Grooming Mineral Oil V Coconut Oil

[Princess_Piggie]

I was just about to order some coconut oil when I read on guinealynx that mineral oil should be used for ear cleaning. I'm fairly certain I've seen a few people on here mention that they clean ears with coconut oil, so I basically want to find out which is best to buy. I know you can use coconut oil for the grease glands, but again, I'm pretty sure I've seen people say they used mineral oil for that too. If I have to buy both of them I don't mind, I just want to make sure I can't use one-for-all sort of thing.

Also, any specifics I should look out for? I remember the coconut oil needs to be cold pressed, and preferably virgin/extra virgin. The mineral oil I'm looking at is "Pure White" mineral oil, is that the right stuff?

 

[pinky]

cold pressed 100% virgin coconut oil is better than mineral oil because it softens the skin since it's absorbed into the skin. Mineral oil sits on the surface and can clog the pores. If you read up on coconut oil, you can use it for a lot of things. I even cook with it. I'd go with the coconut oil for ear cleaning. That's what I use on mine.

 

[bpatters]

Mineral oil is a petroleum product, coconut oil a plant product. I'd go with the coconut oil on that basis alone.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

Thanks! I found the organic virgin stuff for pretty cheap online so I'm gonna go ahead and order that.

Any tips on ear cleaning technique? I've been following my vets advice of just using soft material (I use a towel) to gently wipe the visible parts of the inside of the ear, but I feel like I should be doing a more thorough job.

 

[Agrimony]

I bought coconut oil for cleaning my pig's grease gland and ended up using most of it myself, it's now my favorite oil to cook with!

 

[Princess_Piggie]

[MENTION=19714]spy9doc[/MENTION] "poop shoes" oh that had me howling! lol Do you think it's best to stick to what I'm doing then? When I saw a fill-in vet she seemed very pig knowledgeable, and also made comments about how she couldn't believe my girls came from a "dirty pet shop" (it was at this point I knew she knew her stuff!) because of how well looked after they are, and she advised that I use a q-tip to do only the visible parts of the inner ear, and massage the coconut oil to the outer and inner ear biweekly. I think that seems like a more thorough cleaning but I wanted to be sure since she isn't my usual vet.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

Most vets would never teach a lay person how to clean a cavy's ear. If you don't know where the ear canal is, then you can do damage. It's like an ENT telling us to never put anything larger than our little finger in the ear. It is possible to damage the ear drum if one is too aggressive.

Oh no no, I don't mean going in to the actual inner ear, more the inside of the outer ear. The pink under side of the ear, not down in to the canals etc. I'm overly cautious about ears anyway since my partner ended up in A&E after he managed to make his inner ear bleed using a q-tip...