My dog has scabs on his ears. What could be the cause and how to help?

I would recommend doing testing on the ears to find out what is causing the scabs. If your pet is outside a lot, then flea bites are possible and it is recommended to purchase flea bite repellent at your local pet store to start, followed by topical triple antibiotic to get the scabs to heal. If your pet is kept mostly indoors, two common causes of this are demodexx mites or a yeast infection. Also another condition called ear margin vasculitis could be the cause. Ear margin vasculitis is a spontaneous condition where the vessels at the ear tip margin become inflamed creating a scabby appearance to the skin. Since all 3 of these look very similar it is important to get testing done in the form of a skin scrape/cytology and/or skin biopsy because each is treated so differently and it takes out a lot of the guess-work. Therefore scheduling an appointment with your vet is needed for proper diagnosis and treatment.

It's hard to know the cause of those marks without a physical exam to look for other clues. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Also protect the area from trauma by having him wear an elizabethan collar at all times if he is trying to scratch or rub the area. If they do not start improving after 1 week or if they start getting worse, have him examined by the veterinarian. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Poor guy. I would recommend having Baxer seen by your vet for something like this. He may have an underying skin condition such as demodexx mites or a staph infection that is causing these skin lesions. His skin needs to be tested and possibly cultured to determine the underlying condition so that he receives proper treatment. I hope that your pet Baxter gets well soon. Best wishes and take care.

It’s possible Jaxon may have mange or a bacterial skin infection. Oral flea/tick preventatives such as Nexgard, Bravecto or Simparica that you can often get from vaccines clinics such as vippetcare.com or Vetco.com will treat mange. Topical neosporin cream twice daily for 10-14 days may help with bacterial infections although prescription steroid/antibiotic/anti fungal ointment from you vet will likely work much better. If the lesions do not improve within 1-2 weeks of giving Nexgard and applying neosporin twice daily, a trip to your vet for in person assessment /diagnostics is recommended. There is also a possibility that Jaxon may have a fungal skin infection which is transmissible to humans. For this reason and others, if you are able to bring him to the vet for an assessment, it is best! Good luck!

Skin lesions can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection, dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, or a combination of the above. In young dogs like Bowie and based on the description you provided, one common cause can be infection by mites that can live in the hair follicles and lead to hair loss, and secondary bacterial and fungal infections that can develop. I recommend making an appointment to have Bowie seen by your veterinarian to help determine the cause of the lesions you’ve noticed and to make sure they are treated appropriately. The vet will likely want to look at a sample from the area under the microscope to determine if there is an infection and to figure out what medication is appropriate for treatment. In the meantime, you can bathe Bowie in hypoallergenic shampoo for dogs to clean the area, but this will likely not resolve the lesions.

This is from a combination of earwax, moisture and some inflammation/mild infection. It's very mild at this time, but you can help it by gently removing the crusty stuff each day. Do this by soaking a cotton ball in warm water, then gently wipe the affected areas twice a day. No need to get all the crusts out on the first time if it is too difficult. After wiping, you can apply a triple antibiotic cream to the area, which will help to control infection and keep the crusts from reforming. Do this for at-least two weeks. Do not stop until the ear is looking normal again. You may need to repeat this every week or so, but I suspect this will go away as Bobgoblin gets older. I hope that helps.

Ouch! If you haven't already, your may want to have a biopsy done of the scab or the affected area and then sent to a lab. This can help determine what is going on with the cells there (whether its abnormal or just poor healing) and can also be checked for bacteria, yeast, etc that may be slowing healing and need treatment.