Best way to protect ears during bathtime?
 

Hi friends!
I'm exactly 20 days away from getting my Baxter and my puppy obsession has hit a new level. I went to the pet store yesterday to get his leash and the man who owned the shop had his sweet Westie in there - when he heard we were getting a puppy, he told me to be extremely careful with his ears during bath time.

His Westie got water in her ears three months ago, developed an infection, and has since had to have TWO surgeries! He told me that she scratches her ears until they bleed, poor baby. According to him, the vet said that he should create a "shower cap" out of a vegetable bag from the grocery store and have her wear it.

I'm wondering what all of you do to keep your Yorkies' ears dry during and/or after bath time. I read on another thread that you can mix equal parts water, rubbing alcohol, and white vinegar and put drops in the puppy's ears...but what's the best method? Are there little shower caps (or ear caps) for our furbabies?

Sorry, this is such a random question for someone who doesn't even HAVE a dog yet - but that Westie I saw yesterday just broke my heart. She was a champ about it, but I could tell how uncomfortable she was.

Thanks!!!

I try to avoid spraying water on Sushi's ears...I hold them down when I rinse his head and when I blow dry him, I try to get warm air into his ears too....so far so good...

Does he mind when you blow air into his ears? How'd you get him used to it?

Thanks for the advice!!

I put cotton balls in their ears.Sometimes I put a bit of baby oil on the ball too and then put it in the ear.This is what my vet told me to do.

Interesting...I've read a bit about that. Do they ever try to get the cotton out?

Alex used to get yeast infections in his ears after his baths, no matter how careful I was. My vet told me to put just a drop of rubbing alcohol down in each ear after his baths and that would help evaporate any water that had gotten in. He hasn't had a yeast infection in 8 or 10 years! :)

Thinking ahead... I like that!
 

I use the cotton batten and blow drier method.
Small wad of cotton, which they no longer object to, towel them gently, and blow across the ear, with the drier after the bath.
Works for me... and by the way great question... thinking ahead...!

This is a major problem with Brownie We even use a drying wash after his baths, when it rain or it's damp out & he still get's them Thank you for this i may try it.

This is a new one for me... I will have to start doing this. Thanks for sharing. :)

The best way to avoid ear infections is to ensure that the ear canal remains free of hair and use an good ear cleaning with a drying agent. Revivalanimal.com carriers a couple of good ones....The one I use is Vet Solutions. I groom and use this regularly on my clients dogs and everytime I bathe my dogs.

We've never had ear infections, but after reading about the problems that could arise from getting water in ears, I went ahead and got Hy-Otic by Kinetic. I just use an ear/eye dropper instead of sqeezing it out of the bottle and rub the bottom of her ear canals. She's happy as can be afterwards and ends up with baby powderish smelling ears.

Wow, people seem to really love that product. I can't tell from the site where I found it - are you supposed to put it in the ears after every bath? Or is it more for treatment after your dog gets an ear infection?

I might have to call up the pet shop owner and see if he's heard about this stuff...his poor little girl.

I rub his head and ears as I blow dry that area....it's worked so far...

I place it in her ears after her bath. Usually, she likes to play in the tub, so it's inevitable that water might go in her ears. I started using it after her second week with me just to use something and it seems to work great. It says it promotes healing during ear infection recovery, but I just use it as a wash since she's never had ear infections.

I try to prevent water from going into Coco's ears when I wash him but sorta holding them down and trying to not directly put water towards them. When I'm done washing him I towel dry him everywhere including his ears and try to swipe any traces of water on the inside of his ear. I also blow dry him all over in the end to make sure he's all dried up. It's been working for me so far...:)

Good luck :)