by Amy Hunter

Created on: October 22, 2008

As the first-time owner of a now nearly 5 yr old "Rottie", I was mildly surprised to find that my Rottweiler was prone to ear infections.
After more research, I realized it was less to do with her breed than the "ear characteristic" of many breeds those with "floppy" ears. This trait, no matter the breed, is susceptible because the ear shape can more easily trap water, general moisture and wax more easily and hides from obvious sight problems until the dog starts exhibiting signs (head shaking, rubbing the ear with a paw or on other objects). As a result as with most all ailments not ALL Rotties get ear infections, but they are more prone to them than some other breeds.

My baby girl got her first infection when I moved back to Ohio
after living in Arizona
for 2.5 years. I'd only had her for 6 months at that time (though she was 10 months old), and of course being a February baby from Arizona
she had never seen snow. Well, we moved back in December and had 14" of snow 2 days after arriving in town, the worst snowfall since 1976. She went NUTS burying her head in the snow and routing her way through it, hopping around in it like a bunny (it was up to her belly, and she is a tallish Rottweiler). While I was diligent in wiping her down upon coming in after her play sessions, I didn't remember to wipe out her ears or check them to make sure she hadn't gotten water in them. Subsequently, we had our first trip to the vet for this ailment within a few days.

We now tend to go through at least one bout of ear infections a year. I have been fortunate, however, to usually catch them early and have our ear cleaner (Epi-Otic) and a supply of unexpired ear drops on hand which weren't used up from previous infections. I can use these tools instead of repeated trips to the vet.
Also, at the first sign of any head shaking over the norm, I whip out the ear cleaner and go to town for a day or two in attempt to head off infections at the proverbial pass. You can squeeze the cleaner quickly into the ear canal, rub it in and then wipe it out. It's designed to stay and absorb any excess water, drying it out the canal.
I check her ears nightly for any signs of trouble. Granted, she HATES the ear cleaner and trying to keep her from attempting to shake it out of her ears is usually a feat, but we also go by the motto "Momma always wins!"
The vet that gave us the Epi-Otic, suggested using it regularly every couple days as a maintenance/preventative measure. However, I usually now only use it during times I consider "high risk" for an invitation to ear infections or after being in the snow or hard rain.

There are various other remedies for keeping up on ear cleaning and ear infections a quick Google search can net all kinds of home remedies.
I have, however, learned from experience that if I go to the vet for ear medicine I now ALWAYS request the liquid drops instead of the tube of cream. From day one I have been obsessive about playing with my dog's ears, feet, mouth, etc. to make sure she is OK being handled, but with that first infection we were given a cream in a tube with a pointy applicator to put in her earthis did NOT work well. She went nuts, it took 2-3 of us to work with the medicine and I was eventually afraid to put it in due to fear of puncturing her ear or eardrum or traumatizing her further.

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