Ear mites are tiny parasites, called Otodectes cyanotis, that can make a home on your dog’s ears. Ear mites may live on the surface of your dog’s ear canal. However, the mites sometimes travel to your dog’s head and face, causing skin irritations.

An adult mite lives for about two months, feeding off your dog’s ear wax and oil. During this period, the mite will mate and reproduce, greatly increasing the mite population on your dog.

Your dog will have very itchy ears, so you will likely notice your dog scratching a lot. The scratching can also cause the ears to become inflamed or bloody. You will also notice a dry, black-colored ear discharge. The ear discharge is commonly described as looking similar to coffee grounds, but it is actually composed of ear wax, blood, inflammatory chemical and the ear mites themselves. Sometimes, upon close examination, you might be able to observe the actual mites, which will look like tiny white flakes or spots.

Ear mites are easily transmitted by direct contact with another infected animal. And, as ear mites can be a somewhat frequent occurrence in cats, in many cases your dog may be infected by a cat.

The “coffee grounds” discharge will lead your vet to suspect ear mites. However, a definitive diagnosis can only be made by examining the ear discharge under a microscope to look for the mites.

Your vet will generally put your dog on an anti-parasite medication.

The best prevention is to keep your dog away from infected animals. To this end, any new pets that you get should be evaluated for ear mites.

There are cases where humans have gotten a skin rash from ear mites, but this is relatively uncommon.