Should I force a treatment on my dog?

[user1489844432]

I have a smallish rescue dog, 3yo. The dog got an ear infection both ears but one far worse than the other one. I had this dog since Oct and whilst the dog is lovely and gentle most of the time, one of the issues is that I can't do anything in terms of treatment. The dog just runs away or starts growling/showing teeth, which I understand is a way of communicating.

I am at a loss what to do know. I always was under impression I shouldn't be forcing anything on the dog but last time when I took the dog to vets they asked me to hold it tight and they actually forced a treatment on him so I am at a loss.

I watched various YouTube how to clean ears of an aggressive dog but nothing works on mine.

One of the ears stinks pretty bad so it is not like I have all the time in the world to wait. I got a cleaning solution and antibiotics from the vets but no way to apply it and my vets are not very useful at all. I am actually on a waiting list for new one.

I should have mention by forcing a treatment I mean putting a muzzle on and just doing it whilst holding the dog.

Well yes I'd say so. Ideally you would have worked up to training so that you could do the cleaning, but as your dog has an active infection there isn't time for that now, so yes, muzzle and clean

Unfortunately dogs don't understand when a frightening and uncomfortable intervention might be an absolutely necessary thing so, yes, in principle it is right to say that sometimes you have to force treatment on them.
Obviously wherever possible you should use training, habituation, reward, etc to minimise thier fear and avoidance. But sometimes, where this isn't possible and the treatment is needed, you need to force the issue, eg by close restraint.
Could you go to your vet and/or a trainer or behaviourist for support and techniques that might help?

I understand it's hard but you need to treat him. Dogs don't know what is good for them. That's like not giving a toddler medicine because they're mad about it. Hope he gets better soon x

Vet nurse here , this is difficult i know , vets see many dogs who behave like this with ears.
There is an ear prep called neptra the vet would apply it and it lasts for 1 month with no need for you to do anything to the ears for that time.
It very likely will be more expensive than other products but in this situation may be your answer.
Has the vet taken ear swabs ? with a nasty ongoing infection this will often given more 'information' to the vet as to what would target the problem the best way.
Don't worry about your dogs behaviour we are used to handling fearful angry animals and can usually cope , it's you that has the bigger problem whilst at home , sometimes sedation is required for a good ear clean and swabs taken at the same time for a good improvement to begin .

Oh yes, you definitely need to get the treatment done!
Muzzle and hold, you may need an extra pair of hands. It’s for his own good.
Ear infections can be very painful and pain can lead to aggression as I’m sure you know.

Yes, if they won't accept the medication willingly then you do need to force it.

It's not nice but you can't leave your dog to suffer - when mine had drops we got everything ready in another room, then one of us held him firmly while the other did the drops.

He hated it but that's not a reason not to give him treatment.

Pain from the ear infection is probably contributing to the dog being so angry and running away. I’m afraid you’ll need to muzzle, wrap in a blanket and force it. Lots of treats and fuss afterwards.

We had the same down to being forced at the vet - my sympathies!

we couldn’t go anywhere near his ears. now we can put anything in his ears that we like.

vicious circle of the pain meaning he doesn’t want it making it worse making him want it less

Combination of:

• neptra as mentioned to help keep it under control
• vet (not the one who held him down and forced it in!) applying the cortavance stuff twice a week - he was better with them for some reason (still muzzled) and they were angels, kept the bottle there and didn’t charge us to put it in
• Consent training at home building up from barely touching the outside of his ear - lots of positive reinforcement

good luck!

Yes, muzzle train him look for a trainer dogs don't know they need stuff done you really need to restrain them sometimes if they are not compliant, what would you do if he cut himself or hurt himself? You would need to restrain him,