It is about the size of a nickel I think. Then there are little scabs, like little spots here and there. I do have an ear cleaner and I did clean it off while I was looking at it. He seemed to like that, most likely because I was scratching it a little. His ear was very clean. My cotton pad did not get stained by the scab or ear so I don't think it is bleeding or anything. It looked dry.
I do know about hot spots. I guess I thought they were caused by licking though. I will check it and clean it again today and put more stuff on it. Once we put the antibiotic lotion on it I didn't see him scratch his ear until this morning.
His nails are long :( he won't let us cut them!!! so they are sharp. I wish I knew if the scratching was a symptom or the cause.
Is there any sort of parasite that could cause something like this? He is mainly an indoor dog so I am not sure if he could have caught anything. We also heat our home with a wood stove, which makes it dry. I wonder if the dry heat is bothering him? We adopted him in feb, so we have not had him for a full year yet.

It may be mites.........

Here is a link that might be useful: Ear mites

May be mites or seasonal allergies. Dogs can be allergic to as many things as us humans and itching ears are one of the symptoms. The scabs are most likely the secondary issue caused from the dogs claws scratching it's ears.
I keep my dogs ears cleaned out with cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. I really put in the cotton ball down into the ear canal and GENTLY wipe around, not forcing it in but just out of site where you can really see. IF the cotton comes back with any brown or other strange color on it take the dog to vet to get checked out because it could be mites or ear infections from allergies. Does your dog swim or get it's ears wet? If so it can also get swimmers ear, brown colored "goo".
If it doesn't stop scratching after cleaning with alcohol after a few days then I would still take my dog to vet to make sure it doesn't have anything serious wrong that could affect it's hearing. Plus just think how uncomfortable you are when something keeps itching and doesn't stop, darn annoying:) Hope he feels better soon.

Okay, I learned this the hard way years ago, if you dont cut your dogs nails yourself, take your pup to a groomer or the vets for regular nail cipping. Of course your dog hates it, those paws are like private parts to them and they detest people touching them, but if you dont cut them you are in for some nasty posibilities for future problems. So get em cut, at least once every other month. You are doing great, just keep an eye on that ear and see what happens, if it does get better, it might be nails if not, off to the doc.

Thanks, besides the scabs, his ears are very clean. No wax or anything. My husband said he once saw a dog with ear mites and is confident our boy doesn't have them.

I started worrying about it yesterday and called the vet and they think it could be that the other dog is biting his ear and causing the problem when they play also. They recommended neosporin, which we were doing anyway. The dogs get frontline and that prevents mange mites (fewww!) so there isn't any reason he should have those! Yesterday afternoon it looked a little worse, this morning it looked better. I put some more neosporin on it and bought some hydrocortizone cream also. I will put that on after work.

He lets me touch his paws, he doesn't care about that but he will not let me cut his nails. His nail beds are like 3x longer than our other dog also so they just look so long to me. I asked the vet about it when we went in for a heartworm check and he said they were a fine length. We are going to look for a groomer though.

It is freezing here, so no swimming now!! he does swim during the summer though. We are watching the dogs when they play to see if our other dog is biting his ears too much. We have bitter apple spray so I may put it on the back of his ears so our other boy will learn not to nibble them. Of course this morning before I woke up all I heard was both of them running back and forth, practically shaking the house, wrestling around!

thanks for all the suggestions!

-Renee

If his vet said his nail length is fine don't worry about it. My old girl always looks like she has long overgrown nails. The fact is they can't be cut any shorter because of the vein in the nail. She has extra long veins in her nails.

As for the ear scabs. Does he also have dandruff? Our last dog came to us with a problem with ear scabs, to the point that he scratched his one ear almost bald, but he also had dandruff. Adopted from Animal Control the first thing the vet did was test him for mites, fleas and mange, all clear.

I happened to mention that he had dandruff really bad (easy to see on a black dog), vet said before we test for allergies, lets eliminate dry skin. Put fish oil on his food and shampoo him with Nylite. I don't have a health food store near me so recommeded online I bought a mostly fish oil combo (and other nutrional benifits) from PetsMart.

It took 2 weeks of a table spoon on his food every other day and he stopped scratching. The scabs fell off, his dandruff was gone and his hair started to grow back. After a year the magic number was one tablespoon about every 3-4 weeks.

No dandruff. He has beautiful fur. Actually my aunt and uncle were visiting last weekend and commented on what a beautiful looking dog he is! Guess they didn't look in his ears!

He does have a little red spot (like irritated) on the top of his paw. I have been watching it. Our other dog, a Corgi also, has this happen a bit because of allergies so I was thinking that maybe our new boy has allergies also. I have not seen him chew on his foot though. So it may have been that he tripped and scratched it or something also. I saw that about a month ago and it isn't any worse or better so I suspect allergies. There isn't a scab on it or anything, just looks like the skin is red a little bit. It is right by his toe and is exactly in the same place our other dog gets his spot on when he gets allergies. I wonder if they are allergic to mold and stuff. We have had alot of rain and all the leaves are falling. I assume this would cause alot of mold to be in the air?
it is wierd that dogs get itchy feet when they have allergies.

