Who like to see their dog gets ear mites. That tiny microscopic troublemaker irritates your dog which causes itchiness in his ears. If your dog is infected with the ear mites, you need to remove those ear mites as early as possible to save your dog from getting a severe infection. Before that, it is necessary to know what are ear mites, its symptoms, cause, and treatment.
What Are Ear Mites?
Ear mites are small microscopic parasites that are barely seen through naked eyes. These ear mites live in the ear canal of a dog. The most common species seen in a dog’s ear is Otodectes cynotis. Ear mites feed on the skin oil, wax, and debris in dog’s ears. It causes itching and inflammation in dog’s ears. Itching leads to over scratching of skin which results in a secondary infection in dogs. In some cases, ear mites also spread on the skin of the dogs that attacks the head, neck, paws, and tail and triggers the infection. Ear mite’s infection is highly contagious which spread when an infected dog comes in contact with other dogs.
Symptoms Of Ear Mites
Signs and symptoms depend on the severity of the infection. Scratching and head shaking are the most common symptoms of ear mite’s infection. If you come across any symptoms of ear mites visit your vet as soon as possible to get control of further wound or infection. Following are the symptoms of ear mites:
- Itching
- Scratching of ears
- Head shaking
- Head shaking cause blood blister in ears
- Rubbing ears on ground surface
- A coffee ground like brown discharge from ears
- Inflamed skin
- Scratching other infected parts of the body
What Cause Ear Mites In Dogs?
The eight-legged ear mites are small in size but create a huge trouble for your dog. These ear mites spread by a dog coming in contact with the infected dog or cat. The ear mites spread from pet to pet. Ear mites live for about three weeks but it is quite difficult for ear mites to survive in the environment for long without a host.
Treatment Of Ear Mites
The first thing you need to do is checking the symptoms in your dog. If you observe any symptom, visit your vet to diagnose it at an early stage. Your vet will check your dog’s ears thoroughly. If ear mites are found your vet will suggest you the following things.
- First clean your dog’s ear properly to remove the accumulated wax and debris.
- After the cleaning the ears you can use anti-parasitic medication to remove the ear mites.
- He may suggest you to use the anti-inflammatory treatment to resolve the infection.
- After you get into the treatment of your dog he will start to feel relief within a day or two. It is recommended to complete the whole course which lasts for seven to ten days.
- If you have more than one pet don’t forget to take the preventive measures for an uninfected pet.
It is recommended to new dog parents to do not take any step on your own to remove the ear mites from your dog without consulting a vet.
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