We have our new Everest.
Before I get into the details, I will say first that Cooper does have his annual exam coming up, so we’re going to have the vet take a good, hard look at his ear to rule out infection, hearing problems, etc. If I thought there was something really wrong, I’d get him in much sooner.
Cooper’s right ear is our next challenge. His ear gets seriously grody.
Every week, we need to clean that sucker out. I’m sure it’s because of the drainage from his allergies (sorry, I know that’s gross) because his eye leaks, too, and this only became a problem after we moved to Louisiana.
But the real issue here isn’t the grossness of cleaning out his ear every few days.
The real issue is his reaction to us cleaning his ear.
To say “he flips out” grossly undermines the extent of his mania.
I can’t even pinpoint how it started, but it’s bad. He is terrified – tail tucked and full-body quivering – he tries to get away. He flails. He bucks. He whips his head back and forth, and not in a pop-rock-Willow-Smith kind of way. More like a deranged possessed demon kind of way.
It’s been getting progressively worse with each weekly cleaning to the point that last night, we gave up. I put the cleaner back in the drawer. I put the cotton swabs on the bathroom counter. And I tried to give Cooper a little back rub, but he wouldn’t come anywhere near me.
Today, I ran some errands and came home to this:
I’m honestly at a loss about what to do for a few reasons: Unlike peanut butter plate, we can’t do a whole series of gradual desensitizations because we don’t need to! He’s TOTALLY FINE with us rubbing his ears. In fact, he’s totally fine with us rubbing his ears with a tissue. He only flips out when solution is involved. We’ve tried three different solutions and a vinegar/water mixture.
After the horror of last night’s attempt, John and I had a long conversation. The central question: Can we find a way to make all things pleasant? Or is this a situation where a headlock is our only option? I need to put some thought into a possible approach because I don’t want it to be miserable/scary for him. I don’t want him to flip out and flail and try to get away from us. But, is it like a kid eating broccoli? Or getting a shot? You just have to suck it up and make it happen?
Sigh.
Have you encountered this? Any suggestions? Is there anything your dog HATES but has to do regardless?
Ugh. Ray can’t have his nails cut and I was taking him to a place that grooms and also trains and the trainer freaked him out enough that he doesn’t like going to that store anymore. If he sees the trimmers he screams. Not yelps. Screams. Open mouth screams like in a horror flick. Up until now I didn’t worry too much because he and Julius ran around the concrete edging of the pool so much his nails stayed short and I could always do the dew claw when he slept, but now they have more grass and less concrete to run on, so we may have to start a new desensitizing routine.
He’s also this reactive at the vet, ever since having his stitches removed. 🙁
Ugh. Nails. That was our previous Everest! We’ve made huge progress, but it’s certainly not seamless yet… but densensitizing plus super great treats, and we’ve seen HUGE improvements. I wonder if the vet would let you periodically pop in, dole out a bunch of treats in the lobby, then leave? So the visits aren’t tied to poking and prodding?
Our dog does the same thing! First of all it is crazy how much gunk can build up so quickly. It seems to go in seasons so I think it may be allergy related. It sounds like he hates the solution just as much as Cooper does. I can pull other bottles out of the cabinet with no reaction from him, but he knows exactly when it’s the ear solution and goes running. Our pup is really calm/docile in most situations, but this one does call for the headlock type grip. We haven’t figured a way around it, let us know if you do!
YES! He sees the bottle, and he’s gone! I’ll work on it, and I’ll let you know when we hit on a solution, for sure. Good luck!
Have you explored some of the natural pet calming products that are out on the market? ‘Pet Nat Calming’ comes to mind along with ‘Vet’s Bets Comfort Calm’. I am sure there are other products that even your veterinarian can recommend, but I encourage only the most natural ingredient ones. Another possibility could be a comfort coat or jacket (like a thundershirt) that can be worn to create an association of comfort prior to introducing an ear cleaning. It would take time, patience and some work. Good luck & the best.
That’s a great idea… We have a ThunderShirt, and we have calming treats and pheromones that we used for the cat training. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to use them for Coop’s nails! SMH! Thanks so much for the tip!
OK – I have some good news. Lincoln almost always has gunk in his ears. He always has…and yes it is gross. We had him to the vet – it is not an infection – it is just because of the floppy ears. Have you ever gotten smacked in the face with a floopy ear because of a massive head shake? Not pretty….it honestly feels like getting slapped – a few times – really fast!
Anyway – Lincoln has never liked his ears cleaned and it also started with (no shaking) but for sure head locks. Lots of yelling and lots of frustration. This also was what happened with nail trims which is why we now go to Petsmart. You can’t beat $9.00 to save some frustration.
We had to continue with his ears and sometimes multiple times a week. We think it might be related to food – so we were not willing to dish out the cash to have Petsmart do it. Although they would!
5 years later – yes I know that is a LONG time – he is 100% ok with getting his ears cleaned. We do it in the bathroom – we tell him we are going to do it – he knows the work “ears” and he goes right in. We do it there with a flashlight (I hold it in my mouth!) Q-tips (yes only on the outside-ish parts to avoid trouble) and lots of cotton balls.
Keep at it – take it slow – and it very well might get better…..
PHEW!! Thank you so much for sharing this. Seriously. It’s so reassuring to hear a happy ending story. I’ll think of you and Lincoln when we get down to business with Coop!
Cash reacts slightly to us cleaning his ears, d has to hold him while I clean them, but not to this extent. maybe if the solution was warmed to body temperature he wouldn’t react as much since it’s not as big if a shock as a cold liquid entering the ear canal?
That NEVER occurred to me. Excellent idea. I will definitely do that when we work on his ears this weekend. Will let you know how it goes!
