Sooner or later no matter how healthy your canine friend is he is bound to suffer from dog ear infection symptoms. According to medical experts about 20% of dogs are affected by ear infection symptoms.
Here are some symptoms that your dog has ear infection. It is normal for a dog to scratch with his paw but it becomes abnormal when he scratches or uses his paw to scratch only one spot until it gets irritated.
Continued scratching of the ears will turn into a painful complication known as aural hematoma. By constantly scratching the affected ear the blood vessels inside the ear burst open.
The other term given to inflammation of the inner ear is internal otitis. In some cases the outer ear infection is preceded by outer ear infection or externa otitis. This external ear infection is often accompanied by labyrinthitis or dizziness.
The common sign that your dog is suffering from this condition is that he tilts his head on one side (the affected one). Your dog will probably suffer from jerking movements of his eyeballs, a condition medically known as nystagmus. Some dogs vomit as an effect of this condition.
If you notice visible changes in your dog’s inner ear and finds an excessive buildup of earwax eventually the earwax will developed into a waxy and foul smelling discharge.
Fungal, bacterial and mite infestation of the ears can result in an accumulation of blood, pus and discharge.
You will know that it is a fungal infection if the discharge has a brown and fermented odor. Most of fungal dog ear infection symptoms are cause by yeast. Bacterial infection on the other hand stinks badly and is often cause by staphylococcal bacteria.
The discharge is yellowish to green in color and is usually pus like in consistency. A mite infestation looks granular and dark brown like coffee grounds.
If in case you notice a swollen knot in your dog’s ears this could be a tumor. Not all tumors are deadly and cancerous some are benign in nature. There are different kinds of common ear tumors found in dogs.
The most common of these are papillomas, polyps and basal cell tumors. The worst kind is ceruminous gland adenocarcinoma. Treatment for tumors will depend on what type, size and where the tumor is located. Benign tumors can be easily removed surgically unlike malignant tumors.
One of the most common surgical methods is surgical debulking, this is a procedure that removes the tumor as soon as possible so as not to cause further damage in the ears of the dog.
The worst type of dog ear infection symptoms is when your canines suffer from facial paralysis. This is cause by an external ear infection that causes the facial nerves to become swollen and inflamed.
A dog who suffers from a middle or inner ear infection will find it difficult to swallow, has dropping eyelids and facial muscles. In some cases the dog can lose his hearing and his sense of balance as well. If you leave this condition untreated this will cause permanent deafness.
Don’t be surprise when he can no longer hear you call his name. The only way to avoid dog ear infection symptoms from ever occurring is to clean your dogs ears and take him to the Vet every once in a while. Don’t wait until he is sick before you do this.
