Pet Ear Cleaning:

Cleaning ears of pets is one of the major requirements for pet health care. Cats and dogs that have large ears are particularly susceptible to ear infections. Cleaning your pet’s ears periodically is important in order to ward off such ear infections.

Animals’ ears are extremely sensitive, and therefore, it is not always easy to clean them. It might be necessary to restrain your pet before you begin the cleaning routine. This is because if your pet is not restrained correctly, it may start to fidget, and in the process a sensitive area of the ear may get injured.
You might need different kinds of restraints for your pet, depending on its size. For example in small pets, restraint is not very difficult. You can simply hug the pet, gently holding the neck with one hand. When you hug your pet this way, it not only reassures the pet, but also gives your hands enough flexibility to clean the ears.

Alternatively, you can also restrain a smaller animal by wrapping it around in a towel. Wrap the pet completely in the towel, allowing only the head and the tail to pop out. After the pet is completely wrapped, use the hugging maneuver to restrain it. You can use a soft cloth or a piece of gauze to clean the ears of your pet. However, in case the ears of your pet are infected or have mites, you may need a medicated cleaning solution as well. The cleaning solution allows the infection, dirt, and debris to come to the outer parts of the ear from where you can wipe them off with a cloth or a piece of gauze.

Do not use Q tips to clean pet ears, if you do not know the proper technique of using them. Since the ears of your pets are sensitive, putting in Q tips might damage them. Placing foreign objects in the ears, may permanently damage the ear canal of your pet.

Steps to follow to clean your pet’s ears:

• First clean the ears using a piece of gauze. Clean all the discharge which may be present on the surface of the ear.
• Straighten the ear and put in some cleaning solution, allowing the solution to go into the inner parts of the ear.
• Put the gauze inside the ear again and clean the debris.
• Once that is done, massage the base of the ear so that any solution which is still inside seeps out.

Cleaning Your Pet:

There was a time when people bathed their dogs only when their odor became intolerable. However, things have changed quite a bit; now that people live in smaller apartments and have become more aware about the kind of health problems that their pets may face, if pet health care and hygiene is not given attention.

Earlier, it was more common for people to keep pets because of the help they provided in everyday chores. Now days however, they are kept because of the companionship they offer, at least in most instances. A responsible pet owner knows that maintenance of proper hygiene is required to have a healthy and happy pet. Depending on the kind of pet you have, the washing and cleaning routine might be different.

There are various kinds of pet cleaning products available for different kinds of pets. If your pet is furry, with a long coat, the pet may need to be washed more frequently and more rigorously. Accordingly, there are specially formulated shampoos for both, cats and dogs that are easily available. If your cat or dog is suffering from a specific ailment, it is even possible to obtain a shampoo which is especially medicated for itchy or infected skin.

Today, there are several different pet grooming products and accessories, ranging from different types of hydro baths, tubs, brushes, and other grooming accessories that you can use to keep your pet clean. Apart from this, specially formulated medicated talcum powders, deodorants, and sanitizers, are also available to keep the pet smelling fresh between baths.

It is important to realize that the pH level of the skin of our pets is very different from ours. Hence, human products are not suitable for use on pets. You even have different products in the market for long coated, and short coated animals. These products may also be categorized by the skin type of the pet.

Most animals take to water well, and therefore grooming them is not a very huge task. However, smaller animals and cats, may not be too fond of a bath, and therefore it is of utmost importance that these pets be bathed from the time that they are young itself, to get them used to the idea of bathing.

The frequency of bathing a pet depends on why you want to bathe it. Most animals have a self cleaning mechanism where the dirt and grime is carried off to the end of the hair, from where they are finally flicked off. If your pet is especially active and likes to play around a lot, chances are that it may get more dirty often, and hence may require bathing, more frequently.