[nagdu] how to give medicine for ear infections

[Julie J.]

I agree with what Tami does.  I just wanted to add a couple of things.  
When I use the hold she describes with her arm around the dog, I 
position the dog next to the couch or something so they can't back out 
of my hold.  The other thing I thought of is if your ear medication is a 
cream or ointment you could put it on your finger and then put it in the 
ear.

And Tami, did I read your message correctly, you have a puppy? What 
gives?  You can't get a puppy and not tell us all the details!

Julie


On 11/23/2011 5:57 PM, Tami Kinney wrote:
>
> Janice,
>
> Um... I just a few minutes ago treated the ears of an 8 week old that 
> didn't want to be held... Which is not the same as treating an adult 
> dog. /lol/ Then I treated Mitzi poodle, whose one ear was smelling a 
> little sweet (yeasty) before the puppy came into the house. Must be 
> the damp, I guess. Anyway, with both, I start with the "calming hold." 
> That is one arm over the dog's back, where I can grab a front leg to 
> keep the dog in place, or where I can lightly apply pressure with my 
> fingers to the back of the neck, just where the skull joins, like a 
> mommy dog schooling her puppies. I used this hold a lot on my wild and 
> crazy poodle child in high stimulus situations, keeping my hand over 
> her heart until it would slow down from hummingbird speed so that I 
> could work with her in a training way.
>
> So the calming hold, as I call it -- it may have another name in pack 
> theory, which I'm not a huge fan of unless I use bits and pieces of 
> it,. Anyway, by gently containing the dog, one can also stroke the 
> dog's ears in a calming way or rub the base of the ears in a calming 
> way. While speaking in a calm, loving voice, etc., etc. Until the dog 
> calms down. By having the dog against your body, you can tell when the 
> body relaxes and the heartbeat slows.
>
> Then you can gently praise and, since it sounds like Destiny is 
> resistant to having something in her ears, as who wouldn't be? -- 
> stroke the flaps of her ears, feeling them for yourself and gradually 
> introducing her to the nozzle you're using to put medicine in her 
> ears, etc.
>
> You can tell when the medicine is in because you can smell it or feel 
> the damp... Also, Destiny will probably want to shake her head, so you 
> can hear the liquid.
>
> It all sounds horribly involved, but it is really not. The first 
> couple of times I had to put medicine in Mitzi's ears for a puppy 
> yeast infection, I found it all very traumatic. I tried having my 
> neighbor and her daughter observe and assist, but they're not exactly 
> farm girls and ran out of the house screaming. /lol/ This motivated me 
> and Mitzi both to work it out our own selves. The neighbor and the 
> daughter gradually then became brave enough to observe the process 
> without shrieks or flight. /lol/ They may have been motivated by my 
> calm description of treating farm animal injuries when I was younger 
> than the daughter... They indicated strongly that they did *not* want 
> to hear about it. Teethe.
>
> Anyway, with the new puppy, DD did the first couple of treatments, but 
> I decided to do it myself this afternoon, and it all seemed to go 
> will. Stuff got in the ears, and I managed not to inadvertently stick 
> the nozzle of the liquid cleaner I'm using for that. Mitzi, of course, 
> is not happy with having her ears treated, but she hold still under 
> protest because she knows it is futile to protest. /lol/
>
> Anyway, I don't know if that is at all helpful, but that's what I do. 
> Trying to hold a full grown lab (or am I misremembering Destiny's 
> breed?) would be a bit much for me, but the technique I use did work 
> with Daisy when we were getting militant with what had been long term 
> ear infections for her. She took too people to hold and treat, with 
> Mitzi giving moral support, but we were able to get the job done until 
> Daisy decided that it wasn't that bad and would just hold still for 
> it. Whew!
>
> So working up to the actual application of the medication with Destiny 
> is probably your best bet, even though it is likely to be a 
> frustrating process at first. Based on my experience and opinion, at 
> least. A dog's ear canal is longer than a humans, so I probably don't 
> need to worry about causing real harm as much as I do. Even so, I 
> would rather err on the sie of caution when I'm sticking something 
> into my dog's ear canal. Yikes!
>
> Good luck, and I hope Destiny feels better soon...
>
> Tami On 11/23/2011 12:08 PM, Janice Toothman wrote:
>> Does anyone have suggestions on how to hold a dog that doesn't want to
>> be held so that I can put ear drops in her ear for an ear infection. I
>> am never even sure if I get the medicine in correctly positioned in her
>> ear. So any suggestions will be helpful. I am also supposed to clean her
>> ear more frequently- another chore that she doesn't like.
>> Janice and Destiny
>>
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