Ear mites are known by the scientific name Otodectes cynotis. As members of the spider family, these microscopic critters have eight legs and look like white ticks.
Ear mites, as their name implies, are parasites that live primarily in your dog’s ears, feeding on the ear wax, debris, and oils that naturally accumulate inside the said organ.
4.6
Over 90 years of experience
Nationwide service area
Free retreatments if pests return
4.7
Treats 20 types of pests
Offers instant online quotes
30-day money-back guarantee
What are the Signs of An Ear Mite Infection In Your Dog?
If your dog has ear mites, you’ll notice some changes in his behavior before you see anything else.
Common symptoms will include scratching at the ears more than normal, shaking the head over and over again, or rubbing their ears on the carpeting or fabric furniture.
If this continues for more than a few days, your dog may be exhibiting signs of an ear mite infection.
The next stage will be a dark brown or black secretion coming from your dog’s ears, especially one that has a waxy appearance.
Deeper inside your dog’s ears may be a build-up of debris that resembles coffee grounds. If your dog’s ears are also red and inflamed with a strong odor, they’ve probably been infected with ear mites.
Did You Know
Even if these parasites are just microscopic in size, they are very much capable of inflicting serious damage on your dog’s ears. Untreated ear mite infection can lead to permanent hearing loss.
What Happens If Your Dog’s Ear Mites Are Left Untreated?
Untreated ear mites can lead to a more serious secondary infection that could result in ruptured blood vessels or hearing loss.
Sometimes complications may arise that become serious enough to require surgery if your dog has an immune hypersensitivity reaction. So if you suspect your dog has ear mites, don’t wait. It only gets worse if you do.
How do Dogs Get Ear Mites?
Ear mites are parasites. Normally, the only possible vector is through socialization with other dogs or cats.
These microscopic arachnids are very contagious and are passed from one animal to another through direct contact. If your dog is playing with a stray dog, he could be exposing himself to an infection.
Ear mites are also carried by a number of prey animals dogs love to chase – cats, hamsters, rabbits, mice, and so on. If they catch them they can be infected, whether they kill the other animal or not.
Occasionally ear mites will travel short distances away from their hosts. During such time, these parasites could come into your house the same way any other pests could.
They can easily infiltrate your home through the cracks and crevices around the windows and doors. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s not impossible.
How Do You Prevent Ear Mites?
There are only three possible ways to prevent your dog from getting ear mite: isolation, yard sprays, and preventative treatments. Let’s look at each one separately.
Isolating a dog isn’t as easy as isolating a cat. Cats can be kept inside and trained to use a litter box, although after the first time or two, there’s very little training involved.
But dogs, especially bigger ones, don’t use litter boxes. That means they have to go outside where all the critters that carry ear mites are typically around.
Even if they don’t come into direct contact with the squirrels or rabbits or whatever, your pet can still get infected with ear mites. If there are enough of them that are infected, some of their ear mites could jump off and wait until another host comes along. Presumably, your dog.
Completely isolating your dog from contact with other animals is extraordinarily difficult. You’d be better off assuming it can’t be done.
Earlier, we said that ear mites are a member of the spider family. This means that treating the yard with a standard insecticide that is labeled to kill spiders is an excellent method of preventing an ear mite infection.
There are a number of different pyrethroid insecticides that are suitable for this purpose. You can use Permethrin SFR or a Bifenthrin insecticide or something else to spray the entire yard.
This will eliminate all kinds of bugs in the yard, as well as ensure that any ear mite that jump off from its host animal will either be dead or dying by the time your dog comes near them.
Read Also: What is bifenthrin and is it safe?
Studies have shown that fipronil is a very good preventative topical treatment. Fipronil is found in Frontline Topical Medication, which is a prescription treatment available only from a veterinarian. The drops are put in your dog’s ears to kill invading ear mites.
Read Also: Click here to learn more about fipronil.
If your dog already has ear mites, this treatment may not be as successful as it would be before the ear mites got in.
The simple reason is that preventative treatments don’t have to be as strong as regular treatments because they’re only dealing with mites that are weakened by their journey from one host to another. Once the mites are in place and have regained their health by regular feeding, preventative treatments just won’t be able to stop them.
What Home Remedies can Elminate Ear Mites In Dogs?
There are a number of home remedies that claim to be able to get rid of ear mites. A few of them are:
- Corn Oil
- White Vinegar
- Almond Oil (with Vitamin E)
- Yellow Dock Root Extract
- Sulfur
- Mineral Oil
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Olive Oil
How well do these methods actually work? That’s a good question and the answer depends largely on who you ask.
Scientifically, there is no definitive proof as to whether or not these solutions work one way or the other. Maybe they work, maybe they don’t. No one has actually conducted any rigorous studies to determine their efficacy.
