Diseases: How to quickly cure an ear mite infestation

When your pet has been scratching its ears or shaking its head relentlessly, it may not be because it can’t get to the itch (Or maybe that’s why. I would go nuts if my fingers became stumps and couldn’t reach where the itch is.). Still, it may be a case of ear mite infestation, dermatitis, or fungal or bacterial infection. Imagine an itch that NEVER goes away. Today I’ll talk a little about the more common ear problem: Ear mite infestations, and how you can get rid of it quickly.

What are ear mites?pet grooming: dog ear mite

Ear mites are biting insects almost naked to the human eye, which live on the bodies of animals, even humans, and feed by sucking blood in the ear canal. They are most active and tend to multiply faster in warm and humid places, significantly when the host’s immune system is impaired. The result of the feeding would cause dark brown ear wax, severe itching, and inflammation or redness of the ear. Left unchecked, it may lead to nasty ear infections.


How to test for ear mites

1. Smear some ear wax on a black surface and spot for white specks, the size of a pin head, moving around.
2. You can also try smearing some ear wax on a paper towel and apply a few drops of hydrogen peroxide. If some of it smudges and turns reddish brown, it’s a sign of dried blood, indicating that ear mites are feeding.

Unfortunate, but it isn’t all that bad.

pet grooming: dirty earsWhat differs between animals and humans is that they get ear mites infestations relatively quickly, especially if the ears are not kept dry or when they come in physical contact with other animals with ear mites. The worse part is that ear mites don’t go away by themselves, torturing your pets with constant itching and secondary infections.

However, from personal experience, it’s a problem easily treated at the onset of spotting the symptoms.

So when you find that your pet’s ears are getting dirty and a tad red from inflammation, do try some of these tips to see if it clears up:

  1. Ear mites don’t just stay inside the ear. Hence you may discover that even though the ear might clear up after a few days of treatment, you’ll find that the redness and brown debris would sometimes soon find its way back. If that’s the case, you might want to try treating the rest of the body with an anti-parasitic spray or spot-on treatment. Look for ingredients like moxidectin, selamectin, or ivermectin, but if you already have flea and ticks spray at home, you can also try that.
  2. Get a bottle of ear mite treatment or a.k.a ear canker drops for the shop. After cleaning your pet’s ears, apply it twice daily, and the ear should clear up in 7-14 days. Some ear cleaning solution like Earriffic has properties to treat ear mites, and they are a great compliment to ear canker drops.
  3. Next, you should have a bottle of ear powder in your house. Pet groomers use it to help them remove hairs inside dogs’ ears (which should be an essential part of your weekly grooming schedule at home), but apart from that, ear powder keeps your pets’ ears dry, which prevents bacterial growth. Also, most ear powder contains boric acid, which acts as an antiseptic and insecticide, working together to treat ear mite infestations. Use it after baths or daily when the ear drops have dried.
  4. If you have multiple pets at home, treat all of them because ear mites spread quickly through physical contact.

When to seek medical attention

  1. If your pet’s ears show no sign of improvement after two weeks.
  2. The condition worsens after two weeks.
  3. Green or yellow discharge/pus in the ear canal indicates a severe infection.

Prevention

Be it bacterial infection or ear mite infestation, it’s caused by excess moisture in the ear and a poor immune system. As a preventive measure, always clean your pets’ ears with an ear cleaner after their bath and dry their ears thoroughly, especially floppy-eared breeds. Use ear powder if they refuse to let you dry their ears with a hair dryer. It’s okay to apply liberally as they will shake off the excess.

If you like this article, why not share me share it? Also, please let me know if you have any questions about grooming, health, or behavior that you may want me to answer.

Comments

  1. Bonnie says

    Questions: I have a 6 month old kitten, Little Robert, that’s been wormed 3 times, antibiotics 3 times for URI, ear mites, dandruff or mites, and he’s the size of a 10 week old kitten. Love the little one, but I don’t know what to do. Been to the vet several times. She didn’t check the mite problem. Any suggestions?

    • Sunny Lim says

      Sometimes animals just stay small-sized, not as a result of any health problems or deficiencies. Many continue to grow up healthy without much problems.

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