Grooming leads to ear infection

[Rowena Fry]

Hi,
Not sure if this is the place to put this post, but here goes! As some of you know, I have a poodle, and that means regular visits to the groomer. This involves removing the hair that grows inside my pup's ears because it can lead to ear infections.

The trouble is, the last two times my pup has gone to the groomer, the ear hair removal has lead to severe irritation in my pup's ears and an infection! She had to go to the vet (twice may I add, including the check up afterwards) last time to get special ear drops and antibiotics, and now it's happened again!

The groomers are aware it happened the first time, and I would have thought they'd be VERY careful this time, but my usual groomer was ill and so her mum did it this time around. I don't know if it's that they are not gentle enough when removing the hair or whether my pup's ears are just very sensitive. The vet said that it most likely happened because the inside of the ear got scratched...but I can't see any scratches at all, just a LOT of redness and some brown earwax. Poor lil baby, she keeps shaking her head and scratching at her ears and whimpering. :(

Has anyone else experienced something similar with their dog?

[Amber]

I have a poodle as well and she has never gotten an ear infection from getting her ear hairs pulled out. How often are you getting them pulled? You don't need to get them pulled every time. I would say let the hair sit in there for a while until the infection gets better...unless it's a bunch of hair.

My groomer leaves just a little bit of hair in Precious' ears. She says it helps keep out dirt and stuff. She takes the majority out and just keeps a little in. That may help your pup, too.

[Rowena Fry]

Thanks Amber, it's great that someone on this forum has a poodle too! Well, she was groomed about 6 weeks ago, and that's the first time she got the ear infection from it. I haven't removed any hair from her ears myself, so when she went in yesterday, she had quite a bit of growth.

You may be right in suggesting they leave some of the hair next time, cos both these times they've been very thorough in removing ALL the hair in her ears. Hmmm...it might be that then, just the act of removing all of it at once.

My mum will probably take her to the vet though, cos we can't bear to see Gum Gum so unhappy, uncomfortable and downright depressed! Poor pup!

[Maria Juliano]

Hi,
Not sure if this is the place to put this post, but here goes! As some of you know, I have a poodle, and that means regular visits to the groomer. This involves removing the hair that grows inside my pup's ears because it can lead to ear infections.

The trouble is, the last two times my pup has gone to the groomer, the ear hair removal has lead to severe irritation in my pup's ears and an infection! She had to go to the vet (twice may I add, including the check up afterwards) last time to get special ear drops and antibiotics, and now it's happened again!

The groomers are aware it happened the first time, and I would have thought they'd be VERY careful this time, but my usual groomer was ill and so her mum did it this time around. I don't know if it's that they are not gentle enough when removing the hair or whether my pup's ears are just very sensitive. The vet said that it most likely happened because the inside of the ear got scratched...but I can't see any scratches at all, just a LOT of redness and some brown earwax. Poor lil baby, she keeps shaking her head and scratching at her ears and whimpering. :(

Has anyone else experienced something similar with their dog?

Rowena,
After my Shih Tzus come back from the groomer's, I check their ears to make sure they don't have any water/moist left in them. I also apply a powder that dries the inside of their ears and wipe it clean after given them a rub. So far no ear infections.

[Amber]

Glad to give you the suggestion, Rowena! I hope it helps.

[Rowena Fry]

Well, my ma took Gum Gum back to the groomers and they put some cream in her ears. They advised that we don't take her to the vet because just like people, it's not good for them to always take antibiotics. I think their suggestion is to just ride it out and let the antibodies do their work. We're taking her back to get more cream put on her ears today, and it seems like the infection isn't as bad as it was last time.

I think we'll give it another day or two and if it's not better then we'll take her into the vet. She was supposed to be spayed on Wednesday but we've had to cancel that cos we're worried her immune system just won't be able to cope.

Maria, I might pop into the groomers today (if I have time, I have to go to the doctor myself! :( ) and have a chat about how exactly their remove the hair and what they put inside. I haven't been able to talk to them about it myself cos I've been at work and my mum hasn't asked about it. Thanks for the suggestion, will do next time!

[TimberWolf]

I don't know for sure what size poodle you have but if it is a toy or miniature, you should get a nose hair clipper and give that to the groomers to clip your dog's ears. Plucking out the hair is not always the best way to clear out the hair. It can cause infections if the skin gets pulled along with the hair and the skin will just get irritated. Antibiotics do absolutely nothing in this case which is why your dog doesn't seem to get any better each time it happens. The cream is good for now, but once the skin is back in good health, use the nose hair trimmers. Otherwise if you have a standard poocle, tell them to use a very small razor attachment for their clippers. Otherwise you will charge them for the vet bills if they continue to yank the hairs.

Because your dog has sensative skin, your dog will go deaf eventually if the hair is continued to be pulled. Please tell the groomers to stop pulling the ear hair and to use their clippers or the nose hair trimmer that you provide.

