Ear infections!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Yeti has an ear infection a few weeks back and the vet gave us some drops to put in it. I feel like it still hasn’t completely healed up, but Yeti doesn’t seem to be bothered by it anymore. Tonight I noticed yeti would not leave phins ears alone so I took a look inside and you guessed it! Looks like phins ear is getting infected as well.

I was wondering if the drops prescribed by the doctor is different than a wash you can buy. Also how does one go about cleaning ears with a wash? Not sure how these guys got ear infections, but l want to know how to stop them before they become a huge problem in the future.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

You have the wash, right?  Saturate a cotton ball and let it sit a bit to ‘warm up.’  Then put the cotton ball into the ear and massage from the outside to work the cleaner well into the ear. Pull out the cotton ball and clean out the ear using make up remover pads. At least that’s how I do it. When you squirt the medicine into the ear- and I do use it on any of my dogs that has an ear infection at the first sign (no matter who it was diagnosed for, my guys all get the same type of infection)— make sure you are really getting it down into the ear canal. Massage the ear after administering it too. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Nancy has given you good advice. That's how you clean the ears, and for dogs who get ear infections, you want to clean the ears every week as maintenance.

Yes, the drops prescribed by the vet are different from the cleaners. The drops are medicine; they contain anti-fungals and/or antibiotics to cure the infection. The ear wash is just a cleaner with a drying agent.

Poodles and breeds with wool-y non-shedding coats and long ears get ear infections, so much so that chronic ear infections in dogs is called "Poodle ear". Some dogs have more trouble with this than others, but all experienced Poodle owners know they are going to be treating ear infections at some point in their dogs' lives, and that they are going to have to do ear cleaning and maintenance even when they don't. It has nothing to do with food, either.
It's due to there being an abundance of wool-y hair deep in the ear canal, along with wax. Then you have the long ears keeping it nice and dark in there, with no air circulating. Moisture gets trapped in there and you have the perfect environment for yeasts and bacteria to grow. So you have to keep the ears clean and dry all the time. 
We used to pull the hair from the canal with a hemostat, but the thinking on that seems to have changed. However, it's still a good idea for dogs who are prone to infections or who have an abundance of hair in the ear. Some dogs' have narrower or more "twist-y" ear canals and that causes problems too. It's a good idea to periodically have your vet or groomer check for excess ear hair. 
My favorite illustration of why you may need to remove ear hair. This is what was taken from the ears of an ALD who was relinquished to DRC and adopted by a member here:

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Eek, that is a lot of hair!

Riley's ears are very hairy inside but the vet had a good look at them and said the hair doesn't go very deep into the canal, so we shouldn't bother plucking.. that being said they did pluck her ears while she was knocked out for her spay.  I'm going to try to watch how it grows back and see if it's something we should continue doing occasionally.

I do clean her ears weekly with ear cleaning solution though.

I guess both the shape/size of the canals and how deep the hair goes inside is a big factor in the "poodle ear"?  Our Bichon Frise growing up had to have her ears plucked regularly according to the groomer... we just kind of did it, never really questioned it.  She never had an ear infection to my knowledge.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Those long "tails" in that photo above is the hair down in the ear canal that we can't see. There'd be no way to know that was there without having a vet look in there. 
Yes, the individual dog's ear canal itself has everything to do with this. I remember the vet commenting on Jack's "nice open ear canals" and he of course never had an ear infection. In spite of his awful allergies. 

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

From my limited experience, sometimes the initial antibiotic drops will take care of the infection, but only temporarily. When this happened to one of my dogs, the vet prescribed another medication that she put into the ear canal. It was a liquid that turned into a gel (can't recall the name) and lasted for two weeks without us having to do anything except for a repeat ear check after the two-week period. As others have said, these were both medications and different from the non-prescription ear-cleansing solutions that are used on a regular basis.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Thanks all! Going to stop by my vets office to talk about ordering a wash so I can start to clean them every week. My groomer does not pluck their inner ear hair, as she says keeping them clean should be good enough. I did contact her to let her know from here on out I would like that ear hair plucked. It doesn’t help that these two crazy boys can’t srop licking each other’s ears *sigh*

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Be careful with having the groomer do it. Years ago, a groomer gouged the inside of my Poodle's ear canal with the hemostat and she developed an infection from that. Make sure she knows how to do it correctly.

[Gail and Bailey]

Years ago when I used a groomer I had to insist that ear powder NOT be used in my dog’s ears.  I found it caused more problems.  Weekly ear wash should do just fine.  Do an ear check regularly.  My best way to notice an oncoming infection is by smelling the ears every day.  Just lift up the ear flap and sniff.  You can tell the difference between a healthy ear and one with something brewing in it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's what my DD does. She's the ear person around here. Sniffs and then if she's suspicious something may be brewing, she gently uses a Q-tip to see if there's any gunk in there. 
You can also often tell that something is brewing if the dog seems to be rubbing, pawing or scratching his ears a lot. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

After this I went and sniffed Riley's ears and her incision site... needless to say she now knows for sure I am crazy if she didn't already.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sure she thinks you are perfectly normal. After all, dogs sniff us, lol! 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

True! We always knew we were coming down with a cold if Luna was excessively sniffing and licking our ears and looks like Riley does the same .. Luna was never wrong!