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Post by aheller on Oct 1, 2007 10:37:08 GMT -5
Greetings all,
A couple months ago, Charlie had an ear infection. We took him to the vet and got some medicine. There were two bottles, one was a foaming cleanser and the other was a quick drying flush. We had to put it in his ears twice a day for 2 weeks. We never really had a problem doing it. He never liked it, but he allowed us to do it.
Well, he has another ear infection and we have been trying to put the medicine in his ears and he will have none of it. Once he sees one of us with the medicine bottle in our hand, he will run away and will not allow us to even get near him. We have tried a few tricks, sneaking up on him and doing it real quick and we were able to get the cleanser in, but he would absolutely not let us get the flush in there afterwards.
When the nice guy approach did not work, I tried to hold him while my girlfriend tried to put in the cleanser. Big mistake, he bit my hand. Hard. Since then, we have been a little gun-shy about attempting it again.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks to getting the medicine in his ears? We are at wits end and don’t really know what to do. You can tell that his ears are really bothering him (keeps shaking his head and scratching). We thought about getting a muzzle for him, but I would prefer to keep it friendly and try to get him to let us apply the medicine rather than get a muzzle and forcefully do it. I am not sure if that would be worse in the long run.
Also, is there any other method to cleaning his ears that would prevent these infections? The vet had suggested a mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water and flushing them out once a week with that, but we have not tried that yet.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Post by Dom on Oct 2, 2007 12:26:49 GMT -5
Peanut Butter. Noooo not in the dog's ears. We used Peanut Butter to distract Sadie when we started to get her use to ear cleaning. We used the combination your vet suggested for weekly cleanings. Sometimes we used a little almond oil if she had scratched the inside of ears. The vinegar would irritate the scratch. The smell of the cleaning solution would normally alert her to possible ear cleaning time. We would open the bottle and set it close to her during fun times like treats, playtime, or training. We wouldn't clean her ears every time we pulled the bottle out. Holding her down would never work with her. She is the type dog that if you lean into her she leans back. If you grab her, she tenses up. In the beginning we would scratch or rub the opposite side of her head so she would lean into our hand. It left her other ear exposed to cleaning. We would then switch sides. Peanut butter was another distraction. The easiest way for us to clean Sadie's ears now is to do it during weekly nail trim. We get her to lay on her side and we rub her down before and after. After she is relaxed (1-2 min) we trim her nails and clean her ears. Most of the time she is asleep by the time I am finished. We don't use treats anymore. Both dogs enjoy it. Elsie will normally sit beside me while I am finishing Sadie. After I am done Elsie will lay down without me telling her to. I guess she is thinking that the Doggie Day Spa is now open for business. Another thing that I wanted to mention was Sadie ears turned really red once and she was constantly shaking her head and scratching. We looked down her ear with a flashlight and saw a piece of grass wedged down there. We managed to pull it out and she was fine after that. No more head shaking but her ears were still red from being irritated. I would definitely keep Charlie on a ear cleaning schedule even after the infection is gone. My Chow had problems with ear infections because all the hair in his ears would harbor moisture. The vet gave us some kind of powder (sorry don't know the name) that we used to squirt in his ears then we would pluck/trim the extra hair away. It worked wonders. Did you take him to the vet for this ear infection? It may be something different than last time like mites or a yeast infection.
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Post by Dom on Oct 2, 2007 13:23:26 GMT -5
We thought about getting a muzzle for him, but I would prefer to keep it friendly and try to get him to let us apply the medicine rather than get a muzzle and forcefully do it. I am not sure if that would be worse in the long run. I forgot to talk about the muzzle. If you think he will bite you again then YES get a muzzle. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. Don't put the muzzle on then immediately try to clean his ears. Also don't take it off right after you finish cleaning his ears. I like the basket style muzzle because I prefer to put the muzzle on well ahead of time. It doesn't restrict the movement of their mouth so they can drink, eat, etc. My Chow was the only dog I had to use a muzzle on. The Vet's office refused to see certain breeds unless they were muzzled. The first time the Vet put a muzzle on my Chow he went berzerk. I knew I had to associate the muzzle with something good. He LOVED walks. When I grabbed the leash he would run to the front door and wait for me. Tail wagging. I slowly got him use to the idea that when I grabbed the muzzle it meant FUN! Walk time! Eventually he barely noticed the muzzle. I never praised him when I removed the muzzle. All praise was given when he wore it.
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Post by aheller on Oct 4, 2007 17:03:53 GMT -5
Hi Dom,
Thanks for the advice.
We brought him to the vet a couple nights ago and she had to put a muzzle on him to get ear swabs. Turns out he has a bacterial infection in his ears.
The vet lent us a muzzle. It is not a basket style one, it is a canvas one that wraps around and clips behind his head, but I think we are going to buy a basket style one. It seems to be the better choice and I am sure that there will be times that we need it in the future. The first time we put it on, he absolutely hated it and tried with all his might to get it off, but he seems to be used to it now and doesn’t struggle so much. He allows us to put it on him without a problem. You can tell he is unhappy about it, but I think he knows that if he sucks it up and lets us put it on and put the drops in his ears, it is well worth his while not to struggle.
It took us close to 30 minutes to get the drops in his ears that first night. Between him trying to get the muzzle off and slinking away every time we went near him with the medicine, it was definitely an adventure. I did not want to be forceful about it, I wanted to try and get him to allow us to do it. Eventually, we tried what you recommended and rubbed one side of his head, put the drops in the other side and vice versa. The next morning, it only took us a few minutes and has been getting easier since then.
Now, I give him a little peanut butter and put the muzzle on. Then I put some peanut butter in his bowl and set it down for him. He will sit there (drooling!) and let me put the drops in without hassle.
We are going to be more diligent about the weekly cleanings. We were on more of a 2-3 week schedule and used the medicine the doctor prescribed before, instead of the vinegar solution. I think the medicine may have been irritating it further, so I think a milder cleaning solution would be better.
Again, thanks for the advice, it worked out well.
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Post by Dom on Oct 5, 2007 8:04:12 GMT -5
I am glad it worked out for you and Charlie. Every dog is different and I was worried that Charlie wouldn't respond like Sadie did. That is the reason I gave a few different ways we tried to clean Sadie's ears. I hope Charlie's infection clears up soon. I know how annoying it is for me when I get an ear infection. Poor guy.
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