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Post by elizabethrae on Mar 6, 2010 19:00:35 GMT -5
Hi My ferret Percy suffered from an ear hematoma that caused the external parts of his ear to swell to 2x their normal size. The vet tried to drain the mass but discovered that instead of fluid, the ear had developed into cartilage and will remain the size it is for the rest of his life. It doesn't negatively effect him at all but it does make it difficult for the ear to stay clean naturally. He instructed me to clean it regularly and said that there shouldn't be any future related problems. The vet is an exotic vet.. but his practice focuses on dogs and cats and he doesn't seem to be as experienced as I would have liked. So I figured I would put my questions to you all! First, I was wondering how exactly I'm supposed to keep it clean. I thought it was dangerous to insert a q-tip into the ear canal but since it's so swollen, a small qtip would prob be the only thing I could get down there. I do have prescription ear cleaning solution but the instructions are just to squirt it into the ear, let the animal shake it's head and clean the external ear wax. Not go into the inner ear canal. Second, how clean would a ferret ear normally be? Does someone have a picture of a used cotton swab from a healthy ferret? And finally, how often should I clean it out? This is my best attempt at getting a picture of the affected ear.. my camera sucks. Thanks
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Post by Heather on Mar 7, 2010 3:10:20 GMT -5
Ferrets have naturally tight little ears. It's to keep all the mud and stuff out of them when they're digging in burrows. I used to clean all my guys ears regularly but I only swabbed the outer part of the ear. I never went very deep. I don't clean anymore. I found that by constantly poking at their ears it only got worse (ferrets quite often have grubby little ears anyway). I now clean only the ones that need it (some immune compromised little ones seem to have dirtier ears) and about once a month unless the need dictates more often. For the most part I found that the furbabies that come in on kibble often have grubby ears, once they've been on raw for a bit it goes away. I would just squirt a tiny bit in the ear and then gently swab the residue from the out ear fold. Take care poking around the ear with a swab. ciao
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Post by spiritualtramp on Mar 11, 2010 11:47:44 GMT -5
My boy Morgan had a hematoma as a kit, which was repaired but has left his ear very slightly different - I can only tell which one was the hematoma one by running my hand over his head, the hematoma ear is harder from the scar tissue. They look identical. However, that ear is VERY sensitive and Morgan HATES to have it cleaned. It's a battle to clean it, to be honest. So be very gentle because I'm sure your kid's ear is just as painful to clean. I would just drop the drops in and maybe rub his ear a bit and let him shake it out. Another trick is dripping a small amount of olive oil into the ears, then if you have other ferts, they all tend to clean one another's ears. Every so often try to get into the folds with a Q-Tip but be careful and gentle, it'll be uncomfortable and probably painful for him. Morgan screams sometimes when I clean that ear.
A note on the ear canal - most pets like dogs, cats, and ferrets have outer canals that are shaped like an L, so it's impossible to hit the eardrum - unlike in a human, which the canal is straight. There is no need to go into the canal really but there is no danger in doing the outside of the canal if the ears are particularly gross.
I find that my late alters as well as my adrenal girl need their ears cleaned more often than Marshall kids, which I assume is hormones. Kibble crunchers have grubbier ears, too, like Heather said. I clean ears every two weeks.
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