Cocker Ear Maintenance

Farley has a tendency toward ear infections. His ear canals are narrow and it's hard for air to get back there. It's also hard to tell if he has an infection starting because I won't get any sign from his ears. The canals will swell shut and no yeast will appear to give me a signal. I use a steroid drop in his ears to help keep the canals open and I watch for other signs: scratching his ears, rubbing his ears, or chewing on his paws.

I use: Liquid Health K-9 Ear Solutions -- 12 fl oz - Vitacost and clean weekly. It is about the same thing as the blue. If Farley does develop an infection I do what the vet tells me until it clears up.
 
If new to grooming please be careful when clipping the underside of the ears, either with scissors or blades. There are lots of nooks and crannies and flaps. Each dog's ears are different. Turn her ears over and learn them. Many years ago (32 ikes) I accidentally nicked a fold in our Phreddie's ears, it was not big but boy did it bleed. My son (whose best friend was Phreddie) cried and I felt so bad. Thank God it did not need stitches. It never happened again.
 
The advice that you folks gave me on how to handle Fiona's ears was absolutely sound. Thank you guys so much!! I am only cleaning her ears out about once a week now. I have had them cultured at the vet office when she went in for her bordatella shot and the counts are remaining stable. Next I will try wiping them out once a week but not messing with them otherwise unless she gets a bath. I will also get them re-cultured when I next take her in for her rabies shot when she turns one year old--just to make sure that the plan is working. The magic trick? Keeping the inside of the ear flaps shaved pretty cleanly. My sister does it about every two weeks. We also continue to tie up her ears a couple of times a week for an hour or so to make sure the ears get dry out time, just in case. I am fairly paranoid about it. I DO NOT want chronic ear problems if a simple care plan can be developed to avoid it. I have always fed my dogs a pretty grain free diet and when they started making grain free food, I jumped right on board. It seemed to be a natural choice because a dog's digestion is not set up to process grains. So I, too, am a fan of the grain-free diet.
 
I'm glad her ears have improved. That sounds like a good regimen too.
 
I mentioned the ear flaps thing to my sister and she actually smirked at me and said, " ...you should try to cut an 18 month old baby's hair while they squirm around..." She said that the scissors that hairdressers use are VERY sharp and long ago when she was in training, they had volunteers to practice on. She actually saw one of her classmates cut off a woman's earlobe by accident---really!!!! Oh wow! We have decided to keep Fiona's hair rather short----more like a Welsh Springer Spaniel. I have never done long hair in dogs before and my personal preference is to see the dog and not the coat. It isn't that long hair isn't beautiful (because it is)---I happen to know that it is a lot of work. I almost decided against the cocker because of the care involved with the coat. However, believe it or not, Fiona sheds less than my Beagle. My beagle blows her undercoat all the time. It is an ongoing battle to keep after her coat. 0608141210a~2.jpg
 
Yes I think cockers shed less that some short hair breeds My family had dobies while I had cockers, my Mom's carpets were covered in short hair, also think of GSD's.. they shad bad.
 
Newbie here ,, thanks people for the great advice on cleaning cockers ears. Max got an ear infection couple of days after picking him up from the groomer , took him to the vet they said Max only had the infetcion in one ear the other just neaded cleaning they also said the the infetion could of been from not drying his ears properly and may have got to much water in his ear , I shave the insides of his ears now and we wash him ourselves, and with the advice from these forums i will be cleaning his ears . cheers MAKA and MAX. Just a pup in pic, he is now 17 months pic in {avatar} , and a great companion , im in a wheelchair and he is such a help to me if i drop something he pics it up for me ..YR57-Boxed640x480.jpg
 
Polly said:
Yes I think cockers shed less that some short hair breeds My family had dobies while I had cockers, my Mom's carpets were covered in short hair, also think of GSD's.. they shad bad.
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That has been my experience too.....short haired dogs shed copiously.....I have a beagle and am quite sure that even if I shaved her bald, she would still shed! People I know with Dobes and Labs and GSD all say their dogs shed like mad.
 
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