-renee

As soon as you mentioned the red spot on top of his paw, I think of one of my dogs that had allergies. Itchy ears and they lick the top of their feet until they get sore spots. Something to ask the vet about, there over the counter meds you can give your dog but I wanted want to recomend it because I don't know the dosage per pound. But not all the antihistamines are safe for dogs so please talk to a vet before trying them.

Pictures of your fine boy, Renee!

I don't know how to post pictures here :( I do have pictures though! Is there some place where instructions are posted?

jenme, We had brought in our other dog for allergies so the vet did suggest benedryl and topical stuff. However I hate giving them pills, it makes them sleepy!

I cleaned his ears last night. It was about the same, maybe more dry, scar looking rather than a scab now. So I suppose it is better. Last time when I put the cream on he was so happy, because I was scratching his itchy spot with my finger. I wasn't scratching, but it must have felt like that. Last night he didn't do that, so I figure he must not itch as much. I cleaned off the neosporin and then put some cortizone cream on it. I don't think I saw him scratch all night.

I wonder if Corgi's have allergies a lot? We babysat a girl corgi once and she would sit there and lick the top of her paws. They weren't red though. The owner said that she has always done that and it is a nervous habit of hers.

-renee

There is another antis histamine, I think it's called chlortrimaton, spelling is off I'm sure! But I don't know the dosage, doesn't make them as sleepy. It's in a green and white box and says it's for allergies. I have big dogs so I don't know how much to give a dog that size.

You could try having the dose of benadryl and seeing if it still sedates the dog too much.

One other idea is try changing the food to a no corn one or maybe even no wheat too. These are things that often cause the dogs allergies, it might not be the environment.

Good luck, you are a good dog owner that you're trying to take care of the problem.

Thank you.
I am happy to say that I looked at Charley's ear yesterday and it looked 100% better! It still looked a bit dry, but I didn't put any cream on it because he wasn't itching it or anything.

Also we are sure the allergies are environmental. It happens mainly in the fall and spring. They get the same food year round.

thanks for all your help!!!

-Renee

Dog ear mites is very dangerous. They can even cause deafness in dog so you must becareful and take good care of your dog.

Here is a link that might be useful: dog ear mites symptoms

As a vet tech here's what I'd suggest. If it's been wet and soggy around the best thing for your dogs paw is to clean it gently but good with soap/water and make sure it stays dry, no licking. Watch inbetween the dogs toes for redness/itching too and do the same if needed. If your going to give your dog anything for allergies I would try 1 tablet of regular benadryl in the pink/white box once daily. If that doesn't work after a few days then contact your vet you don't want to try various antihistamines because they could have things like sudafed (decongestants) in them that dogs bodies can't handle. As far as the ears you did great! As for the nails you might try the new Pedi Paws it could be the feel of the nail clippers or sound that bothers your dog. I get a hand full of dog food and set it aside, if my dog is good the first couple nails I give him praise and a treat etc. Just watch for the nails curling around if they get too long they can grow into the dogs pads but every dogs normal nail length is different.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pedi Paws

I know this is an old post, but nobody mentioned that your dog probably has eczema. Use Aveeno baby lotion with oatmeal after you was his ear. Like once a week. Worked for my Rat Terrier, I have a few, but my male dog, used to have exactly the same scabs that you describe. Nobody ever knew what it was. Probably seasonal. Winter brings dry air, cause we use forced heat vents. If the dogs ears are erect, they are likely to dry out, and if they have eczema, this will scab, because of all of the itching and scratching. Just keep it moisturized and he wont feel the need to itch it. Also, I run with my dogs on the street early in the mornings. The running on cement, prevents me from having to trim their nails. Maybe that could help the nail trimming problem. :)

My puppy had a similar problem, but the scabs were on the tips of his ears and some of the fur was falling out around them. I put ointment on them, and they went away within a week or two. They re appeared a few weeks later, but again with the ointment and they vanished. Scared me for a while, but it seems to be okay. He had mites as a tiny puppy, but that was solved with antibiotic cream. The scabs aren't mites. They might be allergies? Or he does play roughly a lot.

GammyT

Could you please provide the names of the products you used? I have 3 dogs that can benefit from this.

5+ year old post.

Be aware, "mites" i.e. Demodectic Mange are frequently found localized around the face and neck and particularly the margins or tips of the ears - often in puppies. Antibiotics are not used to treat mange, however they be used to address secondary skin infections and lesions.

The treatment for limited mange frequently involves a) No Action; b) A series of dips with a shampoo containing amitraz or c) Oral doses of one of a few drugs used to control heart worm.

Your Vet would make the call.