[lcht2]

tyson will absolutely not let me put his ear drops in (ear mites) he will fight and fight, snapping at the little bottle and just throwing a fit. im almost tempted to take him to the vet so that they can muzzle him but im affraid that it will just make things worse for him at the vet in the long run. any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[onyx'girl]

Do you have a muzzle? I would get one, get him use to it, and use it when needed. It may calm him(he'll think about being muzzled/not ear treatment). I had to give Onyx drops and do clean her ears regularly, she also fights it, but I massage her while it is draining down inside so she gets comforting massage during the treatment.

 

[lcht2]

i could get a muzzle..i could pry stop by petsmart tonight and grab a cheapo

 

[Meb]

Can you touch his ears when they dont have mites?? If so I would just love on him and pet him and gradually start moving my hand up towards his ears and massage his ears and tell him what a good boy he is. Do this a few times with the medication in the other room. Then have the medication where he cant see it and then slowly use the medication, he may not even know you are putting it in. Try to make it a good experience not a bad one. It is worth a try before getting a muzzle.

 

[artisgsd]

I agree with Cindy...and use hotdogs...touching ears = hotdogs (or whatever else Tyson likes). I would try this before just doing the muzzle thing. Different body part, but I quicked Caesar one time and after that he acted like a ninny every time I tried to clip his nails (like I didn't feel bad enough). I just took it real slow and worked with his feet a lot WITHOUT the clippers...then we'd work up to touching his feet with the clippers in my hand but not trying to clip him and giving him lots of hot dog. Then I'd clip one nail (lots of hotdogs) and we'd be done. Yes, it took me over 10 days to get all of his nails, but now he doesn't fight me anymore. Patience and not forcing him pays off. If you don't have a muzzle, the muzzle itself is new and may be stressful, then you have muzzle = ears = bad. JMHO

 

[Liesje]

Poor boy! I don't know if I have any advice. Kenya is prone to ear infections, but they itch so she LOVES it when we rub her ears and scratch them. She likes having the ear drops put in because then I have to rub the base of her ears to work it down and she likes that, then she gets a dog biscuit.

The problem with a muzzle is it can freak out a dog even more. Coke got a big, nasty hot spot pop up on Sunday morning and even being muzzled and tethered, I could not get near it. The muzzle makes him even more stressed and he panics.

Someone on another board told me she learned to restrain a dog by lying the dog on one side and then putting pressure on the elbow that's against the ground because the dog needs that leg to get back up. I guess you could do that, one side at a time.

Also, could the drops be cold? Kenya will sometimes flinch if her ear meds are cold. You could rub the bottle in your hands, or hold it in some hot water first so it's more body temperature. I know I wouldn't want something even room temperature in my ears!

 

[Shugmort]

Roxie is the same way, prone to ear infections and hates the drops. The last time she had an infection I put the drops on the edge of a cotton pad (using extra drops since the cotton absorbs some) and used that to rub it onto the inner part of the ear and then rub her ears to work it down. She probably doesn't get as much of the drops as if I could get them in directly but it seems to be working as we've not had an ear infection since then. I do this now with cleaning solution and she doesn't seem to mind anymore, at least she lets me do it.