# Big-Floppy Ear Cleaning?



## Camillea (Jun 17, 2010)

Okay, not finding any threads related to this while doing a search of this forum, and while I can always google up some basset hound specific sites you people are by far the best community of doggie lovers with real-world experience I've read from, asked questions, etc. from yet. Happy to be a new member to your community 'cause so far you're all awesome folk.

Anyhow...yet another thread I start...*sigh*

How often should I be cleaning my basset hounds ears?

I don't want to dry them out, but basset hounds, adorable as they may be for their looonnnnggggggggggg ears are a mess mess mess when it comes to those big dangling soft beauties that hang from their goofy heads.

Let me say, I don't have any problems cleaning them out, she seems to really enjoy a good "puppy bathing wipe" rub down of her head, ears, and feet. Those ears though (being a basset hound I'd guess), well she gets them FULL of anything she comes in contact with. I have her eating out of an anti-bloat bowl -- which is still a bit too big for her but there weren't any smaller ones I could find -- and so meal times remind of me of the picture of the kid with spaghetti on his head...except a hound dog with food on her ears. 

Pumpkin chewies (which seemed to straighten up her tummy when she had an 'issue' when I first brought her home) were an ear covered mess. 

Stuffed kongs, might as well be called "puppy with future peanut-butter or kong-stuffing smelly ears." 

Even when she tinkles, being a low to the ground, sniffing kind of gal, ears... well...they're less than clean after wards. 

I bought puppy bathing wipes and have been using them to regularly clean the outsides when I see they're gross. I've noticed the insides seem to build up wax pretty fast though. I've been cleaning the wax out with the puppy wipes once a day being careful to get as much as I can out avoiding the canal completely (canal duty can be taken care of by a pro). I don't want her to dry out her ears though, but at the same time I don't want her to get ear infections....any ideas on how often is safe to clean-up those lovely floppy things?


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## habsfan (Nov 20, 2009)

I get my ear cleaner from the vet for my beagle/basset mix. We use Burow's solution which works to clean the wax out of his ears and kill any bacteria. If his ear is very dirty we do it twice a week, but once it has cleared up we only do it once a week to once every two weeks (one ear always seems to be clean while the other gets dirty).

To administer it we have a small measured dropper that fits into the top of the bottle. We put 1 mL of solution into his ear canal. We then massage the solution into the canal for a few seconds by massaging the outside of the ear. We use cotton balls to gently clean out his ear canal using my finger to gently rub the cotton ball around to pick up the dirt and wax. You never want to use a Q-tip as you could damage the ear drum. The solution feels pretty oily and doens't really dry up his ears. When he has had bad infections we have had to clean them out on a daily basis for 7 days with no problems in drying. A bottle usually lasts six months for him. I sometimes use a wipe to clean the outer part of the ear if there is any dirt there.


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## traceymc (Jul 14, 2010)

I use a babywipe to clean just inside the ear after a bath, then once dry, I use a touch of Thornit ear powder, which smells lovely and keeps ears clean and dry. Also make plucking the odd bits of fluffyness from their ears. 

Alfie was prone to ear infections, and *touches wood* has had no problems since I started using Thornit.


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## JuneBud (Feb 17, 2010)

After spending lots of bucks at the vet's office for antibiotics and ear cleaning products and lots at the pet store for ear cleaning products, all of which my dog seemed to hate, because she always reacted negatively to any of them, I came up with my own solution - coconut oil. It works great. At least it did for me and my dog. She didn't mind it at all and it cleared her up within a week or two after more than a year of off and on problems. I put a pea-sized piece (it is solid at room temperature) in each ear once or twice a day. After it goes into the ear solid, it just melts in the ear canal. It dissolves the wax which you can later wipe out with any pad or washcloth. At first, it made the white fur around her ears ugly because of all the wax dissolving out and running onto the fur. After her ears cleared up I applied the coconut oil about once a week and her ears became healthy with absolutely no dryness. The coconut oil does have antibiotic properties too, which helps clear up the infection. I imagine olive oil would also work well. The coconut oil is just easier to use.


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## So Cavalier (Jul 23, 2010)

I have Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. They have long furry ears that can get full of food when they eat. I feed raw and I don't want raw food festering in their ears. When I feed my dogs, they wear snoods.

http://www.betsysplace.net/Snoods Are Here!.htm

They are easy to make. The dogs don't mind wearing them because snoods= dinner!

For cleaning the inside of their ears, I love Vet's Best ear relief wash and ear dry.

http://www.vetsbest.com/products/dog-ear-dental.php

It works great on floppy eared dogs.


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## ZeeDoggy (Jul 16, 2010)

Wish I would've found this thread prior to the $200 vet visit for an ear infection! Dog's all better now, but i've been looking for preventative techniques like this. 

What is an anti-bloat bowl? That sounds interesting.


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