For those onboard who have iddy-biddy goggies

[MimzMum]

Jenna is having a hard time with her ear drops treatment. Or I should say I am.

Apparently I used too much cleanser (Epi-Otic) when I last washed her ears a few days ago. I put the medicine in after a particulalry long fight with her to get the cleanser out with Q-Tips and for the last few days her ear sounds really wet again. No blood, so I don’t think I got the eardrum, but I had to root around to get it to stop sounding moist in the canal. I did the other ear just fine, no problems, ‘cept for the huge amount of wax that came out. (ew!)

Needless to say, she doesn’t want me going near the ear now. And I have another seven days of meds to give!  It’s all I can do to keep a look in there to watch for further infection. Can’t say I blame her, I mean, say you see someone walk up to you with a sharp stick and they poke you in the eye? Then a few hours later, that person walks up to you with the stick again? You’re not going to just stand there. ~_~

So I’m going to reshcedule her for a recheck, but could I get some help meantime from those of you who have small dogs like terriers and such? These big old batty Yorkie ears you would think would be a cinch to keep up on hygiene, but I am having more trouble with her flaps than I ever did with Shadow or Taiku.

Many thankies in advance!

[Deleted User]

ugh! Sorry to hear about the ears! I have never had an iddy-biddy dog but I dealt with hematomas of the ear in some of my dogs. It is tricky when they don’t trust you anymore around the very thing needing attention. I had to milk out the blood of one of my dogs’ ear lobes every few hours as it was stitched into an open incision so the hematoma would not come back. I had to use a muzzle and force. I know this is not what you wanted to hear but sometimes there isn’t a nice way to go about these things. I would get an assistant and do the procedure swiftly.
Ears can be a perpetuating struggle. It seems once you enter the cycle of medicating them they never seem to get back to their natural ph balance.

[mrmac]

In my experience smaller dogs have an especially hard time allowing people messing with their ears. They can be especially nippy and feisty, while also flailing making them harder to control and get a good grip on. I would use an assistant. Even pinning her down, one person holds, the other person puts drops in/cleans them out. Ears are such a pain!

[Barbie]

Oh my what fun! Lol. Not. My parent’s lab has chronic ear problems so we have to clean his ears all the time and it’s never any fun. To do his ears you need a helper because holding him is the equivalent of wrestling a 255 lb man (or so I’ve heard… dog’s have 3x their weight in strength or something like that). I don’t have to do Nick’s as often since his are standy up ears and don’t trap dirt but I do clean them after every bath and to do his, I put him in the tub or against the wall and use my body and free arm to hold him pinned and then swab out his ears really quickly

Did your vet tell you to use q-tips? Are her ears that tiny (I don’t have much experience around teeny tiny dogs) I always use cotton balls for fear of getting down in there too far…

Good luck!

[Author]

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