Ear Hair
 

I've been reading that you are suppose to pull the hair out of the inside of a Yorkie's ears, so they don't get infected -- is this true? Do you all do that?
Barb

I pull mine out. In yorkies, the hair goes all the way down the ear cannal and can end up causing problems. I know they sell a special powder that you can buy to make the hair less slippery but you don;t really need to. I use a tiny bit of cornstarch. I take a little on my finger and sprinkle it lightly in the ear. then I quickly pull a few hairs at a time. If your just starting out, you may have a lot to pull and you can do that in multiple sittings. It doesn;t have to be done all at once. It will be easy once you have a routine and keep up on it. I thought this would hurt but all 3 of mine act as if they don;t even realize I am yanking their hair out of their ears :)
There was nother thread on this from about a year ago that references a youtube video.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...-ear-hair.html

Wow, that was a great video, thanks so much for sharing that thread with me!

My vet thinks we should pull the ear hair, too. Nice video. :thumbup:

The only thing that I can add is, after pulling the hair - wipe out the excess powder from the ear or use a liquid cleanser.

I check the ears every week prior to bathing but I've found that I really only have to do about once a month. I do use the hemostats because I have long nails and don't want to hurt them.

After plucking, but just prior to their bath, I set the ear cleanser bottle in the sink with warm water. This takes the chill off of the liquid. Then I use the cleansing liquid, let them shake it out, and continue to bathe.

Good add! :thumbup:
I forgot to mention the cleanser. This is what I use to finish off cleaning the ears.
PetEdge: Top Performance ProEar Professional Medicated Ear Cleaner

I usually don't warm it up but thats a good idea. I normally just warm the shampoo and conditioner but I'll be adding that bottle as well now.

great video, my groomer must be doing this cause i did notice the hair in his ears was gone...wow! i think ill let the groomer do it...

Tuffy HATES having his ears done but :D he gets it anyhow.

I have not plucked Jack's ear hairs. I do his grooming at home. I do use a Q-tip on the outside rim of his ears after I bathe him. Our vet has not said anything other than his ears are really clean. LOL I'm torn on plucking ear hairs - I've read it can cause more infections if you pluck and I've read if you don't pluck, they can get ear infections.

I just posted this today on another thread......
Okay so looking back at least 2 breeders and a vet told me to pluck Sherman Tanks ear hair out of his ears. What part did I not understand? Looking back it is plain as day....I trimmed his ear hair but never fully realized "pluck the hair in his ears out of his ears from the roots" is what I was to do. WOW and I consider myself smart!!!!:( I noticed Sherman has not been sleeping well which translates into none of us have been sleeping as he has been scratching his ears madly and moaning all night long. I took him to the vet AGAIN for ear issues and imagine how stupid I felt when the vet asked me how come I didnt pull the hair from his ears after the last time he was there with ear problems :confused:? Ummmmm because I did not really think 3 people who were respected professionals especially with yorkies all REALLY wanted me to rip the hair out of his ears:eek: Thanks to my blond roots (that is what I am blaming this on) My SWEET precious adoreable love bug has a NASTY ear infection in BOTH ears:eek:.
A lesson for me is if I dont think people mean what they say or I think it seems drastic then I need to ask for clarification. I am soooooo sorry my boy has to go through this and will make sure he never has to go through this type of thing due to my negligence again!!! Just thought I would share incase someone else can learn from my mistake!

Awesome
 

that is a good lil video..thanks for sharing!

My vet looked inside Missy's ears and told me not to pluck, so I don't. We've never had a problem.

I think it depends on the individual dog. Some are hairier than others. The problem occurs when the natural secretions from the ear get blocked by the hair and instead of coming out of the ear they stay in and become a source of infection.

It's fairly easy to keep it up once it's done, but for some first timers, it may be worth having the vet or the groomer do a thorough job one time and then you do the maintenance plucking thereafter. :D

That makes sense :D

Even though I know others do pluck the ear hair, I have never done this with my yorkies. Ruby is four y/o, Reno is 2 1/2 y/o and neither of them have ever had any ear problems. I do clean them with Pro-ear cleaner during their weekly baths.

baths