"Scabby" ear flaps...

Roland (patterdale terrier) came to us about 6 weeks ago, at 9 months-ish, with rather bald, flaky-looking ear flaps. Since we've had him the hair's pretty well grown back. However, the very edges of the flaps, near the tips feel a bit bumpy, and if I scrape gently at the bumps, I just seem to get dead skin and hair coming away. Yuck!

Roland's skin is, elsewhere, pretty clean looking. I've only seen him scratching at his ears a couple of times since we've had him. There is no smell to his ears. His coat is pretty smooth over the top of his head and ears, but wiry elsewhere.

Any ideas or recommendations welcome.

Just to add... I see that Chihuahuas are prone to something called "ear fungus" that really isn't a fungus at all... Could it be the same?

or if he was kenneled outside it could be fly bites??

My first thoughts when I hear scabs around the edge of the ear flaps are flybites, and sarcoptic mange. Is he really itchy when you mess with the scaps? If so, may be worth getting him checked for sarcops. At six weeks on, its possible he could still be recovering from fly bites as well, if he was kept outdoors in an unsanitary evironment.

Interesting. The thing that surprises me is that he doesn't seem to be itchy at all. He's not scratching them, rubbing them, shaking his head... I don't think he knows he has ears

What kind of "flies" are we talking about here?

Basenjis ears will do this, in their case its just crud! If your dog isn't particularly worried by it maybe its the same. I would have thought if it were mites your dog would be intensely irritated.

Oh, cheers MM! Yes, I did wonder that he shows no signs of discomfort. He's at the vet's next week anyway, so I'll get them to have a look then.

Sounds like a good idea.

Out side dogs some times get this if it is not causing irritation just rub in a bit of Vaseline or similar.

Hmmm... I guess he maybe did spend a fair bit of time outside before he came to us... Anyway, as it happens I have been rubbing Vaseline in since I noticed it. And he certainly doesn't object to having his ears rubbed