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The Proper way to Care for your Pet Pig's Ears
A pig's ears are a lot like human ears: if you never clean your
ear with anything smaller than your finger and never get anything
strange in your ear you won't have too many issues.
Pigs are not like dogs and they do not need their ears cleaned
with liquid. Pigs that have their ears flushed or liquid put in
their ears are more susceptible to inner ear infections and yeast
infections that are hard to clear up.
The symptom of an ear infection in a pig is that the pig will
tilt its head and fall over. An inner ear infection swells the
glands and the pig can not properly maintain its balance when it
has an inner ear infection.
A yeast infection in the ear is very hard to get rid of. Yeast is
a fungus that grows especially well where it is dark and damp.
The ear canal suits these conditions and ear wax can even feed
the yeast.
The best way to clean a pig's ears is to use a damp cotton ball
or cloth and gently wipe the outer ear and any ear wax that you
can visibly see outside the ear canal. Don't go poking in a pig's
ear, they don't appreciate it and you won't either when the pig
snaps at you.
The ear wax that is in the pig's ear and that you can't get to is
what protects the ear from water and mud getting inside. It
actually helps, not hinders. A pig's ear will naturally process
out any extra ear wax so trying to flush or clean out this ear
wax just causes more problems than it helps. Pigs can hear just
fine with the ear wax in there.
You will probably have to advise your veterinarian as to not
clean the ears out, just wipe them out. Otherwise they may very
well do so because of inexperience with pigs. If you maintain
your pig's ears properly then it will protect your pig's health
and hearing and prevent problems in the long run.
Fun Filled Stuffed Pigs
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