Ear pain following grooming

[Tina Patton]

I took Bella to the groomers yesterday since I am not sure I can attempt grooming her.  She keeps shaking her head and when I was rubbing her left ear she cried.  When I looked at her ears I do not see anything that would cause her pain.  Any suggestions on what might be going on and if it was something they did when cleaning her ears?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My guess is that the groomer was too rough when she removed the hair from Bella's ear canal. An experienced groomer should be able to do this without causing pain or injury, but if they aren't careful or don't use powder, they can pinch or gouge the inside of the ear with the hemostat, or just irritate the ear canal with rough yanking. Unfortunately, the irrtation, coupled with the rubbing can cause an infection.

This happened to my last poodle once when I tried a new groomer. We didn't go back, but I had to treat my dog for an ear infection.

Another possibility is water in her ear, but that wouldn't cause the crying...yet. That will promote an ear infection, too, so either way, I'm sorry to say I think you have a trip to the vet in your very near future.

If the vet confirms my diagnosis, lol, I would definitely either find a new groomer or speak to the one you used about this.

[Tina Patton]

I have tried to look at it several times today and it is sore and I can't get a good look at it.  I wondered if was possible they cut her ear when trimming her since it seems her pain is more on the outside when I touch it.  

I am on my second groomer since the first one I went to there were two dogs that came down with a staph infection.  I was uneasy going back to that groomer when she said she had no idea about any problem.

Bella is due for her shots so I will be taking her this week and have him take a look.

Also Karen I started Bella on the Pure Canidae Dog food giving her a little in with her turkey and rice slowly easing her into it.  So far so good and I also bought her some of the Canidae Snap Biscuits.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Glad the food is working out so far.

With the ear, if it's the canal, you may not be able to see anything anyway without one of those instruments the vet uses. Let us know what he/she says.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

I would take her to the vet and see what might be bothering her. In my experience, if the ear has a bit of an issue before grooming, then pulling the hair on an ear that is already sore causes double the irritation. Usually the problem exists first. Pulling hair on an already slightly sore ear of course makes things worse but you can't always predict this.

I keep vet ear treatments at home and if I think the ear is irritated I use a single treatment...not a series like you do for a full blown ear infection. My vet says they often do this at the vet's office to help the ear settle again after hair pulling.

If your vet thinks that the groomer is responsible for some injury, then I would go back to the groomer and ask for money back if you have proof from your vet. Otherwise you can't be sure or assume it was the groomers fault. It can happen though, but only your vet will be able to help you here.

 

[Tina Patton]

Barb thanks for the information and will be taking Bella to the vets this week for her shots and will have him take a look at it. 

If it is something they did I will for sure go back and let them know that there was a problem and look for a new groomer.  Groomers are hard to find in our area.

[Helen & Kirby]

Hi. This exact thing happened to me, well, my dog that is.  Some groomers have a ' gift' to pluck the ear hair, and some groomers don't have the knack.   This last time Kirby's left ear was very sore for several days.  I treated her with ear drops for ear infection which helped a lot.  Mostly it was pain and irritation from where they plucked the hair.  She has really thick long ear hair!  You can have the vet show you how to look into the ear canal and carefully use cotton balls/swabs to see if there is an infection.  Sometimes I think I don't want her ear hair plucked anymore if its that painful.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's not painful when it's done properly.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

IMO--an ear infection, promoted by too much ear hair, is much much much more painful than a few seconds of gently removing ear hair.

Neither sounds good, but if our dogs could choose they would choose the hair removal. I agree, have your vet show you how to maintain the ears.

I'm so glad I asked the vet to show me and help me do good maintenance at home.   They have been a tremendous help with a dog who has some ear issues. 

I did want to add, we also use a once -only, anti-biotic  treatment when we do ANY ear care here at home.  This has been something new for us since Spring and seems to really help.

[F, Calla & Luca]

It is also possible that Bella doesn't need to have her ear canal hair pulled if it's not abundant enough to occlude the canal. I trim long hairs sticking out of the ears and under the ear etc. I never have plucked the canal but I do clean the ears every 2-3 weeks and the doodles have been fine.