Dog will NOT let me put in ear drops

[allwiredup]

My 3 year old is normally very placid, loving & gentle but when it comes to medication, she’s a monster! Brought her in this morning to have her ears looked at and sure enough, she’s got a yeast infection. She was so rowdy for the vet, the vet didn’t attempt to treat her and just sent us home with the medication (ear drops).

I’m on my own, so no one to help me administer the drops. She’s not a big dog (beagle) but she’s wriggly. She snarls and snaps when I try to administer the drops, and runs wild - completely unlike her! I’ve tried meat, cheese, peanut butter, etc. I’ve tried a softer approach and a firmer approach. Nothing is working, she just isn’t having it. I’m as calm and assuring as can be but I’m getting frustrated - it’s for her own good but she just won’t cooperate.

So far I’ve only gotten it into her ears with cotton wool, and that’s hardly giving the full effect.

Advice much appreciated

Our lab is the same. If you haven't got some extra hands to help try distraction with peanut butter or some such.

I think getting it in on cotton wool is better than nothing!

She refuses to fall for it. I’ve tried a few different foods and she just ignores them (then looks for them once it’s all said and done of course!).

Thank you, I’ll continue with the cotton wool. I’d really prefer not to have to muzzle her 🙈

I can't imagine a dog that isn't distracted by snacks OP that is a challenge indeed.

Ours gets his head under the kitchen cupboards so his ear is totally in accessible !

We have to creep up and do it quick.

If she's snappy you might have to use a muzzle but that's tough.

How about waiting til she's asleep? I have to clip my collie's dew claws when she's asleep because it's the only way I can get at them. She'll probably wake right up so have a really high value treat to shove straight at her.

Oh she’s a clever one, she sees right through the distraction of food! Once had a vet try bribe her with peanut butter and she turned her head up in the air like a right little madam! Vet thought it was very funny though, so there’s that.

She’s a very stubborn dog, which is sometimes cute, often times frustrating!

I’ll try doing that in the morning, and see if it’s any easier. Her ears are floppy so trying to get in quick will be interesting 😂

I do my dogs whilst she's asleep. She generally sleeps on her side, so I do each ear at different times when she's laying on the right side. I have to be super quick, drops ready in 1 hand, lift her floppy ear with the other and squirt in 1 motion, before she knows what's happened. I tried doing it really slowly and gently once, hoping she'd stay asleep, but she's far too clever and suspicious for that!

Mine's a beagle mix so I feel your pain. I was wary of sneaking it on him and hurting our trust- but I didn't have much choice in the end. I did it either when he was on lead and about to go out, in the boot of the car after a walk. After a bit he seemed to realise it made them feel better and he would let me do it but he never liked it. Persistence and patience! Good luck!

I have a similar type dog. We pull her ears back and flop them ‘open’IYSWIM. The vet said this was good as it gave them an airing and stopped ear infections - it doesn’t. If you do that it might be easier to get drops in. Vet use a thickish blunt syringe, put it in quickly and left it in whilst covering the ear with his hand and massaging it at the same time.
Good Luck.

OP, if you're really struggling, there's a longlasting gel called Osurnia that is an alternative to drops. It lasts a week and the vet or nurse can put it in.

We do our spaniels at the door just before going out .... So on lead just a quick squirt in them off hes sort of backed into the wall but it works.... Before we couldn't even say the word ears as he'd be off hiding....

For our dog Neptra was a game changer. Instead of having to clean her ears and put in the drops every day myself (which she really didn’t like and it didn’t work anyway) the vet just gave the one dose in the clinic and it lasted for 30 days- it cleared the infection.

Thanks everyone for your advice (and commiseration's! 😭😂). I was able to get them in this morning by putting it on my finger and massaging it in. Probably not the 100% best way, but at least it’s not half soaking into the cotton this way, and she’s getting something.

When she goes for her checkup Monday week, if nothing’s changed, I’ll ask about another treatment option like the long-lasting one a few PP’s have mentioned!

If your dog is snarling and snapping then doing it when she sleeps is just going to end in tears.

Ultimately, if you can’t do it without causing her terror and/or pain you should ask the vets for something to sedate her. It’s not ideal but it’s better than terrifying her

Hi @allwiredup our beagle also refused to let the vets do his ears but is fine with me doing it.
You could try just putting coconut oil in them - it really helps to clean them and because it's solid to start with it's hard for them to know what's going on. Maybe that will get him used to you touching his ears and then you'll be able to treat properly.
Plus mine loves the taste and gets to lick my fingers after ear application. Lovely!

Do you have a muzzle? If so, I think being tough and just getting it done is necessary sometimes. Ours are rotties and used to have frequent ear infections when they were younger, which they hated. But it had to be done, so I did 🤷‍♀️

Oooh excellent idea! I’ll try this, thank you!

She was much better this morning when she realized the bottle wasn’t going anywhere near her. It’s a long, pointy nozzle (I tried so hard to find another description 😂), and I can’t imagine that’s particularly comfortable in a sore ear. When it was done, she popped up and gave me a nuzzle, wagged her tail and was bouncing around so I’ll continue on this way and hope it works!

I know this is no good to you at the moment OP, but for anyone reading this who has a puppy, please try to spend a couple of minutes a day getting them comfortable with you touching their face.

count their teeth, touch very gently round the eyes, look in their ears, treat all the while. Look under their tail, feel them all over (useful for ticks anyway) and check between their paw pads (grass seed).

This will be something to really help you down the line when your dog needs their teeth cleaning or eye drops putting in.

you can get them used to it as older dogs but it’s not so easy. OP, if you can keep up ear touching and checking weekly then monthly even after the infection’s gone, you will thank yourself later!

Really glad you've managed to find a solution ☺️

Training cooperative care (in advance!) is really important for this kind of thing if you've got a non cooperative/ suspicious dog. Sadly I have had to learn this!

My collie is very suspicious about being handled, and would definitely snap if I surprised her with any kind of treatment. However I've been able to teach her to rest her chin still while I touch her body & face, or lie flat on her side. This has really helped so far for brushing and eye drops, it's really surprised me!

You'll be able to find more info online or YouTube if you search cooperative care (also Susan Garret has a programme you can buy to learn it, it's called Pedicure Please)

My dog is currently on ear drops as well. The vet actually gave me a syringe (like you'd use for a child's liquid medication), and it worked better. The nozzle that comes with the bottle is quite hard and the drops take ages to come out. With the syringe, the whole thing is over within 2 seconds and he'll let me massage it in with no issues!