Help - Ear Drops

AmyMay

AmyMay

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I need to administer ear drops to Daisy - but she’s having none of it.

Can anyone suggest any alternative ways of getting the treatment in without having to put the spout in to her ears??
 
What does she do Amymay?

Worth sticking a muzzle on her and wrapping her in a towel?

Sometimes Tis the only way with recalcitrant small doggo’s 😳🤣
 
Was she ok until you accidentally vaped her? I wonder if it hurt? Mine are ok with drops as long as I give treats throughout the process. It took a long time to get there with T.
 
Desensitisation/positive association is generally the best way. If anything uncomfortable needs doing round here I find having them hungry and sticking a tray of wet food like Cesar or some handfuls of cooked chicken etc in their face takes the edge off.
 
There is a ear treatment called Osurnia which only needs apply once a week often for two weeks running then just left alone for a couple of weeks before getting vet to check it. It will bring up all the gunk from the ear. You dont clean it in between. Just leave it to do its job. Obviously depends on whats wrong with her ear but worth asking the vet about. To get treatment in to her ear try putting a licky mat on floor with something tasty on. fish paste etc whatever she loves. might just be enough to get it in ear. Have everything ready before you start. Then you can work on training so next time will not be so much of a problem. Osurnia is good as only needs doing once a week. Good luck!
 
Amymay said:
No, she’s always been pretty awful to do to be honest. She’s a bit of a drama lama.
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Drama lama! Love it

Yes it’s difficult. I can do ears and eyes but claws have to be clipped with a muzzle on otherwise you risk serious injury. He thinks you’re murdering him. Yet he’s never had a bad experience 🙄.
 
Ear drops was always a two person job for my dog. One to hold her still and one to put them in. I could only do one ear before it traumatised her so just alternated which one I did.
 
My dog had a new one off treatment in her ears which the vet did, not because mine is difficult, she's not, but he wanted to make sure he got it right down her ear canal. It worked and mine has had chronic ear problems in the past which culminated in treatment at the RVC which did clear it. Honestly I was so relieved and surprised it worked.
 
You could roll up a towel and use it like a collar. Takes one person to hold the 'collar' snugly and sit the dog between their knees and another one to administer the drops to the furious, snarling patient. If the towel is big and thick, it takes the bite should the worst happen. Unfortunately, if the ear condition is painful, you may have to consider mild sedation.
 
meleeka said:
Ear drops was always a two person job for my dog. One to hold her still and one to put them in. I could only do one ear before it traumatised her so just alternated which one I did.
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That would probably have been Osurnia, Its not really that new but I do not think that many vets use it. Dont know why as its much better than having to do daily treatment.
 
In rare cases in small dogs there are reports of ear drum rupture due to the volume of application with Osurnia, I rarely reach for it in dogs under 10kg.
 
druid said:
In rare cases in small dogs there are reports of ear drum rupture due to the volume of application with Osurnia, I rarely reach for it in dogs under 10kg.
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What would you suggest for a dog that will not allow ear treatment to be administered? Surely the Ops vet should be able to help as if the treatment can not be administered the condition will get worse.
 
Sandstone1 said:
What would you suggest for a dog that will not allow ear treatment to be administered? Surely the Ops vet should be able to help as if the treatment can not be administered the condition will get worse.
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My vets can help, there’s no issue there, and the irritation is very mild. I was really just more curious to see if anyone had any ingenious ‘hacks’ to help with treatment.

I have managed two treatments.

Thanks all.
 
Does she sit on your knee? I’d be tempted to hold her backwards, her back to your chest, very tight grip and go from there.

I had to worm Zak like a cat, head up, close the mouth, stroke the throat. He was a sod for sorting through food and discarding tablets.
 
