Howdy Plantman,
To keep ears clean I use Nolvasan Otic cleaning solution. Whenever one of the dogs starts scratching the ears more than normal I will dump that stuff in rub the ear and let them shake. Also I have an ossiliscope (sp?¿) That thing Dr. uses to look in your ears and nose. Try to keep the ears dry especially after bathing. I put cotton in my guys ears to keep soap and water out. Hope the infection clears up soon.

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Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

I always used dog shampoo to wash out hsi ears and then rinsed real well, followed by a thorough drying of the inside of the ears, thinking that would keep them clean and odor free.

Apparently, you can't get all the water out, causing the infectin and stench.

Oh well.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

Not a good idea to let any water get into a dog's ear. The outer ear canal on a pooch is incredibly long (at least a couple of inches long on 40-60# dogs) and hideously difficult to drain when filled with water or debris. Add mites, a bit of discharge, body heat and a floppy cover (the outer ear on some dogs) and you've got a really efficient Petri dish.

I once had a Sheltie that almost overnight developed a seriously bad infection in the left ear. The vet had to resect the ear canal...basically taking about a 2" long x 1/4" wide slit out of the canal from the opening, down the side of the head so that the canal could drain.

Otic soluton is the only thing that you should allow into a dog ear...of course, water dogs (Labs, Retrievers etc...) somehow know to shake violently and get the water out.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.