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Pet Grooming: Cleaning your pets’ ears is not as dangerous as you think

April 21, 2013 By Sunny Lim

In my earlier post, I talked about how ear mite infestations are one of the most common ear problems affecting household pets in Singapore. However, no ear mite infestation can be cleared quickly without proper cleaning. This is because if there’s too much ear wax, it might interfere with the effectiveness of the medications. Although there are exceptions where some products do not need prior cleaning, or if there’s nothing wrong with your pets’ ears, regular ear cleaning is still an important part of your pets’ grooming routine to maintain proper ear health.

Ear anatomy of cats and dogs

However, I admit it’s terrifying for some, especially one who’s not aware of the anatomy of your pets’ ears. The difference between human ears to cats and dogs is that

unlike human’s ears, dogs and cats have ‘L’ shaped ear canals, which prevents us from reaching the ear drums if we just clean the observable part of the ear canal with cotton buds. A word of caution is that although it’s unlikely to damage the ear drums with cotton buds, it’s possible to push debris further down the ear canal with improper cleaning techniques.

Ear flushing

As you can see, if the ears are dirty, the debris may lodge itself in the horizontal portion of the ear canal where we can’t reach. Therefore to be able to clean the whole length of the ear canal and an effective method would be to flush the ear with surfactants to loosen the debris and have them shake it out.

*Disclaimer* It is not recommended to flush ears that are bleeding or badly inflammed. If your pets’ ears are oozing with pus, constantly tilting its head or they’re experiencing pain in their ears, seek medical attention immediately.*

First, liberally fill the ear canal with a liquid based (as opposed to oil based) ear cleaning solution and massage the base of the ear. Feel for cartilage and that would be their ear canal. Secondly, if you have a eye dropper, suck out the solution and repeat for 2-4 times in each ear, depending on how dirty the ears are. If you don’t have an eye dropper with you, then just let them shake the dirt out. What flushing does is that it removes the bulk of the debris so that we will not be pushing the dirt further down into the ear canal and on to the ear drums when we use cotton buds later on.

Why aren’t cotton buds called Q-tips here? Love the sound of it. Q-tips.

Next, moisten a cotton bud with ear solution and with an upward motion, clean all sides of the observable ear canal. Repeat until the ear is clear of dirt or almost there. Usually if the ear is really dirty, it’s almost impossible to thoroughly clean the ears, keeping in mind that there’s a lot of areas we can’t reach. If that’s the case, just clean as much as you can, around 4-5 times and continue tomorrow. The abrasion and ear shaking during ear cleaning causes further irritation and inflammation and will do more harm than good.

Finally, if your dog has floppy ears like Retrievers, Beagles, Spaniels, or if your dog has lots of hair inside the ear, like Poodles, Schnauzers or Shih Tzus remember to apply ear powder afterwards to keep them dry.

Diseases: How to quickly cure an ear mite infestation

April 10, 2013 By Sunny Lim

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

What are ear mites?

Ear mites are biting insects that are almost naked to the human eye which lives on the bodies of animals, even humans, and feeds by sucking blood in the ear canal. They are most active and tends to multiply faster in warm and humid places especially when the immune system of the host 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 on to it. 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 ain’t all that bad

What differs from animals and humans is that get ear mites infestations rather easily, 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 pets ears are getting dirty and a tad red from inflammation, do try some of these tips to see if it clears up:

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 it’s 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 try that as well.
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.
The next thing you should have in your house is a bottle of ear powder. Pet groomers use it to help them remove hairs inside dogs’ ears (which should be an important 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 has dried.
If you have multiple pets at home, treat all of them, because ear mites spreads easily through physical contact.

When to seek medical attention

If your pets’ ears shows no sign of improvement after 2 weeks.
The condition worsens after 2 weeks.
Green or yellow discharge/pus in the ear canal, a sign indicating a serious infection.

Prevention

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

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

Pet Grooming: Dental hygiene for your pup

March 4, 2013 By Sunny Lim

The love we feel when our cute little puppy lick us on our faces, but to some people, it may also feel like they’re smearing crap at the same time (not because thy enjoy licking themselves down south).

Causes and effects of tooth decay

Like us, the food they consume (carbohydrates and processed foods are usually the main culprits) will cause the formation of plague. As plague crystallizes and hardens, tartar is formed. When that happens, brushing alone will not be able to remove the tartar. If allowed to form further, tartar will cause inflammation of the gums, also known as gingivitis.

Left unchecked, the bacteria will damage the tooth and this is when your dog will show symptoms of bad breath (I mean REALLY bad breath), receding gums and tooth decay. In very serious cases, the bacteria from the tooth decay may cause infection of the nose, eyes and even the brain.

