EAR MITES
Courtesy of Husky Rescue – www.huskyrescue.co.za
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Ear Mites are a very common occurrence in puppies and are highly contagious. They are also extremely uncomfortable for your dog.
Ear Mites are tiny parasitic mites that infect the ears of dogs (and cats). They live in the dogs’ ear canal where it is warm and moist. Dogs with long, floppy ears like your basset hound are more prone to ear mites as the mites thrive in the warm ear areas where the air flow is restricted.
Ear mites feed in the epidermal debris and the ear wax in your dogs’ ear. As they burrow down into the ear canal it causes discomfort and inflammation which in turn causes the body to produce more ear wax which the mites then feed off of.
The most common and easy to spot symptom of ear mites is your dog shaking his head or trying to scratch his ears. (Ear mites cause the ears to become extremely itchy) There could also be an odour coming from your dogs’ ears. The mites cause your dog such discomfort that he may actually cause damage while trying to relieve the itchiness by either scratching his ears to hard that they bleed or even by shaking his head with so much force that blood vessels are broken.
...symptom of ear mites is shaking the head or trying to scratch the ears.
If you look in the dogs’ ear you will throughout the ear canal. These are not the ear mites. The ear mites can be seen as little white dots inbetween the black bits. If you look closely enough you can see them moving about.
If you suspect your dog has ear mites he needs to go to the vet as soon as possible to get medication as untreated ear mites can cause damage to the ear drums and ear canals which could even lead to deafness.
The vet will look inside your dogs’ ears with a otoscope. The light from the otoscope actually draws the ear mites out of the ear wax so the vet can see them. If the vet still can’t see the mites this way he will then examine the black bits of debris in the ear. It is very important to get a diagnosis from your vet as anti –mite medication may cause even more aggravation to your dogs’ ear if your dog has an infection and not actually mites in the ear.
Ear mites are fairly easy to treat. Treatment requires the ears to be properly cleaned and then medication in the form of ear drops. Ear mites can sometime cause infections which may require anti-biotics
.
Ear mites feed in the epidermal debris and the ear wax in your dogs’ ear. As they burrow down into the ear canal it causes discomfort and inflammation which in turn causes the body to produce more ear wax which the mites then feed off of.
The most common and easy to spot symptom of ear mites is your dog shaking his head or trying to scratch his ears. (Ear mites cause the ears to become extremely itchy) There could also be an odour coming from your dogs’ ears. The mites cause your dog such discomfort that he may actually cause damage while trying to relieve the itchiness by either scratching his ears to hard that they bleed or even by shaking his head with so much force that blood vessels are broken.
...symptom of ear mites is shaking the head or trying to scratch the ears.
If you look in the dogs’ ear you will throughout the ear canal. These are not the ear mites. The ear mites can be seen as little white dots inbetween the black bits. If you look closely enough you can see them moving about.
If you suspect your dog has ear mites he needs to go to the vet as soon as possible to get medication as untreated ear mites can cause damage to the ear drums and ear canals which could even lead to deafness.
The vet will look inside your dogs’ ears with a otoscope. The light from the otoscope actually draws the ear mites out of the ear wax so the vet can see them. If the vet still can’t see the mites this way he will then examine the black bits of debris in the ear. It is very important to get a diagnosis from your vet as anti –mite medication may cause even more aggravation to your dogs’ ear if your dog has an infection and not actually mites in the ear.
Ear mites are fairly easy to treat. Treatment requires the ears to be properly cleaned and then medication in the form of ear drops. Ear mites can sometime cause infections which may require anti-biotics
.
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