they didn't take the time to bring their animal in. It's better safe than sorry in this case. I wish you the best of luck!

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