Anecdotal evidence (“Hey! I heard that so-and-so used this and it worked great for him!”) is, by its very nature, extremely subjective. A large enough group of people claiming to have had good results will eventually become seen as good evidence. However, when and where will the line be drawn between “not enough” and “large enough”?
We’re not in the business of making those kinds of decisions so we’ll simply list the claimed methods and let it go at that. What you choose to do with it is your decision.
Can People Get Ear Mites from Dogs?
No.
Our ears are very different than dog ears or cat ears. The environment in our ears won’t support ear mites. They can’t live in our ears.
Like all parasites, they can sense an appropriate host when they come near, and stay away from the ones they can’t live on. You don’t need to worry about getting them from your dog.
How do You Get Rid of Ear Mites In Your Dog?
You have to treat your dog’s ears with medicines that are, essentially, pesticides for the ears. There are a number of them on the market today and we’ve gone through them to pull out the top five.
Read Also: What’re the best bed bug covers for mites?
Be aware that most of them require your dog’s ears to be cleaned prior to treating them. You can use Dog Ear Cleaner Wipes for that purpose.
The video below shows how a veterinarian cleans a dog’s ears.
5 Best Dog Ear Mite Medicine
Now that you’ve gotten a good sense of what dog ear mites are and your chances at removing them, let’s have a look at each product we reviewed.
- Pet MD Dog Ear Wipes
- Curaseb Infection Treatment
- Zymox Plus Otic HC
- Arava Natural Ear Mite Treatment for Dogs
- Adam’s Ear Mite Treatment
Pet MD Dog Ear Wipes
Pet MD Ear Wipes for dogs uses an advanced veterinary formula designed to gently clean and deodorize your dog’s ears. It’s safe enough to use every day and reduces ear wax build-up.
Prevent ear infections for your dog by using them regularly. They are alcohol-free, non-irritating, and provide soothing relief from itching. And best of all, there are no messy liquids to pour into your dog’s ears.
These Pet MD Dog Ear Wipes are made in the USA at federally regulated facilities, ensuring the utmost quality and safety.
Curaseb Dog Ear Infection Treatment
The active ingredient is ketoconazole 1% which is used to treat fungal infections. This medicine stops the itching that creates the head shaking behavior. It also controls the smelly discharge created by the ear mites.
Put this in your dog’s ears, rub them for about ten seconds, and then let them shake it out. Do this twice daily and the ear mite problems will be taken care of.
The stinky ear problem is relieved in about a week to ten days. It is really an amazing difference.
Unfortunately, some dogs are allergic to ketoconazole. It winds up making things worse for them.
There isn’t any way to tell ahead of time which dogs will be allergic to it. There isn’t any test for that so you won’t know until you try it.
Zymox Plus Otic-HC
This is the same as the regular Zymox but with added broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal specifications and properties.
Additionally, it attacks resistant microbes such as Staph and MRSA. Those added properties come at a price though, nearly double compared to the regular stuff.
The added functionality is great, but it doesn’t get rid of the ear mites any quicker. It just adds an extra range of problems that it can address.
You use it the same way. Apply a few drops into your dog’s ears once daily and massage them to work it in. Then let them shake it out.
Again, the medicine is rather oily so you should consider doing the treatment in a room with tiled flooring that is relatively easy to clean. The kitchen or bathroom would be best.
Treat daily for seven days, following the instructions on the label. After that, you should see a significant improvement in the condition of your dog’s ears.
Arava Natural Ear Mite Treatment for Dogs
Keep your dog free from ear mites with this advanced ear mite treatment from Arava. It’s formulated with nine essential oil ingredients, and in addition, there are no harmful pesticides or additives.
Experience results in just ten days with this safe and effective ear mite solution. It not only keeps your pet’s ears clean and mite-free, but it also prevents infections.
Arava Natural Ear Mite Treatment can be used every day to clean and refresh your dog’s ears. It’s completely hypoallergenic, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Adams Ear Mite Treatment
Once again we have pyrethrin as its active ingredient, but with aloe and lanolin for quick pain and itching relief for your dog.
This will kill ear mites once they come into contact with it, but won’t do anything to the eggs since they are airtight and impermeable. Once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings will be vulnerable to it.
This particular formulation seems to be slower acting than it should be. Although the percentage of pyrethrins is the same as the Hartz UltraGuard, it takes longer to show results.
Sometimes it can be three times longer or more. It works, but it is definitely slower.
The pain and itch relief seems to be effective but the slowness of the results can lead you to believe it’s not working at all. You’ll have to give it some time.
And, as with any pyrethrins, there will be some small percentage of dogs who may exhibit mild allergies to it.
