Hairy Ears

[Girlintheframe]

Our Ddog has exceptionally hair inner ears and as a result gets a lot of infections.
Yesterday he was sedated at the vets and they pucked/shaved out all the hair in his ear canal.
Vet was saying this is fine to do just now but when he is older sedating him might become a problem. Vet said he had no experience personally but had heard of laser treatment being used to remove the hair.
As anyone's Ddog has this?
Ddog now has ear drops as both ears are infected. We try and keep his ears as clean as possible but once the hair grows back it's impossible. Any cleaning fluid/antibiotic drops just sit in the ear making the problem worse. They get so hairy that when vet tried to look in them last week she couldn't even see down his ear canal!

[PenelopeFlintstone]

Would he let you trim them with baby nail scissors? They don’t actually have to be plucked. I had a Maltese-Shitzu and that’s what our vet told us to do.

[Girlintheframe]

Yes he would let us cut them but you can only cut what you can see. The hair goes very deep into the ear canal which can't be reached

[PenelopeFlintstone]

How did they pluck it from down there, I wonder?
I would try trimming and see how you go. If the infections keep returning then have a rethink.
Sometimes small changes are enough, but not always I agree.

[Girlintheframe]

I'm assuming they use something akin to a nasal trimmer/shaver but no actual idea
Yesterday they sedated him via IV and he spent the entire day really groggy so I can see his the vet thinks that as he ages this might become a problem

[PenelopeFlintstone]

Poor thing. Lots of tips on YouTube.

[missmouse101]

The vets will use Hartman Crocodile Forceps whilst sedated to reach the hairs. Would a specialist ear vet be able to advise re laser?

[Girlintheframe]

Never thought of looking at you tube, thanks!

Yes am assuming it would be the animal hospital near here he would be referred to, IF they do it.

[PenelopeFlintstone]

I’ve heard as well that sometimes the hairs get blamed but really the dog has allergies. That’s because plenty of dogs with hairy ears never get infections.
Ask your vet or look up online (waits for the MN backlash) for a suitable antihistamine and give it at the first sign of itching and if it’s allergies you could head off the infection at the pass.

[Girlintheframe]

He takes piriton throughout the summer so that's a good point!

[Tooner]

You could use thornit powder inbetween two fingers and gently twirl and pull the hairs to remove if you fancy having a go yourself. You could also use tweezers to gently pluck the hairs out if your dog will stay still.
Do you get him groomed as most groomers pluck dogs ears with forceps as a matter of course. Groomers will also just do an ear pluck, cut nails without paying for a full groom.
Obviously this won't help much if the hairs aren't causing the infections but my dog gets infections if her ears aren't kept hair free.

[Girlintheframe]

We groom him ourself, he only gets shaved twice yearly.
Does plucking hairs not hurt them? I could try it but again will just be hairs I can see/reach.

[Tooner]

He might find it a tad uncomfortable initially but if you do it every few nights, just a little at a time he should get used to it. The Thornit powder is like talc and helps to grip the hairs. You only get hold of a few at a time, twizzle them round between your two fingers then gently pull. You could even have a try without the powder, I don't always use it.

Otherwise I think it would be worth asking your groomer to just do his ears. It should only be a few quid and should really help.

[PenelopeFlintstone]

I didn’t like the idea of plucking with powder. I don’t see how it couldn’t hurt. That’s why I would cut.
To be honest though, we only did it once as we forgot and then the dog didn’t get any more ear infections anyway.