[Rowena Fry]

Oh gosh, Anne, I never knew that pulling the ear hairs out was that damaging! I've never had a dog with ear hair before, so I didn't even know it had to be removed, but the first night she arrived here, a groomer (friend of the breeder) showed us how to remove the hair ourselves. He cleaned the ear with Epi-Otic, removed the excess, then put 'ear pick' powder in to dry out the ear and provide grip and removed the hair with tweezers. She was fine!

I'm a bit too wimpy to do it myself, which is why I've asked the groomer to do it. (Different groomer). I didn't know you could use a nose hair trimmer. Does that mean the hair would fall back into the ear canal though?

I'll definitely look into this. I feel we have to find an alternative because poor lil Gum Gum's ears are bothering her so much! They have got much better with the cream but they are still very red.

Now to find a nose hair trimmer in Hong Kong...dunno where to start looking! LOL! Oh, Gum Gum is a mini poodle, by the way.

Thanks so much for the advice Anne! :D

[Amber]

How common is it for dogs to go deaf from getting the hair pulled, though? I have never heard of that possiblity...mind you, I'm not a groomer, but I do volunteer where grooming takes place. The groomer at the place I volunteer at pulls the hair out for her clients if they ask or if she feels the dog needs it...she doesn't do it every time.

[Rowena Fry]

Hi Amber,
I'm interested to know, what is the exact process your groomer goes through when removing hair from a dog's ear?

What kind of products does she use? And in what order?

Does she shave any of the hair on the inside of the flap part of the ear?

Does she just remove the fine wisps of hair that are around the ear (the inside, 'bumpy' bit of the ear) or the long tuft that grows directly from inside the actual ear hole...or both?

Sorry about all the questions, I just want to get a better picture of what other people do.

Oh, and Anne, my mum saw some nose hair trimmers for sale while window shopping today, so no big search needed. I would still be interested to find out whether that would cause trimmed hairs to fall into the ear canal though, before I make a purchase.

[Amber]

I'm not really sure what she uses to pull out the ear hairs. I'm sorry. Like I said before, I'm not a groomer, so I really don't know the names for everything. We don't use muzzles and leashes when grooming...I hold the dogs in various vet holds while she grooms. She feels that is less stressful to the dogs. That way we can pet them and kiss them and stuff while they are being groomed, plus we get a lot of blind dogs that we groom that would freak if we put weird things on their faces! lol

Anyway, she pulls the hair directly in the ear. I'm not quite sure if she pulls anything else. I have seen her shave the inside of the ear flap on a couple of dogs, but she doesn't do that on every dog. I'm not really sure why she shaves the inside the ear. I just assume that she knows her job when it comes to other people's dogs. I do question her when it comes to Precious though! lol

[Rowena Fry]

Thanks so much Amber! I know there were a lot of specific questions there. It's just that whenever I ask anyone, they seem really vague about it, like it's trade secrets or something. My groomer is like that though, she's a great person, but every time I go there she tells me exactly the same stories and information, even though I ask her different questions. A bit of an odd one that!

[TimberWolf]

I had been talking with a dog groomer I know here. She said the nose hair trimmers work very well. I do not believe the hair does any damage. You can always use some ear cleaning stuff or just a little water to scoop out any possible hairs left inside the ear with a Q-tip be be careful sticking anything inside of a dog's ear..they'll shake their head if something doesn't feel right and it could hurt them. I have not used it myself but the groomer I talked to has and she recommended it saying it works great and no problems have come up. She learned this trick from her studies and from experience. She's been in the business for about 10 years so I trust her.

I can't say when a dog would go deaf but with the amount of infections hair pulling causes on a sensative dog will eventually effect the rest of the ear causing the dog to go deaf. If the dog does not have infections and is not that sensative, deafness is not really an issue. The powder used to aid in ear hair plucking, if enough is used, helps to loosen the hairs. That too will be a problem if the groomers are not using enough.

As far as powder goes I found R-7 Ear Powder (http://www.jbpet.com/Shopping/productb.asp?catalog _name=jbwholesale&product_id=217-0107) at www.jbpet.com which is a pretty decent pet supply store. This is the type of powder I have used...not necessarily this brand though. Some pet stores will sell this. pet warehouse I believe has it, petsmart and petco might have it.

One more recommendation about ear hair plucking. Makesure that you don't pluck out too many hairs at once. it'll hurt them more and it's more likely you'll be pulling out skin along with the hair. That can cause an infection even with the powder.

[Rowena Fry]

Thank you so much for the information Anne, you and Amber have been so helpful!

I actually spoke to the original groomer who taught me how to pluck the ear hairs, the guy who came with the breeder to deliver Gum Gum to us. He said that one of the possible reasons is exactly what you suggested, that too little ear powder was used and too many hairs were being taken out at once.

