How to Care for Your Toy Poodle's Ears

Plucking the Hair Out of the Ear Canal

A Toy Poodle must have their ear-hairs plucked up regularly. When cleaning ears, I first start with a Drying Ear Powder. This basically helps you get a good grip on the hairs that are present inside of the ear so you can pull them out without them slipping out of your hand.

Next, I pull all the hairs I can with my fingers. If the puppy is very small and the ear opening is tiny, the use of Curved Hemostats will be a great blessing. These hemostats will also help to grab any hairs that are deep inside of the ear canal on puppies and adults alike.

Last, I use the Drying Gel Solution which acts like the hand-sanitizing gel for our hands. It goes in the ear canal, dries it out, sanitizes, and deodorizes it. I soak a cotton swab in it and "mop" the inside of the ear canal. This is also good to do after baths or swimming to ensure you always have a dry environment there.

Yeast Infections

If there already is a lot of ear wax, the ears are red, and / or the dog has been scratching, it means that there is probably a yeast infection which is super easy to clear up. Some vets who are not as familiar with poodles may misdiagnose it as "ear mites." The difference is that mites can be seen with your naked eyes (no need for a microscope), while a yeast infection will generally look the same way except with the absence of the mites. Treatment for ear mites is expensive and is an overkill for the real problem. If you don't see the mites, it is most likely a yeast infection. And if it's a poodle... it is most likely a yeast infection!

On small toy poodle puppies, the ear canal is tiny which makes it hard to see, reach, and pluck the hairs in such a small little opening. This results in moisture and hair being trapped in a small, dark, moist space which is the perfect environment for yeast to grow. As the puppy grows, the ear canal opening also grows which makes it a lot easier to pluck out the hair. This in turn causes a better airflow and the drying out of the ear canal, which kills the yeast. The way to solve this is to always pluck as much hair as possible, keep the ears dry, and in case there is itching and scratching of the ear, use Zymox Otic for Ears. Within a few days that yeast infection is usually gone. If the poodle already has a yeast infection in full swing (redness, itching, wax, black debris, etc), this is the way to go. Plucking the hair out with the Curved Hemostats will be helpful, but apply this to the ear without having applied any other products previously so you don't interfere with the enzymatic workings of this remedy.