Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2007

Apparently you are right.  figgers.

I'm not a vet, so not sure how much my opinion is worth...

I'd say, try the vet's solution first. If that doesn't work, you could try
something else and monitor closely (if things get worse, you're obviously
doing something wrong!).
From my limited experience, I don't think there is anything in there that
will harm your dog to have on his ears(although I'd appreciate a
professional opinion here) . You're obviously not going to want to use it
with any open sores on the ears (as the page suggests).

I'm guessing that the ingredients would work something like as follows
(again someone who actually knows something might want to confirm this...)

white vinegar - general purpose cleaner/solvent
powdered boric acid - descicant - dry things up in there
isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) - cooling - to make ears feel better.
Don't know, does it actually reduce the inflamation, or does it just make it
feel good?
Betadine antiseptic - kill whatever is growing in your dog's ears - yeast,
bacteria etc.

At the clinic I go to they use a concoction of propylene glycol (descicant),
burrows solution (antibiotic), and hydrocortisone (anti-inflamatory) for
this kind of thing.

Dale

Never heard of this particular mix of ear cleaner.  Sounds like it'd
probably work fine but I couldn't say for sure.  I routinely recommend
mixing alcohol and vinegar for ear cleaning.  Plenty of commercial cleaners
have boric acid or something similar.  I doubt the tiny amount of betadine
does anything except add color and make it look pretty ;-).

I will say regarding their "technique" for actually applying/cleaning -- I
don't like the "just swish it around method".  I tell people to fill the ear
canal and then to make sure that you pull up and out on the ear -- if you
don't straighten out the canal while you are massaging (with whatever
cleaner you use) then you aren't going to do much good at all.  You also
have to massage firmly enough to get through the cartilage and get thing
going.

And the truth of the matter with cockers is -- no matter what cleaner you
use -- routine thorough cleaning IS the best way to avoid ear infections.
If one solution was the "magic cure" over all other solutions then I'm
pretty sure someone would be marketing it ;-).

Deborah DVM