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My Westie has been shaking his head and scratching his ear ...

Sent to Pet Experts July 19 2006 at 8:02 AM
   

My Westie has been shaking his head and scratching his ear a lot lately. Could he have ear mites? If so what can we give him to relieve it?

 

Optional Information:
Age: 1; Male; Breed: West highland terrier

Already Tried:
ear cleasner
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Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
July 19 2006 at 8:15 AM (12 minutes and 49 seconds later)
         
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Some dogs will commonly get ear infections.

Some vets recommend that you give him an aspirin to control pain. You can get the dosage information here:

Aspirin Info

Monday, you will need to see the vet. It sounds like he has a severe ear infection and might even have a hematoma if the ear flap is sticking out like a pillow. If he doesn't have a hematoma yet, he might soon get one because the head shaking will commonly cause a blood vessel to burst in the ear. This requires surgery to fix so you will want to take care of this as soon as you can. Try to keep him from shaking as well as you can.

Hot compresses are fine to ease the muscles around the ear but don't put anything in the ear canal until you find out what you are dealing with.

The problem with ear infections is that they can be bacterial or fungal in nature. If you put the wrong medication in the ear, you can actually do more harm than good so you want to be sure of what you are dealing with before you put anything in the ear.

There's only one home remedy that I have had success with.

Just mix:

  • 1 Bottle of rubbing alcohol
  • 22 drops of gentocin violet solution
  • 4 tbsp of boric acid.

Shake it up well and put it in the ears twice daily. You will see her stop shaking her head almost immediately. Continue with this twice daily for 2 weeks. Then you can go to once a day for 30 days. Then once a week for a lifetime.

It WILL turn white hair blue so if this is a concern for you, see your vet for a better medication.

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