Not many dog owners take the time to look after their dog’s ears for nothing. A healthy dog’s ear shells are clean and odorless. But if your pet suddenly starts to shake his head a lot and look restless and miserable, the owner should take a good look at his ears. The presence of bad smell and brown plaque indicates the development of a disease such as an otomycosis. The ear mite in dogs is a serious and dangerous disease, very often resulting in damage to the eardrum and complete hearing loss.
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Causes and Ways of Yorkie Ear Infection
The cause of otomycosis is a microscopic mite no larger than 0.3 mm, so it is impossible to see the parasite with the naked eye. The tick inhabits mainly in the animal’s ear, but when there are too many insects, they can spread to other parts of the dog’s body. The tick feeds on-ear blood, lymph, epithelium, and ear grey by chewing through the dog’s ears and laying its own eggs in them.
Most cats are susceptible to the disease, but the most common tick found in cats is in the ears, so if your dog is a fluffy pet, you should first check him for the disease.
Among dogs, an ear tick infestation is less common, except for weakened animals with low immunity and puppies under 1-year-old.
Otodectosis occurs mainly in dogs:
- a sick animal comes into contact with a healthy animal;
- through street footwear, clothing, and the host’s belongings;
- from a sick mother to puppies
Only sick or weakened pets are considered to be susceptible to otomycosis, so it is essential to maintain the dog’s immunity and treat various diseases on time.
Symptoms of Yorkie Ear Infection
The first signs of otomycosis appear a few days after the tick penetrates the dog’s ear. Your pet will start shaking his head hard, trying to get rid of the ugly insect. Your dog may scratch his sick ear on various objects, often causing ear injuries.
5 Signs Your Dog Has Ticks
- Tilting the dog’s head towards the diseased ear;
- the dog refuses to eat, looks restless;
- the unpleasant smell comes out of his ears;
- brown, dirt-like secretions accumulate inside his ear.
- there are combs and scratches around the ear as the dog scratches the hearing organ heavily with his paws.
It is very rare for dogs to have both ears affected at once; as a rule, the tick will first settle in the same ear. But after 2-3 weeks, the symptoms of otomycosis also appear in the other ear. The wounds left by your dog’s claws are penetrated by various germs which can lead to ulcers, scabs and an unpleasant rotten smell coming out of your dog’s ear. If otomycosis is not detected in time, the ticks will penetrate deep into the ear and reach the eardrum, which can lead to complete deafness.
Diagnostics of Yorkie Ear Problems
Engaging in the independent diagnosis of the disease is unwise because the peculiarity of the symptoms of an ear tick is that the disease is similar to other diseases (eg, otitis). Properly diagnose can only be diagnosed by a veterinarian. In the conditions of the clinic, the sick animal will take the contents of the auricle and examine the material under a microscope.
What does a dog’s ear mite look like?
- If you magnify the material taken from your animal’s ear many times, you can clearly see the insects.
- In the home, the owner can see the tick for himself, just take a cotton swab, moisten it in a solution of chlorhexidine and use an applicator to clean the ear.
- Then place the contents of the ear on a thick paper of dark color and take a close look at the material.
- If the ear mites have diluted too much, they will look like moving whitish impurities.
In some cases, even a thorough analysis of the ear contents under a microscope will not always confirm the presence of insects. You should continue treatment in 5-7 days.
Treatment of an ear tick in dogs
What to treat an ear tick, only a veterinarian will advise, the independent prescription of drugs can provoke various complications of the disease and even lead to poisoning the animal.
How do I get rid of an ear tick?
The treatment scheme is as follows:
- Before applying the medication, you should clean the ear canal of impurities. To do this, use a cotton swab dipped in chlorhexidine or hydrogen peroxide to clean the ear from dirt. If there are crusts in your pet’s ear, they should first be soaked and then gently removed.
- Only the veterinarian determines the duration of treatment with medication, depending on the stage of the disease, because during the therapy it is important not only to kill adult ticks but also to destroy insect eggs.
- In most cases, it is necessary to use antifungal and anti-inflammatory agents to kill secondary infections.
- Appointed vitamin complexes and immunostimulating drugs to improve the protective properties of the body.
- If the medicine is prescribed as drops, after the procedure you should massage coat to improve blood flow. This way the medication will penetrate better into the epidermis.
Most antiparasitic drugs are contraindicated for puppies under 2 months of age. Often in such cases, your doctor will prescribe less effective dog drops, which should be used much longer.
The most effective ear drops :
- Auricans;
- Atrazine;
- Bars;
- Oncovin.
Antiparasitic drugs we usually use in the course, the only way to fully cure otomycosis. Typically, mites will die in both ears at once, even if one organ looks healthy and clean, it still needs to be treated. After 7 days, the procedure will be repeated, because during this period of time from the tick eggs already have time to hatch new insects, which should also be destroyed.
During the treatment, you should also check equipment: bedding, toys, clothes, etc. If other animals live in the house, they should also be treated for ear mites.
It is not safe to treat animals at home using folk remedies, as many recipes contain ingredients harmful to the animal’s health (various plants, kerosene, etc.).
Complications
If the tick doesn’t start treatment on time, it will cause severe health consequences for your dog and in some cases even death.
Complications with an ear tick:
- Decreased or complete hearing loss of your pet.
- Development of otitis.
- Penetration of microorganisms into wounds and combs and, as a result, their festering.
- Damage to the eardrum.
- The inflammatory process in the membranes of the spinal cord and brain (meningitis).
- The timely treatment of otomycosis significantly reduces the risk of complications, so at any signs of an ear tick, you should go to the veterinarian as soon as possible.
Prophylaxis of infection
Simple rules to prevent tick contamination:
- Preventing your pet from coming into contact with a stray congener.
- Regular hygiene of the auricles.
- Timely treatment of existing diseases.
- Strengthening the immunity of the dog.
- Prevention of the ear tick should also include seasonal treatment of animals with (drops, lotions, ointments, shampoos).
An ear tick is a very unpleasant disease and is very uncomfortable for your dog. Otodectosis is easier to cure in the early stages of the disease and in more advanced cases it will take a long and intensified fight against the parasite.