Dog Ears That Itch And Create Head Shaking To Relieve The Discomfort

Pinkish And White Is The Normal We All Seek To Keep For Our Family Members

Written By James Allan | 6-2-2017

I've had two dogs that shake their heads and over the years have learned alot about what causes it. I spent a lot of time scratching my dogs ears to give them the needed relief they desired and it always worked to give them relief for a period of time. When I hit the right spot on their ears their tongues always got going with me getting a bath.

Of course ear mites are the first thought that comes to mind and to save most of the $50.00 it would cost to have a vet check out my dogs ears I just went a purchased a bottle of 'Ear Mite Solution" from the pet store for $8 dollars. I've read posts from people who take their dogs to the vet for every little condition and that's great if you have the dollars to do so but I myself don't have the gold mine I can dig in every time I need to pay a bill. I've always been a do it your self-er hands on person anyway. I put some cash away for when my dog really needs to go to the vet for major injuries.

The ear mite solution never worked most likely because the problem wasn't ear mites so I went back to the pet store and purchased an "Ear Wash" solution and to my surprise that worked so much better for at least for a week or so. This took place over several years as I got myself educated on my dogs ear itching problems.

I did look inside my dogs ears and they always looked "Pink and Clean" with no signs of bits, infection, swelling or other abnormalities. Yes, I read so many articles about dog ear itching and sorting out the information became my goal. After all was read and sorted I came to the conclusion that the problem with my dogs ears was "Bacteria" and/or "Itchy Skin".

Here's a good well written article on cleaning your dogs ears: How to Keep Your Dog's Ears Clean and Healthy

A point to watch for is if you treat your dogs ears a certain way or with a type of solution and the itching comes back fast, over a period of time or never. Observing the amount of time elapsed gives a clue as to if your dogs ear itching problem is "Mites", "Bacteria" or "Itchy Skin". Mites should be gone within 3 weeks, Bacteria should die fast and may come back later on, Itchy Skin problems without visual abnormalities will never go away but can only be soothed.

A "Black Granular Seepage" most likely is yeast or bacteria. Older dogs that are getting ready to pass away will often have bacterial problems in their ears that cause this black granular seepage. If the black substance has a distinctive foul odor it is most likely a bacterial infection or bacterial yeast. Black seepage doesn't always produce a foul odor though. Young dogs can get the black seepage but it mostly comes in older dogs up in their years or close to passing away.

Ear Mites produce a dark crusty substance that isn't the black gooey substance produced by yeast and bacteria. The black gooey substance can still be produced with an ear mite infestation but it's only produced because the ear mites have caused a bacterial infection. If you check your dogs ears regularly and notice a dark crusty substance accompanied by red and inflammation you are most likely dealing with ear mites. The dark and crusty substance is waste matter produced by the ear mites.

A yellowish discharge from your dogs ears is most likely just wax. Some dogs will have more discharge and some will have less. An ear cleaning solution will take care of this. Humans get wax buildups as a normal process of life and the same is true for dogs also.

Except for the ear mites and swelling, an ear cleaning solution for $7 to $11 dollars at the pet store will take care of the problem. If it's deemed that your dog needs a "Deep Cleaning" then it's time for your dog to go to the vet. "Never" put a Q-Tip to far down into your dogs ears because they have eardrums that can rupture just like humans. 

The main accomplishment you will be trying to achieve with your dogs ears is to "Kill The Bacteria" and the ear cleaning solution does this. Most likely if your dog gets a bacterial buildup in their ears one time it will happen again and again over time which will require an ear cleaning now and again. Keeping your dog indoors helps but your dog says going outside now and again for awhile will be fun.

Alkaline water alone will kill a lot of the bacteria if not all of it but the ear cleaning solution you get from the pet store or vet has a chemical content designed to do a better job of it. The ear cleaning solution with the chemical content will also work well on dog ears that just have plain itchy skin. 

Any good ear cleaning solution should have an alkaline water base. You can get dry ear powder also and this works well but surely not as good as the liquid ear cleaner that is alkaline. Bacteria like places that are not alkaline to grow. The ear powder I've used does a good job but is really a pain to get into the dogs ears when the dog is flopping around wanting to "Get Away". The powder won't always go deep and may leave pockets for bacteria to grow again later. 

You can get your dog an ear mite solution from the pet store also if the discharge you notice is dark and crusty. If it's determined that ear mites are causing the bacterial infection you will need to use the cleaning solution to get all the seepage out then use the ear mite solution.