Floppy ear and cleaning ear?

The previous owner of my new chins said one of them needs one of its ears cleaned. How would I go about doing that?

Also the ear that needs cleaning is floppy and does not stand up like his other ear. Does that mean something is wrong with it?

Cleaned how? Inside or out? Why would the ear need cleaned?

I had a floppy eared chin, it did not need to be cleaned ever.

She said something about the inside of the ear needs cleaning? I have no idea why.

I have some girls here with ears that flop to varying degrees. One of them has tow floppy ears. There's nothing wrong with the ears, they just flop. I think it makes the chinchillas look goofy and cute when their ears flop. I have never had to clean the inside of a chin's ears.

I have one chin that has a floppy ear, but it's not because it's dirty or anything. I just leave it alone, he's fine.

I would not be messing around with the inside of a chin's ear unless there is a medical diagnosis explaining why. Shoving things into a chin's ear could easily start an ear infection and very few chins recover from ear infections.

I wonder if the chin in question already has an inner ear infection which is why the current owner cleans it out?

Claire D said:

I wonder if the chin in question already has an inner ear infection which is why the current owner cleans it out?

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I was thinking about that too. I will watch him and see if he acts different and will take him to the vet if needed.

Is there a way for you to contact the previous owner and ask why he/she thought the ear needs cleaning?

I ask because if the chin was indeed being treated for an ear infection, then ear infections in chinchillas are quite serious and the chin can go downhill very quickly. He should be on pretty heavy duty antibotics. I would watch him closely.

If the owner thought that his ear needed cleaning simply because it is droopy - as you have already seen from the responses, that can be quite normal and no ear cleaning is needed.

What are some signs I should watch for if he has an ear infection?

Sometimes you do not know unless it is fairly well advanced, at which point the chinchilla will develop a head tilt and start walking in circles. If the ear infection is secondary to something else they may go off of their feed, develop stasis and be very ill. Ear infections are extremely hard to treat and outcomes are not often good. I am lucky, I had one live but he has permanent head tilt and walks in circles. He is also deaf. I had over 3 months of giving multiple injectable meds and handfeeding Critical Care and Lifeline.