Otoscopes

[Vacuna]

Just interested in finding out if many dog owners/breeders use these to check their dogs ears, are they easy to use?, useful to have? and if so any recommendations on what to look for if you purchase one.

[westiemum]

Varuna, I was a Speech Pathologist in a previous life and trained to use an otoscope on mucky kids ears. The truth is I don't think they are that easy to use, a good one is expensive to buy and you need to really know what you are looking for when you look down the ear canal. It's not always as easy or obvious as it might seem. You also need to learn to manipulate/straighten the canal so you can see the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and be a good judge of what a healthy drum looks like.

So overall I'm saying save your money and leave it to the vet. I know others may think differently, but I've been trained in humans and even I wouldn't trust my judgement in dogs.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps. :)

[Vacuna]

Varuna, I was a Speech Pathologist in a previous life and trained to use an otoscope on mucky kids ears. The truth is I don't think they are that easy to use, a good one is expensive to buy and you need to really know what you are looking for when you look down the ear canal. It's not always as easy or obvious as it might seem. You also need to learn to manipulate/straighten the canal so you can see the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and be a good judge of what a healthy drum looks like.

So overall I'm saying save your money and leave it to the vet. I know others may think differently, but I've been trained in humans and even I wouldn't trust my judgement in dogs.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps. :)

Thanks your post was very helpful and informative - wondered if they would be useful to the average untrained person. With the onset of spring and numerous grass seeds around I thought they might be useful for general ear checking.

[westiemum]

Oops double post.

Edited November 4, 2012 by westiemum

[westiemum]

Varuna, I was a Speech Pathologist in a previous life and trained to use an otoscope on mucky kids ears. The truth is I don't think they are that easy to use, a good one is expensive to buy and you need to really know what you are looking for when you look down the ear canal. It's not always as easy or obvious as it might seem. You also need to learn to manipulate/straighten the canal so you can see the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and be a good judge of what a healthy drum looks like.

So overall I'm saying save your money and leave it to the vet. I know others may think differently, but I've been trained in humans and even I wouldn't trust my judgement in dogs.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps. :)

Thanks your post was very helpful and informative - wondered if they would be useful to the average untrained person. With the onset of spring and numerous grass seeds around I thought they might be useful for general ear checking.

Yep I see your point. But I still think there's a fairly large danger that an untrained person might miss something - and even if you did see a grass seed or something I'd be really reticent about digging around in a dogs ear to get it out. I think you'd probably need to see a vet anyway given the danger of irritating the ear canal or even damaging the drum - using an otoscope is really quite invasive - and if a dog has a sore painful ear it's probably not a great idea to dig around in it. I find a dog who is scratching the ear, is showing pain behaviour or whose ear posture has changed, is a reasonable indicator that you need to see a vet pronto. Giving them a good sniff and smelling a yeasty or pussy/infected smell too is often a good indicator that a vet needs to have a look IMO.

Anyway just my thoughts. :) Hope it helps. :)

Edited November 4, 2012 by westiemum

[Dxenion]

We had an el cheapo one here and our vet gave us a run down on how to use it. I learned what a healthy ear looks like, and if there were any changes it was easy to spot and treat before it got worse.

The el cheapo one fell apart so I'm on the hunt for a better quality one.

Edited to add that the otoscope was only used for looking in the ear. Removing foreign objects is a job I'll leave for the vet to do. Thankfully we've only ever had to contend with ear infections from swimming in waterholes.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Dxenion

[dancinbcs]

Varuna, I was a Speech Pathologist in a previous life and trained to use an otoscope on mucky kids ears. The truth is I don't think they are that easy to use, a good one is expensive to buy and you need to really know what you are looking for when you look down the ear canal. It's not always as easy or obvious as it might seem. You also need to learn to manipulate/straighten the canal so you can see the tympanic membrane (ear drum) and be a good judge of what a healthy drum looks like.

So overall I'm saying save your money and leave it to the vet. I know others may think differently, but I've been trained in humans and even I wouldn't trust my judgement in dogs.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps. :)

You can't see the eardrum in a dog anyway because the ear canal has a 90 degree bend in it. All you can see with an otoscope is the first half of the ear canal. I'm not sure how good the cheap ones are but the ones the vets use are very expensive. They told me that when one of my dogs did not appreciate being poked in the sore ear by a novice vet, so he grabbed the otoscope out of her hand and spat it on the ground. Maybe have a chat to the vet about which one to get and ask them to show you how to use it.

[Rappie]

You can't see the eardrum in a dog anyway because the ear canal has a 90 degree bend in it.

You can see the tympanic membrane in most cooperative animals with normal ear canals, but it takes practice, coordination and a degree of skill.

Most of the indicators of ear disease that are of relevance to an owner are able to be determined without an otoscope - such as odour, discharge, signs of irritation (altered ear carriage, pawing, head shaking) and inflammation (redness, swelling).

[westiemum]

Thanks Rappie - my thoughts as well - but you said it much better. My vet keeps my westies ears under frequent review cos of recurrent ear infections - legacy of their puppy farm days- and talks about what the drum looks like in detail. He somehow straightens the canal by manipulating the pinna - similar I suppose as in humans - but not something I care to try myself with my dogs! :)