Hi friends, Maisie has a yeast infection in her ears and I was given some ear cleaner (needs to be done 1x a day for a few days) and medicine (2x 12 drops per day for a week I think) and Maisie feels very sad/scared to have ear drops put in. Any suggestions to make it easier on her and me to get this done?
Aw, poor Maisie. We haven't had to do the dratted ear drops. Only suggestion is some fab rewards - bit of sardine maybe. We have some expert ear drop administrators on here hope they can give you some good tips.
It is reasonably easy to clicker train keep your head still while I put in the drops. Apart from that just try to associate the drops with fabulous treats. I've got Charlie to the stage where he'll hold his head over a bowl of sardines, looking as miserable as anything, too upset to eat, then the micro second the drops are in, dives to the bowl like a starving Labrador. It's not perfect but workable.. .
Ahahaha thanks Julie that is a hilarious picture (but poor Charlie!). I have been giving her very good treats afterwards. She is actually not horrible at letting me put them in, she just really hates it. I do have to hold her collar, but she actually holds her head fairly still letting me do it (I think she just freezes and wants me to get it over with) then I put the dropper away and throw treats for her and wave my hands about to show her I don't have the dreaded drops on me anymore. I was concerned she would not forgive me and would become scared of me but she came and sat ON me on the couch right after her morning drops so we'll be okay I suppose! I am also impressed that even though she hates it and is scared, she does not even THINK about biting me at all - no attempt made whatsoever to chomp at me. The only thing with training her to keep her head still is that she's really too upset but the prospect of ear drops to eat whatever treats I try to give her (she will eat them immediately after, just not while I have the drops in my hand and food in the other hand), so I don't know how to reward her for being still.
Myles had 2 ear infections in his first couple of months as a puppy. I'm not sure if the vets do this over there (I'm in the US), but there is a treatment here where they "pack" the ear (with meds, steroids, etc). Whatever they put in there dissolves into the ear and you never have to do any drops yourself. And totally clears up the ear infection. Myles hates ear drops too so I love this treatment! Hope Maise's ear clears up soon. Ear infections are no fun!
That treatment sounds so much easier, Ericka! I'm in Canada, but my vet didn't seem to have a clue that was an option. I called the first day as she hated the drops so much I wasn't sure I'd be able to get them in, and they said the only other option was to give her Prednisone but it wouldn't clear up the actual infection. It's getting easier to give her the drops (she even lets me do a bit of an ear massage after the drops are in) and luckily we finished using the cleaner today (they gave me a HUGE box of it and I only needed to do it for 3 days, and then weekly I guess… I'm a little irritated I had to pay for that many of them when she only needed it for 3 days??) so it's down to just the drops 2x a day. I looked at her ears this morning and they already seem better, they were reddish and a bit gunky/stinky when I took her in to the vet, now they look "normal" (although seem to be still itchy) and she let me look at them, so that's good. I am hoping as they get less painful it'll be easier to put drops in.
