Dirty ear or bigger problem?

[Amy & Bernie]

Hi all, I have an ear cleaning question. I check Bernie's ears pretty regularly, just when we're relaxing, I'll take a look. I usually only have to clean them about once a month.

I cleaned them most recently about 10 days ago. And today I noticed 1 ear was filthy again. Just the normal, reddish-brown gunky earwax stuff, but it's definitely unusual to be bad in just 1 ear - the other was still pristine from the last cleaning.

I haven't noticed him paying any extra attention to his ear, scratching, rubbing his head on the ground, and his appetite and activity level are normal.

Just curious if any of you have noticed something like this before, did it end up being an infection of some sort, or just a rare, dirty ear issue?

Thanks!

[Hunter and Daisy's Doodle Mom]

The last time I had this happen to my two, they did have ear mites.  The wax smelled foul too.  All I did was took a q-tip and got a sample of it and I only had to swipe right at the entrance to the ear (never put a q-tip in the ear canal) and brought it in and he found mites on the sample.  Now, my vet knows my dogs pretty well, so he and I felt comfortable enough by bringing in just a sample, you may need to bring Bernie in to your vet.  My guess would be ear mites if it's building up quickly and he's doing the behavior your describing.  Good luck on finding the source :-)  'Tis the season for all the buggies to start showing up :-)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Ear mites were the first thing that came to my mind too when I read your post. One of my cats had them in the past and your description sounds very similar to what I experienced with her. I would have it checked out by your vet. If it is a problem maybe you can get it resolved before it becomes a painful issue for Bernie. Good luck!

[Amy & Bernie]

So just the gunk alone can be an ear mite sign, even if he doesn't seem to show any other symptoms?

[Hunter and Daisy's Doodle Mom]

Yep...Hunter and Daisy weren't doing anything out of the ordinary with acting like they were itching.  They were more getting sick of me tryihng to get the gunk out that was bothering them :-)  I would just contact your vet and they will help you out with it.  Even if it's just an over active ear wax builder upper (new phrase I just made up) they may have something to keep them a bit more cleaned up than over the counter stuff at pet supply stores.  Good luck :-)

[Patty, Roxy & Spencer]

You don't want to mess around with ears.  I would call your vet and see what they have to say.  Roxy had an ear infection when she was about 3 mos. old.  I don't remember if she had dark residue, but she did have a bad odor.  Now we wash out both dogs ears weekly, also if they have been in water or groomed, with a solution we got from our vet.  So far neither pup has had any further infections.

[Robin, dalai, and Parker]

I am constantly battling ear problems with dalai. And I know it is only going to get worse since the pool is open and she loves to swim. I have trouble keeping up with it. She has dark brown, thick, foul smelling (yeasty) odor. She gets optirinse and animax 4 drops 2xdaily. That is the prescription that I haven't been about to keep up with, sorry to say:(  She hates having her ears done and knows where the ear stuff is. So I have to do a sneak attach which doesn't make it easier on her. But it has to be done, and again I makes it hard on her and I:(

[Amy & Bernie]

I took him in today and it ended up being a yeast infection. According to our vet it's even more common than mites. Yuck. All I can say is he's on the road to perfect health again and only in my dreams could I rack up an invoice that big in an hour! ;)