Eeeew ear mites, smelly

[DogPaddle]

New puppy - Zaphod, who we got from the shelter, has ear mites I think. Will be making a vet appointment soon. Any hope at all that I won't have to treat all three dogs and both cats for earmites? Any suggestions on control methods until I can get ear mite meds?

[yellowlabsrule]

In rabbits you use baby oil to get rid of ear mites, but I don't know if it works in dogs. :-?

[yellowlabsrule]

Duh, I can't believe I forgot.
Congrats on your new puppy!!!

[DogPaddle]

Thanks, he's very cute, took us a week to agree on a name now all we need is a digital camera so we can post pics.

[alicat613]

You can use a mix of olive (or almond) oil (1/2 oz) to 400 IU Vitamin E in their ears. This drowns the mites. You put about half a dropper full in the ear and massage. Let your pets shake it out...it is messy...then you can wipe with a cotton ball. Do this every other day for 6 days, then 3 days of "ear rest".

Then if you want to get really involved you can use Yellow Dock tincture (herbal). 9 drops to 1 TBLSPN water, and put a half dropper in each ear, every 3 days for 6 weeks.

You might also need to bathe them all as the mites sometimes leave the ears for short little vacations, so you might miss a few and then they would just recolonize and you'd be back at the start!

Adding garlic and brewer's yeast to the diet is supposed to help with all parasites from fleas to mites, but honestly I've not been impressed. It took us at least a year to quash our flea problem and I didn't see the garlic/yeast helping much.

As for your other pets, you'll have to check them all out. The mites may just be opportunistic on your pup (CONGRATS on the new puppy!) and may not be on your other pets.

Sorry I don't have an easier method, but the oil does work to help quash them and soothe the ears, so you could do that until you can get to the vet. There are OTC remedies at pet stores that use pyrethins which are safe for most people and pets (they are made from Chrysanthemums) but we did have serious reactions to it in our house. But they are pretty effective on mites.

[DogPaddle]

Hmmm, I think I have yellow dock, have to check the jars. If not I'll try the oil method. Thanks.

[Guest Anonymous]

My dog had ear mites and a bad odor but my neighboor who works at the veterinarian place here gave me some meds that worked wonders. The first thing that i tried was a liquid called "oti-clean", but what i was told it really burns the dogs ears really bad. So she gave me some liquid called "otomax" which has worked so great for my little mutt (and for my filas). I dont know the price of the stuff (i get all my dogs meds for free :D ), but if you get some it works great.