Pet Ear Care and Common Ear Troubles

 Ear infection such as ear mange, otorrhoea, ear dermatitis, haematoma of the ears are common in dogs and cats. Negligence in proper cleaning of the ears on the part of the pet owners usually results in such infections. It is, therefore desirable that ears of the pets should be properly cleaned and looked atleast once in a fortnight.

General Ear Care for Pets

• Examine the ears regularly and clean with sterilized cotton wool dipped in spirit, weak solution of hydrogen peroxide, well diluted Savlon or ceravlon lotion atleast once every 15 days.
• Leave the ear dry after cleaning.
• Insert cotton wool in the ears before giving bath to your pet.
• Out Earex drops or warm onion water inside the ear for 2-3 days for removing wax from inside by syringing or washing with lukewarm water.
• It ticks are there, remove with forceps and put few drops of liquid paraffin inside. Use tick collar or tick powder if necessary.

Ear Mange or Dermatitis

There may be dry granular or vesicular eruptions on the ear with intense itching and irritation.

Treatment

• Apply 1:1000 dilution RID (Amitraz) solution over the affected ear parts twice or thrice a week.
• In eczematous dermatitis, apply 1-2% Gentian violet lotion and top dress with Betnovate-N skin ointment once or twice a day.
• For minimizing itching and irritation, give one Avil tablet of 25 mg once or twice daily for 4-5 days.
• Ivermectin injection subcutaneously at 10-14 days interval.
• Antifungal like clotrimazole is also useful.
• Pour 2-3 drops of mixture of 2 ml of 5% Amitraz in 20ml of liquid paraffin every alternate day in affected ear for 4 weeks.

Otitis and Otorrhoea

Otitis means inflammation of the ears. There may be unbearable pain and swelling inside the ear. Dog or cat may become restless and hold the affected ear downwards and circles towards affected side making round movement. There may be narrowing and reddening of the ear canal. If not card properly, the condition may develop into otorrhoea with formation of exudate or pus inside the ear canal.

The pet is seen constantly shaking his head and try to evade himself in the dark place or corner of the room. After sometime, the pus may be seen constantly flowing from the ear with very offensive smell. Otorrhoea is very common in dogs and if not cured for well in time, there may be chances of development of maggoty wound with brain infection and death of the pet.

Treatment

(1) For Otitis:

Treating otitis externa with antibiotics alone may result in fungal overgrowth. Oily antibiotics prevents the ear canal from drying. ‘Listerine’ mouth wash as an ear flush for pet acts as antiseptic and drying agent in the ear canal.

• Warm Belladonna-Glycerine or 1% Phenol – Glycerine drops in the ear.
• Omnacortil – One tablet twice a day for 4-5 days
• Ampicillin Injection Intramuscularly daily for 4-5 days
• Otibid ear drops – 5 to 10 drops twice daily
• EpiOtic or Any ear cleaning solution containing 2% Salicylic acid for ear cleaning.

The modalities used for management of otitis consists of medicinal therapy and surgery. The treatment of acute otitis with effusion must be aimed at the causative organism. Commonly used antibiotics are ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, amoxycillin, erythromycin, co-trimoxazole and cephalexin. The length of treatment may vary from 10 to 15 days. 

Careful follow up examination is essential. If infection persists, extend treatment for another 2-4 weeks wit same or changed antibiotics along with steroids. Avoid frequent and prolonged use of steroids. Topical ear drops, decongestants and antihistaminic are also effective. Tapered doses of prednisolone are useful with antibiotics in allergic conditions.

Surgical treatment is advised for patients who do not respond to conventional medicinal treatment.

(2) For Otorrhoea:

• Remove the pus with dry cotton and clean the ear with sterilized cotton wool soaked in diluted Dettol, Cetavlon or Savlon lotion. Cleaning with spirit/vinegar is also useful.
• If desired, syringe it out with hydrogen peroxide or povidone iodine 10% solution, diluted 1:10 to 1:50 n water.
• Put Ciprofloxacin ear drops twice a way. Gentamicin, Otirel or Chloramphenicol ear drops are very effective.
• In severe infection, pack it up with sterilized gauze smeared with Betnovate-N or Cambison skin and ear ointment once a day.
• OFLO tabs. 200-400 mg, 1 Tablet once daily for 5-6 days.
• Septran tablet – 1 tablet twice a day for 3-4 days
• Injection Terramycin, Streptomycin or Gentamicin intramuscularly in prescribed doses for few days.
• Debris or dryness can be removed by few drops of glycerine and olive oil.

Haematoma of the Ear

This is condition usually seen in dogs and is characterized by deposition of fluid, blood or pus in between the two layers of the external ear. The affected ear becomes droopy, lumpy, fluidly and easily palpable. Bulk of fluid deposited inside the ear make the dog dull and restless in due course of time. The trouble is generally caused by traumatic injury or scratching of the ear in case of mange or ear dermatitis.

Treatment

• Clean the site with spirit and syringe out the fluid with sterilized injection needle of 16 gauge by puncturing at concave surface of the ear. Inject a combination of Dexamethasone (0.25 mg/kg) and Gentamicin (1 mg/kg) into the cavity. Massage gently and leave it as such without bandage. The lesion heal within 7-10 days.
• Inject 2-3 ml of Lugol’s iodine or tincture iodine solution locally and massage the ear properly.
• Ampicillin 250-500 mg orally twice or thrice and inject Lugol’s iodine locally.
• Prednisolone injection or tablets in prescribed doses as recommended by vet.
• If fluid is deposited again, syringe it out twice or thrice a day and inject Lugol’s iodine locally.
• Thrombophob gel for local application
• In case of no response o above treatment, operate with a little incision on the ventral surface of the ear and dress it as an open wound with dressing gauze and nebasulf powder. Suture if applied, should be removed on 12th day.
• Give ampicillin intramuscularly for 4-5 days in prescribed doses. A combination of amoxycillin and cloxacillin is also very effective.

Best result can be obtained by injecting 3 doses of Kenacort (sterile Triamcinolone acetonide suspension USP 40 mg per ml) at an interval of 14 days inside the ear after aseptically removing the fluid. This treatment should be supported with the administration of chloramphenicol injection intramuscularly for 4-5 days each time. Use of hylase with Kenacort is also recommended.

The surgical treatment requires longitudinal incision over the haematoma, evacuation of contents, swabbing with tincture iodine and then suturing. Ear should be immobilized with the help of cap of bandage till complete healing. Daily dressing and course of antibiotic is also a must.