We have to brush our teeth twice a day and the only difference between us and dogs is that their teeth are spaced further apart and they don’t eat as much junk as we do, but still brushing still needs to be a part of their grooming regiment.

It’s a one way street

Besides, if the tooth is already damaged, extraction is usually the only solution. And because poor dental hygiene affects the whole set of teeth, many of the serious cases sent for dental scaling and extraction goes home with only a few remaining teeth. That is why, protect your pet’s teeth before irreversible damage is done!

And please, do not send it to the pet groomer thinking that a simple tooth brushing will miraculously remove all the tartar build up and bad breath. You have a little more sense than that right?

Besides, little to people know that tooth diseases have a deep impact on the overall health of the body. There is an increasing evidence proving that tooth diseases causes bacteria to enter the bloodstream causing damage to other organs. Just do a quick search periodontal disease and its effects on the body and you be the judge.

So if your dog’s breath smells like death, it’d be a good idea to book an appointment with your vet to have your pup’s teeth checked first.

Prevention is better than… actually prevention is the only way

Luckily, there are products in the market to make this easier, ranging from water additives, to mouth rinse, sprays and gels that you can use without the need for brushing. Then again, I do not like the idea of adding anything to drinking water (although all dental products are safe to ingest, but I believe water is essential to cleanse the system and nothing should be added to hinder the process), so if you really have to use non-brushing methods, I would recommend gels where you can spread with your fingers. Why? From experience, if your dog refuses to let you have their teeth brushed, you’re not going to get a lot of luck with sprays and mouth wash either.

Alternatively, you can use natural seaweed food additives that can be sprinkled on your pet’s food like ProDen PlagueOff. The supplement alters the saliva and prevents plague from adhering to the teeth.

Why I still prefer brushing and how to do it

Finally there’s the age-old method of brushing their teeth that is fast, cheaper and highly effective.

If your dog tends to be on the playful side or refuses to let you do anything at all, I would recommend you to start with more gentle grooming activities like brushing their coat or ear cleaning first.

During this phase, frequently meddle with their mouth – massage their gums, pry open their lips to look at their teeth, start with just the front lips and slowly proceed day by day until your dog lets you stretch their lips to see the rear molars.

You should even let them taste a little of the pet toothpaste. Most of them are flavoured and dogs love the taste! My dogs treats their tooth brushing session as a reward session, jumping wildly when they see that I’m grabbing the tube of toothpaste.

My best advice with difficult, active dogs, be firm and don’t give up. Reward when they comply and be firm and reprimand when they don’t.

One step at a time

To get them accustomed to the sensation of brushing, you can try any of the following methods and adjust accordingly depending on how well your dog accepts it. Suggestions are listed in ascending order with (1) being the least stressful:

Brush their teeth with just your finger and nothing else.
Wrap your index finger with a thin cloth and brush their teeth.
Pet finger brush.
Using a proper toothbrush. Personally I use baby toothbrush for small dogs and normal adult toothbrushes for medium to large dogs. There’s really no need to get pet toothbrushes or those fancy “3-way” toothbrushes.

Be patient

For every method that you try, do not attempt to brush their full set of teeth unless your pup allows it. Start slow, bit by bit and slowly increase the duration and area covered every day. There is no need to clean the inside of the teeth, as plague mostly forms on the outside and the insides are taken care of when they lick off the toothpaste.

Remember to reward and reprimand accordingly and try to end the training session with a reward. That means that if your pet struggles, wait until he calms down, revert back to a shorter duration or less stressful method and reward the well behaviour and continue the next day.

Natural Alternatives

Call me old-fashioned, but given that plague is a sticky biofilm that clings firmly on the teeth and surrounding plague, I’m still quite critical of how well non-brushing products would work and even if they do, I wonder what effects they may cause if ingested in the long term, even if they claim to be “Natural”.

As for toothpaste, I choose enzymatic toothpaste as they continue to work even after brushing by inhabiting bacterial growth and at least I know that they’re derived from milk.

If you really want to control what goes into your toothpaste, you can mix 2 tbs of baking soda, a teeny bit of olive oil and 1/4 tsp of broth to taste and mix it into a paste. If you want, you can add some chopped parsley or basil into it to freshen their breath and to fight inflammation.

Remember, be it commercial toothpaste or home-made ones, a tiny bit goes a long way. I don’t like the idea of them swallowing toothpaste and baking soda is a source of sodium, so you’ll have to watch that too.

How about starting your pup on that dental regime today? Don’t forget to comment on the problems you are facing as well as your suggestions! Finally, please share this if you find this useful!

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