So my puppy has been scratching his ears often and shaking his head afterwards. I googled online and found that it could be ear infections. But I just took him to the vet for a surgery which costed me quite a bit so I really don't have the money to take him to the vet again. Is there anything I can try doing before I have to take him to vet?

It's only around 30 dollars for the ear drops... try going to 1800petmeds and see if they have drops for ear infections

You don't want your pup to end up deaf, do you?

Have you looked inside the ear? Is it all gunky? Does it smell bad?

I smelled his ears today, they didn't really stink. But it looked dark colored deep down inside. Would it help if I get dog ear cleaners to clean his ears out?

You probably should just bite the bullet and take him back to the vet. Ear infections can be bacterial, yeast, allergies or any combination of the three. Then there is the possibility of ear mites. You may waste more money on guessing at what you are treating that to have it diagnosed and given a medication for the specific problem.

It may also be ear mites. I think petsmart has drops for ear mites

If it is like brownish GUNK in the ear you need to clean it. Did you sniff the ear I know this is gross but it will help with figuring out what it is!

Clean his ears and if no improvement take him to the vet. My dog has a partial broken eardrum from an undetected ear infection and I had a friend who lost a dog that was being treated for a severe ear infection. Ask to pay half now and half later, even if it's only 50.00

Yea there are also some financeing companys like CareCredit that work with vets so you can make payments on the vet bill just call and talk to the vet!