Dogs have highly tuned senses of hearing. Your dog can hear sounds that the human ear literally can't pick up. An ear infection for a dog is not only painful and unpleasant, it can lessen their ability to interact with the world around them since they rely on their sense of hearing for so many everyday tasks. If your dog has been suffering from a painful ear infection, you can help treat the infection with vinegar.

Why The Vinegar is Beneficial

Vinegar is a great way to treat an ear infection in your dog because of its ability to alter pH levels. Many dogs' ear infections are caused by an imbalance of yeast and thus pH levels inside of their ears. The introduction of vinegar into this formula helps to kill the yeast cells that are residing inside of your dog's ear and helps balance out the pH level. If your dog is suffering from a bacterial infection and not a yeast infection, the presence of vinegar can kill the bacteria just by changing the pH levels in your dog's ear.

How To Properly Use Vinegar On Your Dog's Ear

In order for vinegar to help your dog fight the infection in its ear, you have to make sure that you administer the vinegar to your dog in the proper manner. You don't just want to drench your dog's ear with vinegar.

To start with, you need to increase your access to your dog's inner ear. Most dog's ears are covered with long hair; you are going to want to trim back the hair that is covering up their ear. There are two reasons you want to do this. First, it will help you more easily see and treat your dog's ear. Second, it will help increase the amount of air flowing around your dog's ear, which will help aid in the healing process.

After you are able to clearly see your dog's ear, you need to prepare the vinegar. You don't want to pour straight-up vinegar into your dog's ear. Vinegar in its natural state can be very strong, which is why you want to water it down. Mix equal parts water with the vinegar to water it down and dilute it.

Then, take an eye dropper and put a few drops of the diluted vinegar solution right near the entrance to your dog's ear canal. Don't shove the dropping into your dog's ear canal; that could cause further damage. Just release some droplets right above it and allow them to flow in on their own.

When you are done, your dog will most likely shake their head. This will help the solution spread inside of your dog's ears.

Repeat this process a few times a day until your dog's ear infection has subsided and your dog is in good spirits again. For more information on other medications, contact local professionals like Foothills Animal Hospital.