Dr. Lera Clone shows how to evaluate a dog's ear infection using a 13-year-old poodle named Sammy. Head-shaking and scratching are common signs. An in-clinic cytology test, where ear wax is examined under a microscope, identifies the infection type and guides treatment.
Hey guys, this is Dr. Lara and this is Sammy. Sammy is a 13 year old male intact poodle. And today he's coming in because he has a history of shaking his head and scratching on his ear. Normally the first thing that we would take into consideration or think that would potentially be going on would be an ear infection. And so a lot of times you may look in his ear and you may see that maybe there's some redness or increased amount of wax that you can see right there. So usually what we'll do is the veterinarian will come in, they'll do an exam, then they'll look specifically in his ear and then what? Ideally, ideally they'd like to do is they'd like to get a Q tip, stick it in his ear, get some of that wax, and then put on a microscope slide to see exactly what it is. That'll give us an indication of what kind of infection it is, how bad it is, and then it'll let us know what kinds of medications we need to use, whether they're strong or not so strong. If you guys have any other questions or concerns, please give us a shout and just let us know.
