Hey guys... random question here but what does it mean when your dog's ear gets really greasy, stained, and smelly? Is that sort of thing treatable at home? One of my dog's has recently obtained this problem about 2 hours ago and it is kind of concerning me.

If you lift up his ear, it is nasty and smelly. He is a small, long haired havenese with floppy ears and is 1 year of age.

Anyone of you daniweb dog owners aware of something like this?

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Sounds to me like some kind of ear infection. You will probably need to see a vet if it persists or gets worse. It's hard to tell with infections cause some can just go away pretty quick while others can get real bad real quick.

As far as I know and can recall, dog ears are not supposed to be smelly (unlike bad breadth, which is pretty typical). But then again, I don't remember ever smelling my dog's ears, specifically.

I thought it was an ear infection and I am considering taking him to the vet this week... i am just curious to know if there are any at home remedies that I can make for him. The look of the ear doesn't really bother me as much as the horrible odor... you can smell it from accross the room.

One of my dogs had an ear infection and the odour was exactly as you've described. The only treatment was with antibiotics. These infections can cause a dog an awful lot of pain if left untreated, so I'd recommend taking him to the vet ASAP. Your nose and the dog will be grateful, though your wallet may feel a lot lighter.

Once the infection has set in the only thing for it is antibiotics. Although there are ways to try and prevent future infections (keeping the ear dry as much as possible and careful cleaning to prevent a build up of wax).

As you've heard several times over, take your dog to the vet. He/she can check for infection and suggest a cleaning solution which should be used on a regular basis. Dogs with floppy ears like setters, spaniels, basset hounds, etc. tend to be more susceptible to this problem because the ears stay more moist. We had to swab our Irishes regularly. Our Shepherd/Husky cross never had this problem.

i am just curious to know if there are any at home remedies that I can make for him

Use a pair of sizzers and cut them off.

You can try equal parts of vinegar and warm water. Use cotton balls (not Q-Tips).

@AD - Ew!

Check the nose of your dog. If it feels wet and cold, if dry and warm ==> vet
@RJ Some dogs have their ears cut, so they don't hang. link

That is true but the point was that if the dog's ears fold down then they are more likely to get dirty and infected. If they stand up (for whatever reason) then they will stay dry.

If they stand up they are also more likely to freeze in the winter.

If they stand up they are also more likely to freeze in the winter.

Depends, hanging ears are more likely to get snow stuck to them and drag in puddles etc.. which would make them more cold than prick ears.

Cutting your dogs' ears is illegal (and rightly so, it's animal abuse) in many places. Would you like to have your ears cut off, AD?
If not, why do you tell people to do it to their pets' ears?

And with a pair of unsterilised cissors even, recipe for serious infections.

My poor dog gets an ear infection at least once per year and we don't know why. Stinks like a mo-fo too.

@AD LoL at cutting of the ears! Somehow I can't see the issue being resolved with that course of action....lmao.

I'm not perticularly interested in getting into the arguement over cropping but I will point out that preventing future ear infections is one of the arguements used to support the practice of cropping ears in some breeds. But obviously that isn't a viable option beyond puppyhood (and is only legal in some places).

And with a pair of unsterilised cissors even, recipe for serious infections.

I'd wipe then off on my muddy cow-shit ridden cloths first :)

I was actully just joking when I made that remark, then someone pointed out it was a serious option.

commented: lmfao, does nobody here see this humour? +0

Hahahahaha:

I'd wipe then off on my muddy cow-shit ridden cloths first :)

too funny!

Well, i made an appointment with the "local" vet... i hope he doesn't have a severe infection. I cleaned out the ear with cotton swab with water and vinegar... hopefully he gets better because the vet we have happens to charge $250 to just look at our dog -_-

yes, that's a high price. Depending of course on what's included.
And where you are. If it's a small remote community with few pets and a single vet it's bound to be more expensive than in a large city with a lot of pets and a lot of competition.

My vet is about $100 just to walk in the door and see her. The antibiotics were about $30 for my Wally's ear. I thought that was expensive but I guess not, comparatively!

And where you are. If it's a small remote community with few pets and a single vet it's bound to be more expensive than in a large city with a lot of pets and a lot of competition.

I suspect it has more to do with busy-ness than competition. The cost of veterinary training is very high. Maintaining the facilities for doing tests and/or operating on animals ain't cheap either. Those costs are spread over the number of visits/clients the vet sees, if a clinic is doing multiple surgeries/day and has a full schedule of 30min appointments everyday then the cost/appointment can be lower than if the clinic only sees a couple animals a week. Likewise, drugs & reagents degrade overtime and are cheaper to buy in bulk than individually so again fewer patients = higher costs/patient.

Your personal doctor and meds would cost the same without them having bulk contracts with your insurance company, Stuugie.
That's part of the thing many people tend to forget.

Your health insurance negotiates prices with clinics and pharmacies for thousands of patients together. And more often than not have a "take it or leave it" attitude. If the doctor doesn't agree to their $10 per consult offer they'll just tell their customers to go to another doctor next door who did agree to that offer.

He's talking about animals, not people. Very vew people have helth insurance for their pets.

I know. But the comparison holds. If he didn't have health insurance for himself, his own doctor's bills would be of similar magnitude.

Well... it was made "mandatory" by the breeder to get health insurance for my pets (barkworks is the breeder, i am not sure who the insurance is). Our vet just happens to be stupid... Fortunately, i discovered that one of my neighbors is a vet and she checked our dog. My dog was fine after she gave him ear drops and wiped up his ear. Lesson learned... be friendly with your neighbors!

that breeder is probably getting a pretty decent kickback from the insurance company...
Conflict of interest anyone?

breeder is probably getting a pretty decent kickback from the insurance company

Only if they are a commercial breeder (puppymill), hobby breeders don't produce enough pups/year for companies to give a lick about their endorsments/promotions. Some hobby breeders are just obsessive about their dogs including any they sell - some prohibit certain vaccines or try to make buyer feed particular food because they are convinced that is somehow keeping their dogs healthy.

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