Ear Drops - Application

[Erny]

SilverHaze - hope your girl is ok and that you manage ok with her.

This afternoon I sat on his mat with him - gave him a piece of roo jerky to chew on and whilst he was chewing I used cotton wool balls with the ear stuff on it, just to wipe out the remants of gunk that I could see and reach. I do a bit, and give some roo jerky. Do a bit more and give some roo jerky. He didn't like it and wiping his ears is nothing new, but he tolerated it. He always has, for the 'wiping out' bit though. I'll try lulling him into this routine and see if I can piecemeal get drops down his ears that way. This is the same way that I got him to accept his nails being dremmeled and I admit that he is really good with that (almost looks forward to it). Difference with that was that I was able to introduce that procedure to him gradually whereas I have to get the ear drops into him more urgently than that.

What I hate the most is the trauma the whole procedure is causing Mandela. He struggles. I struggle. And the whole thing ends up looking and being a violent procedure. The more I struggle, the more panicked he becomes. I don't want that for him.

I'll be booking an appointment with the chiropractor for a fortnight's time. For me, that is. :D .

Edited April 1, 2010 by Erny

[Erny]

Could be time for the masking tape.

Let me tell you that thoughts of hog-tying or swaddling have (jokingly) crossed my mind!! :D

[Erny]

What is the ear problem, Erny?? What is in the ear drops?

Suspected infection - probably yeast. Under naturopath direction. The ear drops are called "Ear Clear". "Ear solution to rid the ear of wax, yeast infections and ear mites." Product of "Natural Animal Solutions".

Ingredients :

Aloe; Witch Hazel; Aluminium Acetate 2%; Boric Acid; Lavender Essential Oil.

When Mandela was younger he had a bit of an ear issue for which the Vet prescribed some other (can't remember the name) somewhat stringent ear drops. But he reacted to that - it was too stingy and irritated his ear even more, making it and his ear flaps really hot, violently red and so sore that he would go into fits of yelping if I so much as dared to touch an ear flap. These current drops seem to be helping - the redness is going away. He still yelps a bit when the drops are going in but not as much as he did when I first administered the drops - it would have been really sore then. In part I think some of the yelps are 'learnt' because he occasionally yelps before I've even put the drops down there. But as I said, the yelp is less now - more just a couple of yelp/whines.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Erny

[stormie]

Erny - why is it 'possible'? Can't they just do a swab and tell you either yay or nay? If its bad, the ears could be really quite sore and may need a really thorough clean out and medicate...

[Erny]

I would need to go to the Vet for the swab, Stormie. And I've been there before. I was going to go to the Vet but I'd double booked myself. Got these drops in the meantime and they seem to be working. His outer ear canal is a nice 'cool' colour (best it has been in a while) and the part of the deeper ear canal that I can see is far less red. He seems to be flapping his ears less (apart from just after administration of the drops). A "thorough" clean out would involve sedation/GA. I'm battling other things as well and the procedure wouldn't be great for him. A swab is going to tell me if it is just wax, mites or infection, isn't it? These drops cover each.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Erny

[lillim]

if there is a routine before you administer the drops (like always getting it from the same cuboard)? and does he get nervous beforehand?

[Erny]

Hi Lillium - covered that one too. Yes, he gets nervous beforehand (no, 'tense with anticipation' is more the word - he only trembles once the struggle has begun - before that, he'll trot off with a cheeky grin so to speak, and a wagging tail to match, if he can, but he's not difficult to catch) - at any bottle I shake, at the sound of anything on the bench (table; kitchen bench; laundry bench; coffee table; outdoors table; even from the floor) being fiddled with. I have tried the 'get it ready behind closed doors' but I have to be able to rest the stuff on something whilst I get him in a 'hold'. As soon as I reach for anything, that will set him off into struggle. There are contextual cues of course (ie he's not living his life being nervous/afraid of everything) but there are things I need to do to get things 'ready'. Even having cotton balls in my hand are a cue to him that I'm going to poke or probe or wipe him somewhere or other. I keep the meds on a part of the kitchen bench top where I also keep his food treat jar. Did this purposefully (from the outset - even before the ear drops) so he wouldn't think me reaching there always meant something he didn't like.

