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My puppy's ear is red, itchy, greasy after swimming. What should I do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Male | neutered | 6 months and 20 days old | 68 lbs

I think my puppy (6 months) might have a yeast ear infection. We went swimming a couple days ago and now his ear is very irritated, looks greasy, red, inflamed, and very itchy (itched so much it bled). Please advise how to help him while we wait till we can get into the vet.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Emily, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 11th, 2017

This year does look pretty ouchy. You can try cleaning it was something like epiotic advanced ear cleaner but with how swollen it is it may not be very successful. Your best option is to take Cedric to the veterinarian as soon as they're open and can see you to get this addressed. Fortunately most of these respond quite quickly to therapy. Do not give him any human pain medication as it could be very toxic to dogs.

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    Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on July 2nd, 2018

    I am sorry to hear about Tango! If he has redness and yellow discharge in his ears I would recommend bringing him in to the vet for an exam. I would be concerned he could have an ear infection again. Your vet can prescribe medication to treat the infection and also help decrease the pain/irritation. They can also give you a drying ear cleaner to use after he goes into the pool to help try to prevent the ear infections from occurring in the future. It would be a good idea to use this after he swims not only to remove the water inside the ears which can create an environment that encourages bacteria and yeast to grow but also may help remove chlorine from the skin if the pool is chlorinated.

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