The Shar-Pei and Their Ears

Well this is perhaps one of the most talked about subjects
with reference to the shar-pei EARS. Do they require ear
re-sections, do they require ear flushes, do they require ear
meds, do they require antibiotics.......do they???????

Most veterinarians answers in the past have been YES.
My answer is NO to ALL of the above. I was once a FIRST
TIME shar-pei owner. Naive, inexperienced, praying the
breeder I bought my first shar-pei from could help me with
all my new buyer questions.

My biggest disappointment was, that my breeder was not
there to help me out, and really didn't even care. So I was
left to deal with SKIN, COAT, EARS, EYES..........all by
myself, with the assistance of a veterinarian not familiar
with the breed (which you can imagine back in 1983/84)and
my nursing background. The heartache was about to begin.
Both my sister and I had shar-pei. I do remember one thing
I was told by a large, well known, well educated American
breeder, who was also I would consider, a shar-pei expert at
that time, and I state the last words out of the mouth of
that breeder was "NEVER get a shar-pei ears flushed........
so many have come away with broken ears drums and chronic
ear problems".

Being new to the breed I "listened to my veterinarian". Lets
start with ear flushes, antibiotics and then an ear re-section
- been there and done it all. END RESULTS - no
improvement or just a slight improvement. So my research
began - i) A breed with lots of medium brown to dark brown
chunks of smelly debris - a build up of wax, that some get a
lot of and some don't, ii) A breed that is one of the oldest
breeds in the world ?? what went on with ears back then ???
iii) A breed that reacts to diet as prime cause of allergies
and wax build up, iv) a breed that reacts to stress and ear
and eye maintenance increase as result of stress, Just to
point out a few things that all affect their overall health,
including ears and eyes.

Experiencing the ear flushes and ear re-section first hand
and realizing that this was only a temporary solution and that
all of the above would just repeat over and over again, I was
now on an expedition of breed information and health
research, not excluding my noted health background with
people, what works and what doesn't.

To stop for a minute and ask what happens when you get fluid
in your ears, how would you like this done every day or every
other day?

Reading much of the breed info written by old time experts
and breeders, some the first to be in the breed, I started
to adopt their ear cleaning methods, coupled with my own
research and common sense.

My first step was to wait for another droopy ear, and
shaking head. Then I decided to let nature do its thing and
leave the ear alone. So untouched, I discovered that my
shar-pei had the capability of letting its own immune system
take care of the infection or pending infection, or moisture
build up due to seasonal change - whatever the reason that
particular ear acted up, it was duly noted - IT CLEARED UP
ON ITS OWN. Took about 2 weeks. After watching this with
every shar-pei I had and was to own in the future, many of
my dogs NEVER even required ear cleaning of any type
anymore and the ones that did, it is only a surface wipe of
the inside of ear flap.

Interesting yes, truthful yes, do I recommend it, yes. It has
been observed that over the years, the minute the ears are
touched by way of flushing or over cleaning, that ear
maintenance becomes chronic and yeast is a constant battle.
It has been observed by instructing my puppy buyers to leave
the ears alone, and let nature build up its own defense
mechanism to fight back naturally, that this has been the
most successful approach to ear maintenance in the breed.

If the dog food you are feeding your dog is one of the
triggers then this will be an on going battle.

How bad does it or can it get?? It can get very smelly, lots
of bacteria and yeast discharge.........but how is the body to
build up any type of natural defense if we keep taking away
what the body is to fight and battle against, in order to
bring it to a controllable level within their own body
immunity....making it more likely to be worse, the next time
around, and now becoming resistant to many of the ear
ointments, antibiotics etc.

Many of the old time breeders have also adopted "leave the
ears alone methods" with the same results. When there is a
wax plug in the ears sometimes I will see my adults take
their toenails (which are naturally long) and pick these chunks
out. It is safe to just clean the inner ear flap with an oil
alcohol solution of choice. I know for a fact if for some
reason there were no more humans left on this planet, my
dogs ears would be fine - would yours?

If and I say IF, a dog has or is a candidate for familial
shar-pei fever and swollen hock syndrome, amyloidosis, or a
condition that is an immune system problem, I feel ears will
be right there in the thick of it, and if the ears of the shar-
pei do not clear up on their own, then I would again, put it in
the category of "NOT FOR BREEDING" for my experience
nows tells me by way of my dozen dogs here, that ears of a
healthy shar-pei require very little maintenance.

It certainly is not a matter of lines or pedigrees here, but
common sense. And if it IS, a "genetic" thing, which is not
out of the question, then why are breeders breeding dogs
that require heavy duty ear maintenance - to me this is no
better than breeding dogs with skin problems etc. Do you all
syringe your ears and clean them the way many clean a shar-
pei ears, if you did, believe me you would have chronic ear
problems also.

Again my personal experiences and opinion and, it will be left
at, what works best for the breeder and buyer, and end
result rests with what procedures the owner is comfortable
with doing, or not doing. Again some all natural food for
thought, and if one does note that after the onset of an ear
infection, and left untouched, it starts to clear up on its own,
you have gained new knowledge, if is does not start to clear
up between 1 - 2 weeks, then you have lost nothing in
returning to the ways of modern day medicine.

One all natural hint to cleaning up ears ~ add natural yogurt
no sugar, as sugar feeds yeast, to the diet and switch diets
completely, the closer to all natural diet the dog eats, the
cleaner the ears. Wipe the inside of the ear with a  
moistened cloth with diluted vinegar to clean and dry the ear
tissue. Vinegar evaporates quickly, and drys.
Avoid antibiotics whenever possible. They are notorious for
killing off good bacteria as well as bad bacteria. When the
body's natural balance of flora is disrupted, yeast often gains
a strong grip that can be extremely hard to reverse.

As you vet about Zymox, a non-prescription treatment
containing enzymatic anti-microbials. One daily dose of Zymox
cleans, medicates, and may prevent your dog’s yeast
overgrowth, if you have to use something.

If you feel your dog already has many health issues, skin
infections, eye infections and a compromised immune system,
you may have to follow the protocol of antibiotics and ear
cleaning recommended by your medical practitioner, and should
you see pus in any dogs ears, the problem could be more
severe and a secondary condition. which would have to be
corrected before tackling ears alone.

As stated above this was my personal experiences over the
last 25 years and may not work for all shar pei.

These pages are copyright 2009
of Shar-Pei Canadiana.
Original Web Site opened October 25, 1997.
Web page designed by Vicky McBeth.
Counter