Poor dog. He's not even 2yo yet, but he's endured so much attention to places that shouldn't have to receive so much attention.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Erny

[lillim]

Hi Lillium - covered that one too. Yes, he gets nervous beforehand - at any bottle I shake, at the sound of anything on the bench (table; kitchen bench; laundry bench; coffee table; outdoors table; even from the floor) being fiddled with. I have tried the 'get it ready behind closed doors' but I have to be able to rest the stuff on something whilst I get him in a 'hold'. As soon as I reach for anything, that will set him off into struggle. There are contextual cues of course (ie he's not living his life being nervous/afraid of everything) but there are things I need to do to get things 'ready'. Even having cotton balls in my hand are a cue to him that I'm going to poke or probe or wipe him somewhere or other. I keep the meds on a part of the kitchen bench top where I also keep his food treat jar. Did this purposefully (from the outset - even before the ear drops) so he wouldn't think me reaching there always meant something he didn't like.

Poor dog. He's not even 2yo yet, but he's endured so much attention to places that shouldn't have to receive so much attention.

I wonder if you make the preparation of his paraphanalia a pleasant experience, and do it randomly without administering the drops, to reduce the buildup of stress, I find showing an item related to the meds or the meds themself to the dog and letting then sniff then praise them or give them a treat works well. So they associate the preparation as a good thing, not as something that is going to lead to possible stress or pain. Not an quick fix but this worked with my dog.

[Erny]

And a great idea for approach too, Lillium. I will try doing that throughout the day. Unfortunately I'm under time restraint in that I do need to administer morning and night, which doesn't afford much time for introduction/desensitisation/conditioning. It is sort of what I went back to doing earlier today, although at that point minus the dropper. But I'll pick up the dropper and do much the same without applying it as much as I can and see how we go.

He's a great dog in that he is honest. He's a dag. And he's not without his cheekiness. I wonder at the fact that in all the throwing of his body around in an attempt to get away from me that he not once showed any sign of malice towards me. I love dogs. <sigh>

[Erny]

Up date : Did ears again tonight. Wasn't going to fall for the "I'm just rubbing your ears" thing. But he was easier tonight. Still a struggle, but I held at a different angle (still used the towel - it's a lot softer on his neck yet very strong). No trembling - more just sheer objection than anything else. No yelping/whining. Got the job done a lot faster and with less stress on either of us.

Don't really know why it went considerably better and suddenly by contrast to this morning.

Maybe he has a secret DOL account and has been reading.

Afterwards we had a game of "Find Flea". He loves that game. It always ends with "Tug Flea".

ETA: "Flea" is the name of one of his stuffed toys.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Erny

[dog geek]

Thanks for the feed back, Erny - and I am so pleased you had a session that was better than the last one...

I have to say, I am taking notes on everyones' tips and tricks... thanks guys!

[Erny]

Thanks DG. I've got this morning's drops to give yet, so I'm hoping that last night wasn't a fluke.

He's been progressively even more chirpy over the last few days than he has been, so I'm only presuming he's feeling better for his ears. But with Mandela it has either been one thing or another and I'm treating him accordingly, so it is difficult to tell what's doing what.

Ok ..... off to do his ears. I hate doing them especially when he's all happy.

[lillim]

I'm glad it went better, it is never pleasant having to medicate your dog when you know they dislike it.

[kirst_goldens]

hey Erny - might be a little obvious but u could try desensitising his ears by rubbing and touching during the day when u arnt doing anything bad?? sorry if this has already been said, at least he wont develop issues about touching his ears that way??

like i said probably really obvious but meh cant hurt to mention it! and to everyone else i know how dificult he can be when he wants to be lol have to be very persistant! wish he was food driven! very sweet man though love him lots

[Erny]

Hey Kirst

I do that, but thank you for adding that tip here.