So what I'm going to do is wait until her ear gets better (almost there, just another day or two and she should be fine), and then try plucking the hairs out myself, at home. This way I can make sure plenty of powder is used and not too many hairs come out. Hopefully, this will also reduce the potential for infection because I'll be removing whatever growth there is as soon as it appears, as opposed to waiting til there's loads of hair!

If this still doesn't work, and her ears get infected again, then I'll buy some nose hair trimmers for her ears.

Thanks again, you guys are wonderful! :bunny:

Take care!
xoxoxoxox

[Amber]

Glad to help, Rowena!

[Lesly Stevens]

I have two 4-yr. old Standard Poodles. Due to the deep ear canal and heavy ear leather, all variety of Poodles (Toy, Mini, & Standards) are prone to yeast infections (black yuckky stuff) which can lead to bacterial infections as well. Plucking is often necessary if your Poodle has thick hair that grows down deep inside the ear canal, but you don't have to pluck them bare! This can and does irritate sensitive tissue, and the result can be a vicious cycle of constant ear infections. Leaving hair that grows down deep into the ear canal traps wax and moisture, making it a perfect environment for yeast growth, and bacteria. Prevention is key.

Once a week (for prevention), I use a solution of 50% white vinegar and 50% alcohol to clean their ears. I soak a cotton ball, place it inside the ear canal, then gently massage, ensuring the solution gets down in there. Grabbing hold of the wet cotton, I move it up and down and round and round, then pull it out. Then, I take a dry cotton ball and do the same thing - it acts as a wic to draw the fluid out. Ear cleaning is part of a grooming ritual that my two enjoy, and often fall asleep during! If I see any hint of discoloration on the wet cotton pad, I then use the cleansing solution I get from the vet (vinegar and alcohol can burn if infection is present), and keep putting a new solution-soaked cotton ball into the ear until it comes back clean. I'll do this for several days in a row until it clears up. You can tell by smell if your dog has an ear infection. I check my two daily during summer months, when the heat and humidity are high. we live in Florida, so it's nearly a year-round problem.

Fortunately, the prevention cleansing works! In the summer, I keep a bottle of Witch Hazel in the fridge - I use this to cleanse the inside of the ear leather, NOT inside the ear canal, just the skin. Witch Hazel is very soothing to irritated skin, and feels good! Maddy and Bo dance when they see the bottle in my hand! They really enjoy it.

Another great use of Witch Hazel is to dab it on their face and throat right after grooming. Some Poodles have very sensitive faces and will burn, or, will scratch themselves because the skin itches, thereby breaking the skin. It prevents those gawd-awful scabs that form when the groomer has burned them, and/or from scratching. Promise! I use a #40 blade for face and feet - no burns! No redness! And no itchies that end up causing ugly scabs! YAY! I also used it on Bo after he was neutered. Whoever shaved him before surgery burned him, and he kept licking it. NOT good! The Witch Hazel soothed the skin, helped stop the itching, and he healed up quick. It's safe to use on the incision, too. (Vet told me it was ok, so I went ahead.)

Lesly, Maddy, & Bo

[Rowena Fry]

Thanks so much Lesly! It's great to have more poodle owners on the forum, cos there are certain things poodle owners have to do (such as removing ear hair) that I didn't have to worry about with my past dogs, all mutts.

Funny this thread should come up again actually, cos I removed the hair in Gum Gum's ear myself the on Sunday, and there has been no irritation at all! So I think I have found the solution to the problem, we'll do it ourselves from now on!

I just sprinkled some 'ear pick powder' (weird name!) into the ear for grip and I think it also numbs it a bit. Then used some tweezers to pull out some of the hair (I did half the hair one day, then waited to see if there was a reaction, then did the rest this morning), making sure to pull out the really long, slightly waxy ones that grow out from deep in the ear canal - just like you mentioned in your post.

Then afterwards I put a bit of Epi-Otic solution into each ear and did some gently massage, let her shake out the excess, then used some cotton to dry the outer part, and a q-tip to gently remove some of the moisture from the inside. Then gave her a big hug and a cube of cheese! She was so patient, didn't squirm at all, and it didn't seem to hurt her either! God knows, if someone was pulling hair out of my ear, I'd scream the house down! LOL

Thanks so much for the info! Do you groom your dogs yourself? For clipping, we go to a groomer, but we don't have to worry about shaving burns, because we don't shave Gum Gum's muzzle at all. We like her lil moustache and beard! And actually, the vet was really great when he shaved her tummy for her spaying two weeks ago, no burn from that either! (She's going to get the stitches removed today, yaaaaaaaaay!)

I read your post about how your wonderful dogs saved you! You have two AMAZING dogs there! I'd love to see pics of them!

Licks and snuffles from Gum Gum!
Take care!

Rowena xoxox