Causes of Ear Conditions
How did my dog's or cat's outer ear condition, otitis externa, come about? Why does treatment only partially relieve the symptoms, or why do they come back again shortly after treatment stops?
These questions can often be answered with a structured analysis of the underlying cause!
Underlying Causes of Ear Conditions
The most common underlying causes of outer ear disease are:
- Allergies: allergy to house and storage mites, or to food components; 70 to 80% of all ear infections — even one-sided ones — are allergy-related!
- Foreign bodies: e.g. plant awns in summer
- Parasites: ear mites and skin mites
- Hormonal conditions
- Ear polyps in dogs and cats — fungus-like growths from the lining of the middle ear that grow through the eardrum into the outer ear canal. This condition is, for example, particularly common in Maine Coon cats.
- Tumours of the ear canal skin
Contributing and Additional Factors in Ear Conditions
In addition to the underlying causes listed above, there are further contributing factors.
Additional causes include:
- Bacteria
- Yeasts: Malassezia
Contributing causes include:
- Narrowed ear canals
- Drop ears
- Lots of hair in the ear canal
- Heavy earwax production
- Frequent swimming
Your dog or cat should be examined for these most common — and also rarer — causes of otitis externa, to find the most effective treatment.