Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: wrag on July 28, 2004, 06:23:05 AM
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OK think my sons dog has ear mites.
Keeps shakin his head and tryin to scratch the insides of his ears.
Question!
Think I recall someone telling me that a possible solution to such problems was to put a couple of drops of olive oil or some other light oil into the dogs ears once a day.
Anyone hear of this or tried it????
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Or a simple phone call to the vets office. :)
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Ear Mites are easy enough to confirm---just look in there. They have a distinctly black look.
J_A_B
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vet is a go0d idea
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If the pet isn't bleeding, use a diluted amount of vinegar in water on a q-tip with vaseline to clear the ears. It will likely take 3-4 days to clear up, but make sure you treat every animal in the house (including those that don't go outside) as they can cross-contaminate each other.
The more expense way out is using the preprared solutions found in any pet store (including grocery stores). I wouldn't bother going to a vet for that unless the pet was bleeding or was going mad with scratching. Its ear mites for pete's sake, in certain areas of the US you'll dog can pick them up 9 months of the year.
edit: putting some type of liquid in the ear without removing the mites with a q-tip is a waste of time and may even progress the growth of the mites.
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Originally posted by Delirium
If the pet isn't bleeding, use a diluted amount of vinegar in water on a q-tip with vaseline to clear the ears. It will likely take 3-4 days to clear up, but make sure you treat every animal in the house (including those that don't go outside) as they can cross-contaminate each other.
The more expense way out is using the preprared solutions found in any pet store (including grocery stores). I wouldn't bother going to a vet for that unless the pet was bleeding or was going mad with scratching. Its ear mites for pete's sake, in certain areas of the US you'll dog can pick them up 9 months of the year.
edit: putting some type of liquid in the ear without removing the mites with a q-tip is a waste of time and may even progress the growth of the mites.
Use a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water, but do NOT use q-tips. Qtips make it very easy to get into the dogs ear canal and do some real damage to the inner ear. Especially if the dog is jumpy. I use a cotton ball soaked in the 50/50 mix on my lab. You just have to be patient when you do it. Works great.
If the mites haven't cleared up in a week, go to the vet and get the solution for ear mites.
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Put some Brit Spears music on and you kill them.
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Maybe the dog just heard the Demos are really going to nominate Kerry and he just can't belive his ears? :D
dago
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:D
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You can buy medicine at the grocery store ect. Not expensive and does the job. Do not use a q-tip, just a cotton ball or clean cotton cloth will do.
You will notice black tar like substance in the ear canal. This a product of the mites. After a couple of treatments they should clear up. Every couple of months check the ears and treat as needed.
I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night too. :D
Frodo
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edit: punt
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Thanks all
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Don’t put anything in the dog’s ear without having him examined by a veterinarian. It could be ear mites but it could also be a bacterial infection, a yeast infection, or something else. Each of these has different treatments.
Furthermore, if the eardrum is not intact (common with ear infections) any liquid you place in the ear canal can get into the middle and inner ear and cause problems with hearing or balance.
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I think the magic solution for my cats was a q-tip dipped in a solution of light mineral oil with (if I recall correctly) a touch of boric acid, the same stuff you can mix with rubbing alcohol to make after-swim ear drops. Any competent vet can get you the exact mixture, but you usually don't need any expensive medication unless the mites and scratching have left the ears infected. Carefully pour in some oil and then mop it and the mites out with the q-tips, being very very careful not to dig into the inner ear canal. If you're still digging out residue after the oil is mopped up, just dip the q-tip into the oil and have at it again. Don't worry about getting it all at once if the pet gets agitated, just repeat the next day.
I pulled mites, eggs, and then dead mites out of my cat's ears for a week or two every year because they were outdoor cats and always getting into trouble. If you catch it early enough, when they first start scratching, then it doesn't take very long to fix. When it gets to the point of black crusty flakes filling the ears and coming out whenever they scratch, you're going to be cleaning the ears for a couple of weeks before all the mites are gone and any damage is healed.
edit - to prevent damage to the cat's inner ear and to my skin, I usually knelt sitting on my knees with the cat firmly pinned between my knees, very gently half-sitting on the cat's rear legs and the head poking out near my knees. This minimized the 4 sharp appendages on the ground and gave me the max leverage on the cat's neck and ear. I strongly recommending playing with your pet a little to find a suitable "hold" position before trying any type of home medical treatment, as this will save your skin in the long run. I had to treat my cats for multiple medical problems while growing up, and I ended up using 3 different hold positions that were painless for both me and the cats. Again, a vet should be able to provide guidance and you can find a similiar way to pin a dog.
If you can't figure out any other way, roll the pet up in a towel with just the head sticking out when it's tired or sleeping. If your pet doesn't sleep, I've heard that a tiny amount of beer might do the trick but I never had to try that out myself. My Mom wasn't strong enough for the hold position required to treat an abcess under my cat's jaw so she usually calmed him down by combing his fur then wrapped him in the towel before pissing him off by cleaning the wound.
If it's a large dog or an otherwise strong pet, you may need a helper to sit on the pet and/or distract it while you dig into the ears. They make large q-tips with plastic stems that aren't as likely to get jammed into the inner ear, so you can try those out as necessary.
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LOL cc
He's a rather young but large American Pit Bull Terrier.
Sweet natured as most are but very rambunctious as the under 1 year olds are.
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Feed it two small kittens and call the vet in the morning.
:D