As it turns out, today's application of drops (morning and night) have been soooooo much better/easier and far less traumatic for either of us. I won't pretend that he enjoys it and there is still a bit of struggle, but now I think it is more just that he doesn't like the sensation of the drops rather than it might have hurt him for his ear canals being sore.

He's not trembling anymore. Nor is he yelping when the drops go in. And he stayed in his sit position even after I'd let go of my hold, allowing me to gently massage the drops in (via the outside of his ears).

I don't know if it is my imagination or not but he does seem to be more and more chipper in these last couple of days.

Thanks for loving Mandela - I'm sure he would have known that. He means well, even though he has so many 'spethal needs'. He certainly is much work, as you would be aware. He's looking quite well at the moment but I'm still working on a couple of other things before I'm satisfied that things are as on the right track as they could be.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Erny

[Skruffy n Flea]

that's excellent news erny

from what i understand, dogs will become compliant when they understand that something unpleasant is going to happen and nothing they do will prevent it from happening ... i'd also add that he's becoming used to the process and knows now that it won't harm him, in fact he's feeling better because of it and likely why he's been a bit more chipper lately

[Mas1981]

Erny I sympathize with you, I cant offer any real tips but I have a dog who suffers yeast infections and to ward them off I use colloidal silver in his ears about 3x week, when he got the first infection OH had to literally hold him down as he hated it, not to mention that the cortisone made him miserable, he drank 100's of litres of water and then couldnt hold his urine. The drops and wash helped but not as much as I would like so i tried the colloidal as a preventative and it works well. He is now so used to me putting the squirt bottle down his ear that I can do them on my own, it has taken 5 months for him to get used to it though

[kirst_goldens]

just had another thought about the ears - i know another product of ur natropath, a wound spray, has vinegar in it so can sting in an open wound or rash - it does a GREAT job but can sting a little for a second or two, is there something like that in the ear drops that might be making his sensitive ears a little stingy??

Glad to hear he is getting better

[Mas1981]

just had another thought about the ears - i know another product of ur natropath, a wound spray, has vinegar in it so can sting in an open wound or rash - it does a GREAT job but can sting a little for a second or two, is there something like that in the ear drops that might be making his sensitive ears a little stingy??

Glad to hear he is getting better

I think when their ears are inflammed most things could sting a bit ;)

[Erny]

SnF : Yes, I tend to agree with you. There can be that resignation to the fact it is going to happen and that struggling isn't going to accomplish anything.

KG : I agree with MM - I think anything I had put down his ear canal would have stung to a degree. I guess like any open wound, there is usually a sting when a solution is doing its job. There is no vinegar base listed in the ingredients to the stuff I have. You would know of it - "Ear Clear".

MasonsMum - I'm a fan of Colloidal Silver and use it for many different applications. I have used it before to wipe his ears out with. In this instance I don't think it would have been enough on its own to combat the problem, but when the drops are done I will go back to using it on a cotton ball to wipe his ears. I prefer not to pour things down their ear canals on a regular and routine basis, but I will play that idea by ear (pardon the pun). I have worked very hard in relation to all his problematic symptoms to avoid cortisone treatments. So far, so good. *touch wood*. Even antibiotics are not always a good thing for certain complaints so I tend to avoid the readiness with which these are commonly prescribed, as well, if I can. I'm not completely against these things - but if other more holistic things work then that's what I'd prefer to give a try if it is possible, feasible and if I think is overall in the best interests for the health of my boy.

Thanks everyone for your help and for sympathising for the struggle that sometimes these things can be. Mandela is so good with all the other bibs and bobs I need to impose upon him, and so understanding of them. Overall, he really is a good patient and very tolerant of all the poking, probing and wiping.

We only have two more ear drop administrations to go and then he gets a week's reprieve. That'll be good .