# LaManchas ear infections and cleaning



## MiGoat

Zipperdo said that LaManchas have really waxy ears and are prone to ear infections.
Can this be prevented?
How do you clean their ears?
How can you tell if they have an ear infection?


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## StaceyRosado

I have never heard that they are prone to them. :shrug:


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## Charrae

Mine have yet to have an infection, but they do get waxy. I just wipe them off with a baby wipe as needed.


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## MiGoat

Stacey I hadn't either but I'm so new and it seems plausible.

Charrae, Do you ever use Q-tips?


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## goathappy

I've never had one get an infection but when they get waxy I usually just clean them with a warm damp cloth


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## FunnyRiverFarm

Ears rarely get infected. Lamanchas do have a tendency to get "gunk" but this is not due to infection...it's just normal drainage that is much more obvious on lamanchas because they don't have an external ear. I usually just massage the base of their ears and wipe up any crud with a wet wipe. Sometimes I will put a couple drops of olive oil near the opening of the ear and massage it to help prevent crustiness. I don't recommend sticking anything inside their ears for the most part...definitely not a q-tip...it would be too easy for the goat to toss its head and have the q-tip go in too far. If I have one that has a lot of gunk, I use an ear syringe (looks kind of like a bulb syringe but has a guard on it so it can't go into the ear more than 1/2" or so) and put some ear cleaner for dogs in there and massage really well. The gunk kind of works its way to the surface where it can be wiped away.


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## ZipperDoo

From the reading I've done and the people I've talked to, LaManchas are more susceptible to inner-ear related issues due to the fact that air cannot circulate down into the ear as it can with a goat with a more prominent external ear and therefore, a larger ear cavity.

With my LaManchas, I keep an eye on it on a daily basis. If I see yuck; I pull out my animal ear-wipes and I give their ears a good cleaning. The whethers love it - Penny... not so much.

I found it very easy to tell when my boys came down with infections; the entrance to the ear was red and inflamed, and instead of their usual yellowy orange gunk, they were producing an off green foul-smelling "pus" in rather large quantity. I was "scooping" their ears with a warm, damp rag three, four times a day.

I got some "puffer" for caprine eye/ear infections, and got some of that worked in. They hated it, but there is no more redness, swelling, or pus. Personally I think it's due in direct to the change in grain quality. (Got a bad suggestion from an "expert" and the grain I was giving them was far worse than what they had been giving. D'oh.)

Which is kind of what got me to really thinking about grain at all. I'm almost completely against corn and soy for my own family, as well as for all the animals I own. But that, is for a different post!

As it is, I hope this is the only trouble with ear infections my goats get. I think I'd be happy leaving it at this and not having to deal with it again. Poor goats were NOT happy... 

That was another thing I noticed at the onset of their ear infections - They were rubbing and scratching at their ears a lot, doing a lot of head shaking, just being generally displeased about the whole thing. To me, it was fairly obvious something was going on beyond normal 'Mancha gunk.


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## MiGoat

So you see head shaking with infections? Do you also see them with just the normal gunk? What is puffer Zipperdo? 

Do LaMancha's shake their heads any other time or is it only when their ears are bothering them? 

Thank you all for the replies! I am learning so much. 

FunnyRiverFarm, The olive oil cuts through the gunk? And I wonder what is in the dog ear stuff? I wonder if mineral oil would work the same. I'll have to look that up...what did our Mom's use to warm in a spoon and put in our ears??!! I think it was some kind of oil! Whatever it was it stopped the earache. I have one of those ear syringes. So that's one thing I have!

goathappy..that would loosen the wax.


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## ZipperDoo

With the ear infections I saw *excessive* head shaking. Goats sometimes shake their heads for various reasons, I've noticed the lamanchas do it when the gunk builds up in their ears. Excessive head shaking from what I understand is a warning sign in all animals of some variety of distress.

"Puffer" is called "nfz(tm) puffer" and is an antibiotic powder for ear and eye infections. It says on the bottle for "cats and dogs" but the "goat guy" at the feed store as well as several other sources have said it works very well on goats. And, for the 'Manchas' ear infections it cleared them right up, so I'm inclined to agree.

The dog ear wipes I have are simple sheets of fabric in a large plastic tube I get from PetCo. The ingredients are: Pure Witch Hazel, Aloe Vera Gel, Chlorhexadine Gluconate, Botanical Extracts.

I can't help you with what your mom used to pour in your ear, but it seems to me it was probably mineral oil? My mother always used hydrogen peroxide in my ears to cut through the wax and help with any ear pain. Good stuff.

Though it strikes me, I recall vinegar being a common ear ache and swimmer's ear cure for a very long time.


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## FunnyRiverFarm

MiGoat said:


> FunnyRiverFarm, The olive oil cuts through the gunk? And I wonder what is in the dog ear stuff? I wonder if mineral oil would work the same. I'll have to look that up...what did our Mom's use to warm in a spoon and put in our ears??!! I think it was some kind of oil! Whatever it was it stopped the earache. I have one of those ear syringes. So that's one thing I have!


I don't know what the dog ear cleaner has in it because not all of the ingredients are listed...it has something that produces foam when you rub it and it smells like it probably has tea tree oil in it. It is called R-7 ear cleaner.

The oil your mom used was "sweet oil" which is basically olive oil. oil really does help with ear problem...though I am not sure how.


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## MiGoat

Okay thank you all for the information. 
I have a head shaker and she's scratching as close to her ear with her foot as possible...which seems to only hit her eye. I appreciate my elbows, thumbs and wrists more and more everyday...
I was rubbing her ears yesterday and she loved it! I pulled some gunk from it too. She's only been with us a week today. 

Zipperdo I put peroxide in my ears and the kids ears too when they hurt. Seems to clear everything right up.

FunnyRiverFarm I am also going to try the olive oil. Sweet oil huh? I remember it feeling so danged good and the ear ache was gone. But that was 40 years ago...so I could be making it all up! LOL And Mom says she doesn't remember giving us any ear thing. LOL She thought perhaps it was my aunt who did it. 


Here's my plan.
1. Olive oil warmed and used as as cutting agent. I'll saturate a cloth with it and then clean her ears with it as far as my thumb rubbing can go down without pushing...you know gentle pulling out like. Not jabbing. LOL
2. If she continues to shake and rub I'll use the peroxide.
3. If that doesn't clear stuff up I'll have to look into the puffer.


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## MiGoat

Oh and I'm with you Zipperdo. I bought some "sheep and goat" feed or some such stuff at the feed store and goats do not like it. What the heck??!!
Well she eats it but at first she's looking at me like "what is this crap?" But really the stuff she was given where she came from was no more nutritious. I got the bag from them to compare. It must just be more tasty.
Monday I'm going down and getting bags of grain to mix myself. We'll see if we can't get her a healthy mix that she loves.


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