I have taken my maltese to the vet and spent a mint to get her ear free of wax buildup but it continues to come back very often and I simply can't pay 100 dollars every time it builds up in her ear . I will get the wax out then it comes back and looks like the color of mud down deep in her ear and outside the ear opening and I don't know what to do to get rid of the ear wax. I have tried warm sweet oil, ear wash fron the vets office and nothing seems to help. The recurrence is driving me and is irritating to my maltese. Can anyone help on this issue ? Thanks very much for any help anyone can give me
:)

I'll start off by saying I am sorry but I can't answer your question. More I wanted your advice because my dream dog I hope to get in the next year or so is hopefully going to be a maltese but I need to know if this is a common problem and if you have found them to be hard to take care of. Thanks for any help you can give me and sorry I could not assist you.

I moved your post from the Introduction area to the Dog area, hopefully here you can get some answers.

Please take a moment to go back to the introduction area and introduce yourself

If you drill down under family, you will find pets and then dogs. I have been fortunate to have learned a lot about dogs through my volunteer work with dog guides and other service dogs. The dog guide school has some very good veterinarians on their staff, and they don't have good answers on the ear wax.

I have a 13 year old Lab that is a retired dog guide. From time to time she produces massive flows of reddish ear wax. I use vinegar water, starting with a cotton ball on the outer part of the ear and then Q-tips.

I am going to ask the moderator to move this thread to the dog forum.

Welcome. I hope I can provide better answers to other questions you may have.

A Maltese is one breed of dog that sometimes has a tendency towards ear problems due to their drooped ears and excessive hair. Here are a few tips. (I assume you have ruled out ear mites, foreign bodies or tumours and if not, then you should do so immediately.)

Most of a dog's ear problems can be attributed to yeast infections. In my opinion, sometimes these can actually be over-treated. Here is what I recommend. You should speak to your vet about it first to feel comfortable with it.

You should examine your dog's ears weekly. At that time, quickly pluck any hair that is growing in the ear canal (a groomer can show you how, it's fast and relatively painless). If the dog's ears look or smell bad, or if the dog has just been bathed or in water, flush the ears ONLY with the cleaner as directed by the vet. If the ears look okay DO NOTHING except to take a piece of cotton and wipe the outer folds to ensure they are clean and dry! Make sure you massage way down at the base of the ears to get the stuff in all the folds of the ear. The dog will love it.

Do not use any product other than what the vet has given you! Some people think that alcohol is a good product to dry the ear. It will dry the ear, but it can also burn and possibly cause more inflammation. If you must use a product other than what the vet recommends, then diluted vinegar as labman suggested (at a 50% water and 50% vinegar) solution can be used. Do NOT go way into the ear with any instrument. Put the medication in, rub it around at the base of the ear, wipe the outer parts of the ear canal but do not go further than the immediate area that you can see.

I use a product from the vet called Otomax. I only put it in the affected ear if I smell a bad odor, if there is a visual inspection and it appears irritated, if the dog has been bathed or swimming, an excessive build up of wax, is shaking it's head and/or scratching at the ears a lot. When I worked for one vet we found that sometimes dog's with chronic ear conditions could benefit from a switch in their medication so your dog might benefit from that. Don't OVER clean the ears!

Good luck!

Didi