Dr. Hershman realized that when an ear is not inflamed and not painful but full of debris or tarry exudates from a yeast or bacterial infection, flushing the ear makes sense. "If you don't flush it out but keep applying medication on top of the debris," she says, "you're never going to cure the problem. But I also learned that flushing the ear is an art. You can't simply fill the ear with otic solution and expect it to flow out by itself, taking all the debris with it. Because the dog's ear canal forms a right angle, you just can't get the liquid out unless you suction it gently with a bulb syringe or some kind of tube with a syringe attached." Flushing the ears, says Dr. Hershman, is one of the most important techniques you can learn for keeping your dog's ears healthy. "They don't teach this in veterinary school," she says. "It's something people learn by experience." When should the ears not be flushed? "If they're painful, ulcerated, or bleeding," she says, "or if there's slimy, slippery pus in the ear or a glutenous, yeasty, golden yellow discharge. In any of these cases, flushing is not [...]
