MVH - Video Otoscope

Video Otoscope and Ear Disease

"My dog's ears have a terrible odour and he is shaking his head.
What could it be?"

…"My puppy has been scratching his ears.”

…”The ears have dark, crumbly material in them. What should I do?"

These are some regular questions we hear. Ear disease is one of the most common conditions we see in dogs at the hospital. Dog ear canals are long compared with a human’s. The eardrum can be located as deep as 7 cm deep in the canal in large dogs. The medical name for inflammation of the outer ear canal is 'otitis externa.' Signs of ear infection include shaking of the head, and scratching at or under the ear. Some animals may also paw the ear or try to rub it on other objects to relieve pain and discomfort. Ear infections often result in a darker red ear, dirt in the ear, or a general inflamed appearance. In the consultation room, we would usually diagnose ‘otitis externa’ by looking down your dog’s ear canals using a handheld otoscope. We would then take a swab sample of the waxy discharge and place it on a glass slide, stain the sample and look at the slide down a microscope at 1000 times magnification. Usually the infection seen is yeast, and sometimes we see a bacterial infection.

Diagram of a dog’s ear canal.

Gently looking into a dog’s ear canal using a handheld otoscope.

Sample of waxy discharge placed on a glass slide .

The sample is stained using diff quik® stain. This enables the organisms to be viewed with colour.

Our Olympus microscope enables us to view the organisms under 1000 times magnification

This is what we see under 1000 times magnification. This then determines what treatment plan we work out for our patients.

The type of infection we see under the microscope determines the type of treatment we use to help the dog. If the ears are full of waxy infected material, they will need to be cleaned out under a general anaesthetic using a Video Otoscope. This tool allows us to clean out all infected discharge making recovery from a painful condition faster and more complete.


	Badly affected ears full of discharge are cleaned out under general anaesthetic using a video otoscope.	Our video otoscope is a very useful tool allows that allows us to view your pet’s ear canal and other structures under extreme magnification. The images are then displayed on a colour monitor.	This enables us to examine and clean the ear more thoroughly and accurately than before. It also helps detect problems that may be on the other side of the ear drum

Examples of what the Video Otoscope allows us to see in the ear canal


A normal canine eardrum. The eardrum is located 7 cm deep in the canal in large dogs. Note the eardrum (green) and the small amount of wax adhered to the normal tuft of hair that frequently grows next to the eardrum (red).	Excessive amounts of hair can be normal in breeds such as the Poodle and Bichon Frise. Sometimes the hair causes moisture and wax to be retained in the canal causing an ear infection.	A large wax plug located deep in the ear canal of a cat.

Severe bilateral otitis (ear infection) causing excruciating pain. Note the copious amounts of discharge and wax which was subsequently cleansed from the canal with the video otoscope.	Polyps are sometimes the cause of chronic ear infections. Note how this large polyp is completely obstructing the canal. Polyps cannot be diagnosed and adequately treated until the canal has been thoroughly cleaned.	This older cocker spaniel has likely had ongoing infections for years. Note the haemorrhage and inflammation. This photo was taken after a tremendous amount of wax and debris were removed. Her ear drum is ruptured.

A young female German Shepard with a diseased canal lining and ruptured ear drum.	A springer spaniel with complete ear drum rupture & otitis media (middle ear infection). Beyond the hair where the ear drum should be, the interior of the middle ear can be seen. Antibiotics are needed for a long time to resolve this problem.	After extensive flushing and removal of debris, a normal ear drum is finally visualized in the depths of this ear canal. It is impossible to clean ear canals to this extent without the use of the video otoscope.

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