# Ichy left ear



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hi, my 1 y/o V is increasingly scratching her left ear. After scratching she shakes her head. I have checked the inside thoroughly but it’s all really clean. I have checked the outside for ticks or other parasites but I can’t find anything. How deep should / could I check her inner ear? Can swimming / showering cause any issues while her ears are nice and clean? I haven’t cleaned her ears with more that just a cotton ball. 

It doesn’t seem to bother her much other than scratching and shaking it every now and then. 

She does have a possible allergy since she has mild dandruff that doesn’t seem to clear out (even while she is on a fish only diet). We’re still trying to figure out what causes the dandruff but it doesn’t bother her at all, she is never seen scratching her back. Just her left ear. 

She has been tested negative for demodex.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I use a flashlight to look deeper into the ear, on my senior that's prone to ear infections.
Any signs of waxy substance, I clean the ears more often. 
Zymoc makes a good OTC ear cleaner. 
I have to use medical grade HB101 on my senior, but her ear was so bad she had to have surgery on it.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

My first question would be have you tried ear cleaning solutions on her ears? It is good preventive maintenance to do periodically. For a problematic ear I'd clean once daily for 3 days at least to see if there was an improvement. Squish the solution in, close the ear and massage around. Then let go and enjoy the head-shake induced ear juice shower! If the ear smells yeasty, look for a ear cleaning solution with ketoconazole.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

I have cleaned her ears regularly, but not with a solution. Since her ears have always been clean and without smell I never really thought it was needed. 

I’ll clean it with a solution, to see if anything comes out.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

Best of luck!
For the dandruff, look into treating with monthly a lime sulfur dip product. It is a broad spectrum anti microbial including fungus, lice, and mites. IMO, sometimes its easier to simple apply treatment for these difficult to diagnose problems, particualrly when it is pretty safe to do so. We had an unknown skin problem with our GSD and this helped her a great deal.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Cleaning her ear did the trick! I thought her ears were very clean as I couldn’t see any wax but after cleaning she stopped scratching it. Lesson learned 😀


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