Potentially the biggest positive impact you can make on your Cocker Spaniel’s health is keeping her ears clean and free of infection. To do this, you’ll have to pay close attention to her ears on a daily basis.
1. Daily: Lift the flap of her ear and sniff. You’ll be able to detect an odor if anything is brewing in those ears.
2. Daily: Visually examine her ear canals for excess wax, seborrhea, or discharge. If you spot anything unusual, take your Cocker Spaniel to the vet immediately.
3. Twice a week: Rinse her ear canals and clean the inner ear flaps with a cleansing, drying ear solution made expressly for dogs. Talk to your veterinarian about what product is best to use for your dog’s ears.
4. Monthly: Trim the hair under her ear flaps and in her ear as closely as possible to encourage as much airflow as possible.
Home Recipe for Ear Cleaning
Ingredients:
• 1 bottle Isopropyl alcohol
• 4 Tablespoons Boric Acid Powder
• 16 drops Gentian Violet
Pour a small amount of alcohol out of the bottle, mix in 4 tablespoons of Boric Acid and 16 drops of Gentian Violet. Shake well before use. Using an eyedropper, put 4 to 6 drops in each ear, rub at the base of the ear and leave in. Drops can be used weekly as a preventative, after baths and swims, and more often when the weather is hot and humid.
Treating the Eyes
Cocker Spaniels have large eyes that protrude slightly, making them at greater risk for some injuries. If you wipe your Cocker’s eyes with clear water and a cotton ball each morning, you will spot any changes to her eyes. One condition to be aware of is tear stains.
Tear stains themselves are unsightly, but they’re not harmful. Tear stains, red or rust in color, usually start at the inner corner of a Cocker’s eyes and extend down the hair under the eye and alongside the muzzle for an inch or so. The hair in this area stains this color because of the excess tears that are being emitted from the Cocker’s eyes.
What you’ll want to ask your veterinarian is why your Cocker Spaniel is producing excess tears. If she’s a puppy, it is very common for teething to cause her eyes to water a bit more, or, if her hair is growing a bit long around them, it could be that some hair is irritating her eyes. A quick but careful clip will solve this problem.
Other conditions that could cause excess tearing include a foreign body in the eye, an irregular eyelash, and several painful eye diseases. If a disease or injury has caused the tearing, you’ll want to work with your veterinarian to solve the problem.
If your Cocker Spaniel’s eyes are tearing for no known reason, you can use one of several products on the market to reduce the staining effect, or continue to wipe her eyes clear with fresh water every morning.
