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Old August 9th, 2008, 10:12 PM
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Skylar's Ears Smell Awful

I noticed today when Skylar had her head in my lap that her ears have a pretty bad smell coming from them. They don't appear to be dirty inside , no discharge or anything. She's not pawing at her ears, so I don't think they're irritated. I cleaned them out with some wet wipes and several hours later her ears still smelled just as bad.

She has floppy ears, so there's not as much air circulating in there, could that be contributing to the smell? Are there any other reasons for smelly ears? Just normal doggy smell?
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Old August 9th, 2008, 11:49 PM
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is it "cheesy" smelling?
I'd say perhaps a vet visit for a bacterial culture is in order, could be yeast infection.
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Old August 10th, 2008, 05:54 AM
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Stacer when Winston is on the start of an ear infection they get really smelly! and he has flpppy ears too! maybe a quick check from the vet incase she has something just starting up!

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Old August 10th, 2008, 08:07 AM
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"Cheesy" could be used to describe the smell.

Ok so perhaps I'll bring her in to get checked out.

I've never cleaned out dogs' ears before so I really only did around the perimeter, I didn't get right in there. How far in can I go without hurting her?
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Old August 10th, 2008, 09:56 AM
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Stacer I use a kleenex wrapped arond my finger and go in as fars as I can....I guess it depends will she let you go in her ear? theres usually lots of gonk in there! When we went to the vet they used a huge q tip!
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Old August 10th, 2008, 10:18 AM
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thats how bea's ear infections started :sad:.....
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Old August 11th, 2008, 11:11 AM
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Her ears shouldn't have a "normal" doggy smell, especially if it is offensive. Floppy ears are great breeding grounds for ear infections in dogs, and it sounds like you should get that checked out at your vet. A great ear cleaner which is good for yeast infections is 1/2 apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 water. I make the water hot, so that when added to the ACV the solution is WARM and is more comfortable for the dog. Cosmetic pads are great for cleaning those ears out too. Good luck!
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Old August 11th, 2008, 12:47 PM
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I agree, sounds like yeast. Dazys had ear infection most of her first year of life, dispite using different antibiotics and drops.

Skylar swims right? I'd clean them after a swim and after a rough wrestling match with other dogs if they play with biting and slober and what not...Dazys ears are always dirty after day care.

I use a product from the vet called T8 Ear cleaner, once every two weeks, and then I use apple cidar vinagar weekly to help control the ph balance and clean the outer ear. I use the cosmetic pads. She hates it but we have to, once we cleared up the infection we could just maintain it with regular cleaning. I dont want to have to medicate for her entire life so we work hard to keep them clean and we mix between the medication and the acv.
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  #9  
Old August 11th, 2008, 01:10 PM
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After a bout of ear infections a while back I'm one of those crazy mommas who sniffs ears regularly.
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  #10  
Old August 11th, 2008, 03:33 PM
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Thanks for all the tips on how to clean ears. I happen to have a big jug of apple cider vinegar.

I have an appointment for Angus tomorrow (I think his FLUTD is acting up again) so I'll make another for Skylar while I'm there.

She doesn't swim and isn't a big wrassler with other dogs, so her ears stay quite dry in that respect. They're not as smelly today
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  #11  
Old August 13th, 2008, 06:05 PM
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is your dog shaking its head a lot? smelly ears are a good sign of an infection..if you aren't seeing any discharge..hopefully you caught it very early. Believe me they are GROSS! Albert had brown gunk dripping out of his ears when we adopted him from the high kill shelter

we saw past it of course and with a few rounds of antibiotics he was ok. He actually has the cleanest ears ever now and the only other time an infection came back was when I switched his food to vet rx food! I use a baby wipe wrapped around my finger about once a month but it always comes back clean or with just a tiny bit of debris. The vets will use those long qtips and find the gunk and test it and tell you within a few minutes what it is!

I do know that floppy eared dogs are more prone to it. So you may just need to be proactive from now on and use that cider mixture and like Folkwitch said..you will just become obsessed with doggy ear smells! LOL!

Good luck!
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