If it’s the solution he doesn’t like instead of having something stuck in his ears maybe one of those siphons to clear babies’ ears and noses when they’re goopy. Or, If you want to go a cheaper route, a straw.
You know, that’s a good idea. Maybe we’ll give that a whirl this weekend and see if there’s an improvement.
None of my dogs love manicures, but Tudee continues to scream as soon as she sees the clippers. We’re tried everything and I think it is just an attention getting tactic rather than any fear. At any rate we use the headlock method and after it is over she is fine with the world. As long as the neighbors don’t hear the screams…
Oh, jeez. Isn’t it awful when they scream like that? Ugh, it just breaks my heart. I’m so glad she’s fine once it’s over!
Did he deliberately target the ear cleaning materials?! Reminds me of many years ago when a couple of my guinea pigs, who hated the harness we’d just gotten them, pulled the harness into the cage and chewed it to bits in the dead of night! You can’t tell me nothing is going on in those furry little heads!
I think he did it on purpose for sure! That cracks me up about your guinea pigs, but I’m dying to know… were their harnesses for taking them out walking?? Did you walk your guinea pigs? Because I think we need a picture of that! 😉
We had hopes of letting them graze while on a tether so they had more roaming options but were still safe. Instead, they sat stock still like resentful, furry bricks and committed the aforementioned vandalism before we could get pictures.
So, so funny. I’ve always wanted a pair of guinea pigs! As an aside: If I ever host the Emmy’s of comments, you’ve got the Funniest Comments category locked up!
Oh – and I almost forgot – a big help is putting the liquid on a couple cotton balls – put those in their ears instead of squirting the liquid directly in – and with Lincoln we close his ear and massage it around so the liquid gets in there good. He does not like it – but it is much better than how he reacts if we actually squirt it in.
That is SUCH a great idea. He sees the bottle come out of the drawer, and he’s off trying to hide from us. We’re going to give this a go this weekend. Thanks so much for the idea!
No suggestions for desensitization, but have you considered supplements that can help boost the immune system and lessen allergy problems?
I know enzymes (Nzymes, prozyme), bovine colostrum, and local raw honey are commonly used with good results.
I feel for him. My big boy had a nasty ear infection last year that required twice daily flushing/cleaning along with medicated ointment. It wasn’t fun.
I hadn’t thought about that, but you’re so right on. I had hoped that the Louisiana allergens wouldn’t bother him like the Indiana ones did… but it’s way worse. We have local honey in the pantry, so he’s getting some of that ASAP!
Yesterday someone told me that swollen lymph nodes in the neck and along the back may not be draining, leading to ear and eye gunk build-up. That massaging just behind the neck and along the back (laterally) may help these flow better, helping the body’s system in filtering and flowing away bacteria etc. You may want to research this, but honestly I don’t see any harm in a light massage once in a while. Let me know if anything comes of it.
That’s a really great idea… and if nothing else, at least he gets a massage out of it! 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Have you tried moving the location where you keep the ear meds? My cats always knew what was coming when they saw me pick up their pill bottle; by the time I had the pills out, I had no cats! Perhaps you could put the ear meds somewhere close to where you have their treats, that way you could give a treat, show him the bottle, touch the outside of his ear with the closed bottle, give another treat, then put the bottle away. Do this several times until he doesn’t react with the ‘scream of death’ at the sight of the bottle, then try putting in just one drop, treat & do something else. This might help acclimate him to associating the bottle with something good, or just NOT with something bad. If he will let you massage his ears, touch them & look inside w/o the meds, I think that the other poster was correct: the feel of something COLD & liquid is what’s freaking him out. Try just plain warm h2o & see what his reaction is to that. Also, are you using an eye (or in this case) ear-dropper? If you fill that somewhere out of his sight, it will be easier to conceal that in your hand & sneak up on him imstead of approaching him with the hated bottle in hand. You could always try wetting a cotton pad or ball & carefully squeezing that into the ear, quickly folding the flap down & giving it a quick massage, a treat & then just walking away like it was no big deal. Hope some of this helps.
While I have no problems with ears, one of my dogs is hysterical about his nails: the full-body shake, snarling, kicking, peeing on himself (& me )& generally acting like we are trying to get ready to cook him in the oven! He came to me this way, so I don’t know what happened to him in his first 8 months. He is 52# of pure terror, and it takes 3 people to hold him for this. I can’t even bribe any family or friends to help me. After 6 months of getting beaten up, I finally had to bite the bullet & take him to the vet every 6 weeks for a nail trim. I do a better job than they do, on my OTHER dogs. 😉 Good luck!
Moving the location is a great idea! He’s the same way… he sees the box come out of the drawer, and he’s GONE! How does it go at the vet? Do they sedate him or anything?
HAH! The 2nd Vet I went to found a wonderful trick!
She gave Wishbone PEANUT BUTTER on a tongue depressor!! They just lay him down on his side and one person fed him the PB while the Vet cut his nails! It took them like 4 minutes. While I have offered to give him PB on a stick while I trim his nails, he has refused to consider this as an option for us to do @ home. grrrrrr. Apparently, the combination of the nice Vet (who coos over him) AND the treat is OK; having me, his Mom, perform this procedure, is just asking for another hysterical episode. ~~~shrugs~~~
Go figure. I’ve had this dog 3 years: maybe he’ll settle down eventually.
😉
Allergy ears probably hurt. Felix is the mildest mannered friend in the world, except when he has an ear infection. The suggestion of the cotton balls is a good one – that’s what we do as well and we do gently warm the vinegar based mix.
Poor guy! Allergy ears are no fun!
Yeah… I think it must be painful. We’ll definitely try warming it plus the cotton balls and see what works. Thanks for the great ideas as always, Jodi!
Little does he know there are more at the store.
Ha! Exactly! 🙂