Health
Head shaking, scratching until he yelps, a yeasty smell. The ear is where it shows, the cause is usually elsewhere, and last time's drops will not find it.
Caution. Head tilt, loss of balance, eyes moving on their own, vomiting, an ear flap suddenly puffed up like a cushion, pain when touched, or one ear that flared up suddenly after a walk through grass: see your dog's vet today. Put nothing in the ear until then.
Do not look for the answer in a Facebook group, on TikTok or on a forum. Look for someone trained for this: your dog's own veterinarian, the only person who can examine, investigate and treat them.
Use this page to know what to observe, what to note and what to ask at the appointment, not to treat at home. If you still have doubts after a consultation, ask another vet or a specialist (dermatologist, internist) for a second opinion, not a group. And if you do not have a regular vet yet, find one now, while your dog is healthy: how to choose a veterinary clinic.
For two days now he has been shaking his head. He scratches at his left ear with a back paw until he yelps, and when you lean in there is a sweet, yeasty smell that was not in the house last week. Or you have a cocker spaniel who gets an "ear infection" three times a year: each time he gets the drops left over from last time, and each time it comes back. Or you have just brought home a puppy with both ears full of something black that looks like coffee grounds. This page covers what you can see for yourself, which signs mean a vet visit today, what an ear consultation with your dog's vet involves, and why the drops in the cupboard are a bad idea.
Until the vet has seen him, pour nothing into the ear. If the eardrum is perforated, and there is no way to tell at home, whatever you put in ends up in the middle ear.
Otitis is inflammation of the ear canal, and it hardly ever comes on its own. There is a cause underneath, and the vet's job is to find it. Yours is to bring the dog's history, which gets the diagnosis halfway there.
What the ear looks like. Lift the flap in good light. Look for redness, swelling, a canal narrower than usual or, in long-standing cases, skin that has gone thick and wrinkled like an elephant's. With the discharge, note the colour (brown, black, yellow, whitish), the texture (waxy, pasty, runny) and the amount. Black, dry discharge like coffee grounds, especially in a puppy or a rescue dog, points to ear mites. Brown and greasy with a sweet, yeasty smell points to yeast. Yellow or greenish, wet, with a heavy smell, points to bacteria. Colour only steers you, though. The diagnosis comes from cytology, a sample of the discharge looked at under a microscope. Photograph both ears in the same light so you have something to compare with a week from now.
The smell. A healthy dog's ear smells of nothing. Any smell at all means something.
What he does. Shakes his head (count how many times an hour, if you can), scratches with a paw, rubs his head along the carpet or the sofa, groans while he scratches, tilts his head, is grumpier than usual and pulls away when your hand comes towards his head. Film the shaking. At the surgery he will sit there like an angel and the vet will see none of what you see at home.
One ear or both. One ear, out of the blue: a foreign body, a polyp, something local. Both ears, several times a year: allergy, until something else is proven.
The story so far. When it started, how many episodes there have been, what they were treated with (photograph the boxes), whether each course was finished or stopped when the ear looked better. Does he swim? Do you bath him often? Do you clean his ears, with what and how often? Note where else he scratches (paws, armpits, belly, round the eyes), any change of food in the last few months and whether he has good and bad spells by season. And the breed and ear shape: drop ears, hairy canals, narrow canals.
Why allergy matters. In dogs who get otitis several times a year, the underlying cause is most often an allergy, either to something in the environment such as pollen or house dust mites, or to a protein in the food. The ear is just where it shows. Treat only the ear and it comes back. In training we see dogs said to have "bad ears" who also lick their paws after a trail through grass. Usually the real problem is the skin, and the ear canal is lined with skin too.
