Okami has been itching at her ears and shaking her head a lot. I have looked in her ears and lightly cleaned them with a cotton ball, no sign of anything in there that could be upsetting her, such as a tick or something, unless it is really in there... . Also, I have applied some lightly medicated anti-itch spray for dogs, and she still does the same thing through it all. Anyone have any advice or ideas on why she might be doing this before I consider going to the vet over it? Or is there something that I can do in the mean time to help her out... I hate seeing my poor fluff butt discomforted. :/ Thanks for anything.

Bode has spells where he does this too. His ears are never inflamed and I had the vet take a look at his last checkup and she said she didn't see anything down in there. It's mystery why he does it, but with him it's infrequent enough that I'm not super worried about it and when I notice him doing it I'll just give him a good ear rub to try to help ease the itching.

Sorry that's not really any help...haha

I had this issue with Saber occasionally. I would take an ear wipe for dogs and wrap it around my index finger and rub his ear and try to gently get down in the ear canal a little bit. It worked 90% of the time. If it didn't, I had to clean his ears out and then he was fine for awhile.

I use Epi-Otic ADVANCED Ear Cleanser for my 2, it goes down into the ear and then they shank it out removing anything that may be stick in the canal. then a cotton ball with it on it to clean the area of the ear out i can see.

You might just need to clean them up a little. If it gets bad, then it might be a sign of an ear infection which means vet time. As others said, just try cleaning them out and see how she does.

My husky is doing the same thing today. I've tried rubbing his ear (just the one) several times, and he still seems to be walking around with it tilted, and he shakes his head. I've tried wetting a cloth with his ear cleaning solution and wiping it, but he refuses to let me put some drops in his ear. Once I grab the bottle, he goes under a table or pushes his head against the wall.
Any tips on easing him into this?

Jack so knows where the bottle is and runs the min i grab it.
we play a battle of wills and i always win, i normally just put him in a head lock (between my legs) and squeeze as fast as i can and rub the ear to make sure it goes down. it is never an easy task but it has to get done.

Saber hated getting his ears cleaned so I usually ended up straddling him on the floor and pinning him down. Like Jenn said, it had to get done and it was over in a matter of a few minutes. Sorry, I know that probably doesn't help!

Yeah, so I just cleaned out her ears with a cotton ball, and carefully with a q-tip. The cotton ball did literally nothing, but the q-tip I got a lot out. I think I found spots that were highly irritated or something, maybe from her scratching at them or something, because whenever I or the q-tip touched it she made crying noises I have never heard her make before and she licked my arm really fast. The area wasn't in her inner ear at all, and there isn't any sign of redness or anything, it was just dry skin looking? That is why I guess it is an area where she might have been scratching her self at.

Now that I have done this, she seems to be doing the head shaking more, less scratching though, and her right ear (left to my viewing) is completely on its side, while the left ear is still erect. She keeps looking at me like I have betrayed her, and I don't know if I helped or not. I will see how she does tomorrow before I make a trip to the vet, because it is very possible she is just annoyed that I poked and prodded in her ear, and trying to make sense of it....

Lucy, Ive had similar things happen with two of my past dogs. With my Malamute, a foxtail (those prickly weed "blossoms") had gone in his ear and those things have lil "feet" so they "walk" and keep working their way into the ear (I doubt this is your problem though cuz we're all pretty much still in Winter) I mention it just cuz it couldnt be seen at all and yet it was there, and with Malukhai, he had a habit on his walks of shoving his head in bushes and stuff, some plants in particular, like juniper, would fall down inside his ear and they too are prickly so it would bother him a lot. Okami laying her ear side ways sounds just like what Malukhai would do, along with the shaking of the head. My advice is, if you can, take her to the vet so they can look way down inside with that lighted mirror thing...its really the only way you'll know if something is inside there.

Lol, smell it. If it smells funny it might be an infection.

So I tried again, he bares his teeth at it, and would try to bite it, but only the bottle and not me. :/ I managed to get a few drops in I think. I'll see if it's better by tomorrow, if not I'll check out the vet, I think. I can't see anything when I look into it, but I haven't tried smelling it either.