How to Care for a Dog's Torn Ear - Helping the Ear to Heal

1. Remove the dressing when necessary. Whether you go to the vet clinic, or decide to assess things at home, be prepared and get everything ready before you remove the dressing. You will need:
- Scissors to remove the dressing.
- Disinfectant.
- A bowl.
- Clean water.
- Cotton wool.
- More dressing materials to re-bandage your dog’s head.

2. Make a salt water disinfectant. Before you remove your dog’s bandage, make the salt water disinfectant. Dilute one teaspoon of salt into two cups of clean, warm water.[33]
- Soak clean cotton balls in the salt water and have these handy when you are ready to clean the ear flap.

3. Remove your dog’s bandage. If it is not possible to unravel the dressing, or you cannot untie the fabric you used, you may need to cut it off. Take great care when using the scissors so that you don’t cut either yourself or the dog. Always cut the dressing beneath the dog's chin so that you will have no chance of cutting your dog’s ears.
- To cut the bandage, slide your left hand in under the bandage to cover the dog's skin if you are right handed. Hold the scissors in your right hand and hold the long blades so that they are pointing from nose to tail. With the scissors in position, cut away the bandage.
- Never cut along the top of your dog’s head. If you take too deep a snip of bandage you may accidentally cut his ear.

4. Rinse the wound as needed. Your vet will provide you with detailed instructions on how often to clean the wound, or if you should clean it at all. As a general rule, clean warm water or a warm saline solution work best for cleaning wounds.[34]

5. Apply fresh dressings. Your vet will give you specific details on how often you should change the bandages and clean the wound, but expect to change the dressings at least once a day when the wound first begins healing. You may have to change the bandages twice a day if the wound has become infected.[35]