Oregano Essential Oil: A Natural Help For Ear Infections
- E. J. Wass
- Oct 20, 2025
- 3 min read
This is a personal account of a series of events which occurred with one of my own dogs.
IMPORTANT NOTE 1: We don’t advise putting anything into your dogs ears until you have consulted a vet to establish what the issue is, and importantly to rule out the possibility of a perforated ear drum.
Oregano is a flowering plant from the mint family; it’s botanical name is Origanum vulgare. It is a fragrant herb that’s best known as a flavourful ingredient in Italian food.
IMPORTANT NOTE 2 : There are a variety of types of oregano oil, and the naming of them can be confusing. The differences refer to the strength of the oil, and for the purposes of this article the pure essential oil is used, so do check the label carefully.
Oregano leaves and flower tips can be distilled into a pure ESSENTIAL oil that’s loaded with antioxidants and powerful compounds. This is very potent and potentially caustic, and must only be used topically well diluted with a carrier oil or else it will burn the skin. It should not be consumed orally.
Oregano oil contains the phenol Carvacrol which has been shown to stop the growth of several types of bacteria, and Thymol which is a natural anti-fungal agent. (See references for more details). Oil of oregano can kill many of the organisms that are responsible for many ear and skin infections being both an antibiotic and anti fungal substance. It also has many other interesting and beneficial properties which you can find in the further reading links below.
I put this claim to the test with one of my own dogs Glen, who had an ear infection in 2020. Ear issues are rare for this particular dog, he’s a Border Terrier, and thankfully he has no allergies or other skin issues. I tried treating his ear with some natural products but the ear showed no improvement, so I took him to see our vet who prescribed Serulan drops. After 10 days the ear still wasn’t completely better so the vet advised another course of the same drops plus a medicated ear wash. Unfortunately this still didn’t clear the infection, so a different vet prescribed a course of Canaural ear drops. As you’ve probably guessed this also didn’t work, and I was beginning to think that poor Glen was going to have a sore ear forever!
It was then when a friend suggested trying one drop of essential oregano oil diluted in a tablespoon of melted coconut oil. I applied this a few times per day on a cotton wool ball. I’ll attach a link to the product that I bought, but there are several others available. Within a few days the ear looked much better; more moisturised, less sticky from the drops, less sore, and soon cleared up completely. It was also much less stressful for us all to just gently wipe the ear rather than apply drops.
Five years have elapsed since then and there has been no recurrence of the ear problem, but if ever any of our dogs were to suffer from an ear infection again, then diluted oregano oil wiped in the ear is something that I would try at the first signs.
Nowadays I use the Lucaa+ ear care spray weekly to gently wipe our dogs ears as part of their routine health care and grooming. This helps keep the ears a healthy environment and doesn’t upset the delicate skin microbiome that exists within them, with less likelihood of an infection being able to take hold. Prevention is definitely better than cure!
©️ E. J. Wass, written for No Bull Just Natural Heath For Dogs
Further reading, references and product links:
Oregano Essential Oil (available from many retailers) https://amzn.eu/d/7y7ENxW
