Question:My Boston Terrier is just over a year old. He recently has been really scratching his ear. I looked in it and just his one ear has really bad dry skin, to the point now that the skin is so dry that its cracking and bleeding a bit. I have a vet appointment on Monday (tried to get one asap) and I have been putting the all natural lotion Aveeno on it to help soothe his ear. The lotion is driving him nutts until it dries. Any one have any idea what it could be? I thought maybe it could some type of ear infection.
Answers:
Try Neosporin on the ear in the meantime until you can get him to the vet.
Puppies and kittens with ear mites will scratch around their ears and/or shake their heads. The amount of scratching and shaking depends on the severity of the mite infestation. With more advanced infestation, the ear canals will bleed and either fresh or dried blood will appear inside the canal. Dried blood resembles coffee grounds. If you peer into your pet's ears and notice a build-up of a material that looks like 'coffee grounds,' then your pet probably has ear mites, although a bacterial and/or yeast infection is also a possibility.
Ear mites are very common, but still serious. Left untreated, they severely damage the ear canals and eardrum and can cause permanent hearing loss.
instead of lotion try some antibiotic ointment.
you should maybe put vaseline on it...that should help...have you rules out mites??
You will just have to see what the vet says after he examines your dog. Any guesses from laymen is useless.
He might have ear mites, they cause irritation and bleeding to animals (Cats & Dogs) a temporary solution is brown vinegar and water... 3/4 water and 1/4 vinegar. Just slowly drip into infected ear and the mush the ear around (like scrunching but not to hard so you don't hurt his ear)
Buy some olive oil (not necessarily extra virgin) and warm it slightly, and put that in your dog's ear ... the Aveeno is 'irritating' it (dogs are NOT people, and their bodies don't react the same at all) ... and put a few more drops into his ear every 2-3 hours, or whenever you see him starting to scratch. The 'cause' of this itch is either an allergy or a small bug, and the olive oil is the BEST THING to get your dog comfortable until he can be seen by the vet.
I'm glad you called the vet and are taking him in. Don't use Aveeno, it contains ingredients that cause stinging and may not be the best if he licks it. Would you eat Aveeno?. Until the vet see's him use olive oil for his dry skin, it won't hurt him even if he licks. He may however begin to smell like a salad.:)
Sounds like an allergy . My buddy "Einstein" does that from time to time. Sometimes it gets so bad he scratches and hurts himself and yelps. It's because he has allergy's and the Vet gives a solution that you can pour on their ear and wash it out then give him drops to cure it. I have to distract him after the drops or he goes crazy and rubs his ears all over the floor. it looks funny but a treat right after, especially a greenie does the trick.
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