Sandstone1 said:
What would you suggest for a dog that will not allow ear treatment to be administered? Surely the Ops vet should be able to help as if the treatment can not be administered the condition will get worse.
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The only way to clear ear infection is to use topical medications, alongside oral therapy to reduce inflammation and immune system reactivity. One off treatments such as Osurina and Neptra can only be used if an ear drum is intact (in fact most, maybe all topical medicated ear preps are only licensed for use with intact ear drums) - they’re not benign medications and the side effects of using them with an ear drum rupture are potentially quite serious. The ear also has to be well cleaned before application or it will be inactivated. Unfortunately, many dogs with ear disease are very painful and ear shy, meaning it is impossible to even look in the ear canals while they are awake, often they actually need a full anaesthetic to allow you to check the ear drum. If a dog is absolutely not able to follow a topical treatment regimen and we are unable to use one off treatments, there isn’t very much vets can do. We can try certain medications to calm the dog to allow application but they often aren’t enough if the dog is that against it. It’s not practical to fully sedate twice a day everyday for around 2-6 weeks until it clears.

For chronic ear problems where there is no hope of using topical medications, and/or when the disease is severe enough to never clear regardless of what we use, there is a surgery that can be performed. It’s used as a salvage procedure.

Sadly ear disease is all too common and if dogs won’t allow medicating, we are a little stuck.
It is absolutely one of the most frustrating of problems to deal with in practice - painful dog, distressed owner, rock and hard place for treatments, commitment and compliance to longer and intensive treatment protocols and often high costs involved
 
Redders said:
The only way to clear ear infection is to use topical medications, alongside oral therapy to reduce inflammation and immune system reactivity. One off treatments such as Osurina and Neptra can only be used if an ear drum is intact (in fact most, maybe all topical medicated ear preps are only licensed for use with intact ear drums) - they’re not benign medications and the side effects of using them with an ear drum rupture are potentially quite serious. The ear also has to be well cleaned before application or it will be inactivated. Unfortunately, many dogs with ear disease are very painful and ear shy, meaning it is impossible to even look in the ear canals while they are awake, often they actually need a full anaesthetic to allow you to check the ear drum. If a dog is absolutely not able to follow a topical treatment regimen and we are unable to use one off treatments, there isn’t very much vets can do. We can try certain medications to calm the dog to allow application but they often aren’t enough if the dog is that against it. It’s not practical to fully sedate twice a day everyday for around 2-6 weeks until it clears.

For chronic ear problems where there is no hope of using topical medications, and/or when the disease is severe enough to never clear regardless of what we use, there is a surgery that can be performed. It’s used as a salvage procedure.

Sadly ear disease is all too common and if dogs won’t allow medicating, we are a little stuck.
It is absolutely one of the most frustrating of problems to deal with in practice - painful dog, distressed owner, rock and hard place for treatments, commitment and compliance to longer and intensive treatment protocols and often high costs involved
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Thank you, Shows the importance of teaching pups to be happy with being handled and having ears and eyes etc checked where ever possible.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Thank you, Shows the importance of teaching pups to be happy with being handled and having ears and eyes etc checked where ever possible.
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Yes definitely! And also, save the odd grass seed, most ear problems are allergy related. For all owners of ear dogs - once you and your vet have found an effective treatment plan to keep it at bay, please please please continue with it and don’t stop it or change it ‘because it seems fine now’!
 
Maybe not appropriate for this time, or Eg for antibiotic drops, but for general ear cleaning for allergies we have made good progress with desensitizing a dog with sore ears using baby water wipes (you can get dog ones but they're more expensive). We started off using plain wipes and feeding the dog while loose. Wiping the outside of the ear each day for just a second. Then progressed to inside the ear, then added a bit of the cleaning solution. Then saturating the wipe with the solution (so it's dripping with it) and giving a good massage inside the ear. Then finally using the bottle to put the liquid in for a super deep clean. Which she still doesn't enjoy but tolerates. As the ear is kept so clean with the saturated wipe method, I only do the bottle treatment every few weeks. She comes to stand between my legs now to have her ears done and she found it really unpleasant to begin with.
 
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