Treatment?

Your vet may want to look at a discharge sample from the infected ear to find the cause, and then recommend some of the following:

• Eardrops. Medicated eardrops containing antibiotics, antifungals (to kill yeasts) and anti-inflammatories help to clear swelling and pain. Make sure you finish the whole course of drops (even if your dog’s ears seem better after a couple of days).
• Ear cleaning. It’s important to keep the inside of your dog’s ears clean while they heal. Your vet will advise you how to do this and which product to use. Never use cotton buds.
• Anti-inflammatory pain relief. If your dog is in a lot of pain, your vet may prescribe anti-inflammatory pain relief as well as eardrops.
• Antibiotic tablets. If your dog has a very severe infection, they may need antibiotic tablets as well as eardrops. However, eardrops are usually sufficient.
• Treating the underlying cause. Most ear infections are caused by an underlying condition for example allergic skin disease. It’s just as important to treat the underlying cause as it is to treat the infection itself because untreated, the infection will keep coming back.

Important: Never use cotton wool buds to clean your dog’s ears, use cotton wool pads, and don’t push them inside the ear.