My dog has itchy ears but they look clean. What should I do?

I would try to give her some benadryl to make her more comfortable. You coudl put a little Neosporin on the area, just be careful to not get it down in the canals. If she is still messing with it tomorrow, I would have your vet take a look at them. I hope this helps! https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/#

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! I would recommend having your vet look in to the ear canals with an otoscope. Sometimes there is discharge deeper in the ear canal that can not be seen from the outside. If that is the case the Vet can use a Q-tip safely to remove some of the wax and look under the microscope to see if it is a yeast or bacterial infection. Some dogs will shake and scratch with even mild overgrowth of bacteria or yeast. Otherwise she may just be itchy due to allergies and you can try an antihistamine. See the links below. I wish you the best! https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/claritin/ https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/zyrtec/

Poor gizmo. The best thing you can do is to buy a dog ear cleaner and try to clean it every day to see if it improves. You can also give Benadryl twice a day to help with itching. If it isn’t improving, I would see if you have a shelter in your area that may help be able to help treat her if this doesn’t work. I hope this helps. https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/

If you are noticing a lot of redness in the ears, the most common reason for scratching at them are infections, allergies to food/environment, or parasites like fleas or mites. To determine this, a veterinarian can obtain an ear swab to look for the presence of bacteria, yeast, inflammatory cells, or a mixture of everything. Usually an ear flush that is treated with something antimicrobial and anti inflammatory will help quite a bit. Some of these are over the counter while others are prescription only. You will also have to fit Mushy with an e-collar to prevent further itching during the healing process. He won't like it but it is for his own good! In terms of cleaning the ears, periodically you can use some q tips and an ear flush to wipe out the ears. You don't have to worry about puncturing the dogs ear drums since their ear canal is curved. You would have to be bending the q-tip to cause damage. There are several videos on Youtube on how to clean ears if you need to see someone do it first. Let me know if there is anything else that I can assist with.

Benadryl is not going to work until you get the infection under control. I recommend bringing Buddy to a veterinarian to have them check his ears and skin. They can treat with antibiotics and topical medication for his ears. Then your veterinarian can discuss reasons for the infection to have started. It can be allergies or even water getting inside of his ears. If Buddy has a history of itching and allergies is a concern there are great new options to help Buddy. You can discuss this with your veterinarian. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi there, It does look like your dog is having an allergic reaction to something. Typically dogs are allergic to their environment or to a food. With the redness of the eyes and ears, it would be best to go to your vet so they can test for secondary infection and prescribe medications to clear things up. You can try rinsing the ears with a 50:50 solution of white vinegar and water and wipe them out with cotton balls, but a vet visit would be ideal. I'm not sure how much your dog weighs to give you a benadryl dose, if you want to try that please submit another question with this info. Benadryl can help with the redness but it does look like your dog has more going on and needs to be seen. Best wishes and thanks for using Pet Coach.

Itchy ears are most commonly a sign of allergies. Your dog may have food allergies, environmental allergies, or parasitic/bacterial skin infection. If he hasn't had a skin scraping to rule out parasites, or skin cytology/culture to look for bacterial or yeast infection, these things should be done. Some dogs actually have skin tumors or autoimmune skin disease that is causing the itching, and those dogs need to have fine needle aspirates or skin biopsies taken for diagnosis. Also, you should try a veterinary prescription allergy diet like Hills z/d for 8-10 weeks fed exclusively to treat potential food allergies. It's really important to feed ONLY the prescription diet during this time. Also, I have had great success with the oral pill Apoquel for some allergies as well, and this is a medication that is much safer to use long-term than steroids like prednisone. If this course of diagnosis and/or treatment is not possible with your current veterinarian, pursue a second opinion somewhere else. If all of these options are explored and your dog is still itchy, it's time to visit a veterinary dermatologist specialist.