What can I use to clean my dog’s ears that is natural?

Original Question: My 10-year-old dog Sasha has ear infections at least twice a year but she has allergic reaction to all the ear drops her vet recommends. Is there a natural product I can try? - Sylvia

Jun 6, 2017

Hi Sylvia,

Thanks for your question.

Dog ear infections can be very tricky. We have a really good article about treating ear infections properly and I encourage you to read it.

So I’d like you to read that article and make sure that this infection that returns is actually a new unique infection and not just the same one that keeps coming back. Employ some of the strategies from the article and it’s possible that you may solve this forever.

To get back to your question about a natural ear cleaner for dogs, I can offer you some advice. There are certainly natural remedies that may work to clean the ear. One that I have told people about is that you can take 10 parts water to one part vinegar and this creates a safe cleaning solution that would also help dry out that the ear. Any moisture in the ear contributes to an infection so you want to avoid that.

If you’re looking for a product that has medication in it, you can ask your veterinarian to order something from a compounding pharmacy. This is a company that will make up a unique medication for your dog based on what pharmaceutical agents your veterinarian requests to be in the mixture – this is also discussed in the article.

You suggest that these allergies may be what’s causing a reaction to the medications. I recommend that you speak to your veterinarian about an ear medication called Burow’s solution. I find it is really effective in treating inflammation in the ear and in some cases when you get the inflammation under control, the body can take care of the infection itself.