| What you see | First suspects | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|
| Black, dry discharge like coffee grounds; puppy; intense itching | Ear mites | They pass from animal to animal; every pet in the house gets treated |
| Brown, greasy discharge; sweet smell; redness | Yeast, usually on top of allergy or damp | Comes back unless the cause is dealt with |
| Yellow-green, wet discharge; heavy smell; pain | Bacteria, sometimes after an old infection only half treated | May need culture and sensitivity testing |
| One ear, sudden, after a walk; frantic shaking; head tilt | Foreign body, usually a grass seed | Today; shaking drives it deeper |
| Both ears, repeated episodes; scratches his paws too | Environmental or food allergy | The ear is the symptom; the plan is for the allergy |
| Swollen, soft, warm ear flap | Aural haematoma from shaking | Vet; do not lance it at home |
| Head tilt, poor balance, eyes moving on their own | Middle or inner ear infection | Today |
| An ear that never heals, in an older dog | Chronically thickened canal; polyp or tumour | Consultation, sometimes imaging |
Before you leave, ask when the check-up is and what a healed ear looks like compared with one that is merely better. And if the vet has a minute, ask to see the slide under the microscope. Once you have seen yeast for yourself, you understand why drops meant for bacteria will not touch it.
A healthy ear cleans itself and does not need weekly "preventive" washing. Cleaned too often, the skin of the canal goes soft and picks up infection more easily. What helps is a one-minute habit once a week: lift the flap, look, sniff. Pink, dry, no smell? Done. If not, you have a photo to compare with last week's and a reason to ring before the ear starts to hurt.
A dog whose ear infection is treated to the end, with the cause found, stops getting "ear infections" every three months. A dog treated out of the cupboard every time keeps getting them. If you do not have a regular vet yet, our page on related services can help you choose a practice.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer. The answers are a guide only: the decision belongs to your dog's own vet, after an examination.
Lift the flap and the canal is red and swollen, with brown, black or yellowish discharge and a smell that was not there last week. He shakes his head and scratches with a back paw, sometimes with his head tilted towards the sore ear. The colour of the discharge does not tell you which bug is there. Cytology at the surgery does, and that decides the treatment.
Because it itches or hurts: otitis, ear mites, a grass seed in the canal, an allergy inflaming the skin of the canal, more rarely a polyp. If he also scratches his paws, armpits or belly, he probably has a wider skin problem and the ear is simply where it shows most. One ear that started suddenly suggests a foreign body.
It is how he tries to get something out of his ear: discharge, water after a swim, a grass seed, an itch. A few shakes after a bath are normal. Shaking day after day means something is in there and not coming out. If it starts suddenly and frantically after a walk through grass, go today: treat it as a foreign body until shown otherwise, and long bouts of shaking can burst a vessel in the flap and cause a haematoma.
A healthy ear does not smell. A sweet smell, like yeast or old cheese, usually comes from yeast that has multiplied in a damp, inflamed canal. A heavy, rotten smell points to bacteria. Either way the smell means infection, and the infection is most often the result of something else: allergy, damp, a narrow canal.
Not before the vet has seen him. You do not know whether the eardrum is intact, and some solutions or drops do harm if they reach the middle ear. No cotton buds either, as they push discharge towards the eardrum. After the consultation the vet will show you whether cleaning is needed, with what and how often. Healthy ears do not need a weekly "preventive" wash; lifting the flap, looking and sniffing once a week is enough.
The information on this page is educational and does not replace an examination. For full details and a diagnosis, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
Claws on the belly at midnight, paws licked red, an ear infection every summer. Behind the word "allergy" sit at least three diseases, each with its own plan.
A red eye, watering, brown gunk in the morning, one eye held shut. Conjunctivitis is the word that springs to mind; often it is something else, and eyes do not wait.
Tufts on the sofa are one thing. Round patches, bald flanks or a dog scratching himself raw are something else. Here is how to tell them apart.
The wet slurping every evening, rusty paws, a bald patch on the wrist. Licking is a symptom, and "he's bored" is the diagnosis that comes last, not first.
We work with your dog's behaviour, not its health. For any sign described here, book an appointment with your own vet; the related services page explains how to choose a clinic.