How the hell do I get DDog's eye drops in?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

He was prescribed them yesterday for conjunctivitis, and the vet put the first lot in.

Unfortunately, PestDog isn't cooperating. I've tried holding him (he snapped). Starting a game of tug of war with him (he dropped the toy as soon as he saw the drops).

I live alone so I don't have anyone to help me...!

Put the drops onto a cotton wool pad - make sure he doesn’t see you do this!

Wait until he’s calm, e.g., sat with you, then gently wipe the eye, as best you can, with the pad.

If he needs both eyes doing, use a separate pad for each eye to avoid cross contamination.

Reward with a treat!

If not cotton wool you can also use your finger - but do make sure it is scrupulously clean and free of soap residue etc before doing so. Try not to touch the eye ball but just bring your finger close enough to deposit the drops. Different finger for each eye.

A bit late for now but conj. can be recurring so when you no longer have drops, practise getting him comfortable with your finger near the inner corners of his eyes so that it's easier next time around.

Sympathies, even with two of us it was a battle and we had to get it right straight away otherwise BiteyDog got too worked up.

Does you vet have any nurse clinics where they might at least get one or two doses in for you?

Does he let you touch his eye area at all?

You could put some peanut butter or squeezy cheese on a wall or door (that is easy to wipe down afterwards).

Put it at nose height

As he is licking it off the wall act with speed of light pull down eye, make a small pouch and drop in eye drops

Sigh. He's normally fine about me touching his eyes, but when he saw the dropper he wouldn't come near me, and when I tried with my finger he snapped again He's now sat on the other sofa, eyeing me with suspicion when normally he'd snuggle with me - I've been sent to Coventry by the dog.

Going to have to ring the vet tomorrow as I can't see this happening. Thankfully he's taking the oral anti inflammatory without complaint. Does anyone know if oral antibiotics can work for eye infections?

Unfortunately topical drops are the way to go. If I were your vet I would offer you the following options:
Board him at the vets for a few days and let them do it (he will probably behave far better without you); or
visit two or three times a day for the drops to be put in; or
borrow a muzzle.
It will probably get easier after a couple of days as he feels better (but not if he repeatedly gets away with snapping and you (understandably) back off, while his eyes continue to make him irritable.

And sympathy; it's very difficult to tdo anything aversive with an animal on your own, especially in its own home and if it is a bit aggressive. I would say client compliance with eye and ear drops is generally not great.

Wait until he's asleep dreaming and fluttering eyes? Ddog here is a nightmare with meds, kennel cough vaccine being the worst- 4 adults last time to restrain him

anniehm there's an injectable kennel cough vaccine now.

Drat re it having to be eye drops.

Of the options suggested - I've got a muzzle somewhere but it's not his favourite thing - we've done some muzzle training but not for a while. Probably a necessity, though I'm unconvinced he'll stay sufficiently still.

I don't want to board him - it sounds expensive and I have no idea if insurance would cover it, plus I'm not sure he'd cope (not crate trained, and generally quite highly strung). Do vets normally charge for putting eye drops in if you just pop in twice a day?

Well, I would only charge a nominal fee for application; nurses would usually do it... you should ask. Muzzles are nobody's favourite thing but then neither are burny eyes or stingy drops. And tbh virtually all animals deal much better than their owners expect with boarding. I suppose the positive aspect of the boarding or the revisiting is that you don't have to be the bad guy. Also consider whether they would let you drop him in for the day and collect him in the evening.

PestDog is now perfectly happy for me to touch his eyes, so long as he can't smell that I have eye drops on my fingers of my other hand! He's far too sharp for his own good.

Smeared some liver pate inside the muzzle, clipped it on and I think I got some in his eye

It's already looking a bit less red and irritated so hopefully things will improve from here.

Well done

Well done. It's so bloody hard isn't it and they defintely 'know' you are up to something that they won't like

Our sadly departed Lancashire Heeler had lens luxation which required eye drops twice daily in each eye from age four until first one then the other eye removed later in life. We had to crack eye drops quickly. At breakfast, bit of food, hand close gently round snout, eye drop , bit of food, handclose gently round snout, other eye drop, good boy...breakfast. Repeat at supper.
We had him from a pup though so maybe with less baggage than avocadodog. It did get to the point where I would say, sorry boy, drops and he would sit and wait for them. Makes me teary just thinking about him.

Go with minimal restraint - pull down lower lid and aim to get drops inside lower lid rather than on eyeball - it’s less ‘strange feeling’ and better tolerated