Ear Infections In Pets
Ear Infections In Pets
Are you afraid that your pet dog or cat is suffering from an ear infection? As cats and dogs have a very good sense of hearing, they have L-shaped ear canals to protect their hearing and the ear drum from any damage. However, the problem with this lies in the fact that the L-shaped ear canal allows parasites, debris, earwax and moisture to get trapped. Any of these can lead to an ear infection. Ear mites are frequently the cause of ear infections in cats and almost 80% of ear infections in dogs are caused by allergies.
Antibiotics, antifungal medications and drugs are the usual treatment which is administered in case of ear infections. The problem with this treatment is that the chemicals in the drugs might upset the usual chemistry inside the ear and this might turn a simple ear infection into a long-lasting problem. You could use a lot of treatments to clean the ears and thus stop the infections without resorting to drugs.
The usual signs of an ear infection are:
- your pet shakes its head or hold it to one side frequently
- your pet’s ears are red, smell bad or are tender
- your pet scratches or rubs its ears, or rubs its head against the carpet or against furniture
- Clean your pet’s ears with vinegar. If your find that your pet’s ears have some brownish-pink wax, then there might have been a yeast reaction caused by allergies. Clean the ears thoroughly to clear up any yeast infections. It is recommended by veterinarians that white vinegar or acetic acid is used to clean the ears as it removes debris and dirt and assists in restoring a healthy chemical balance inside the ears. Diluted vinegar is good for cleaning ears.
- Make air pass through your pet’s ears. You can control the growth of fungi, yeast and bacteria inside your pet’s ears by increasing the air circulation inside them.
- Make your pet have a healthy balanced diet and remove all toxins from it. A good, homemade diet or a good-quality commercial food diet which does not contain any preservatives, additives or corn can decrease the amount of wax produced by your pet’s ears and it also strengthens the immune system.
- Prevent infections with the herb pau d’arco, a natural antibiotic which kills bacteria and fungi. Mixing equal parts of pau d’arco tincture and mineral oil and putting a few drops in your pet’s ears will help.
- Decrease inflammation of the ears using vitamin C.