my dog wont stop shaking her ears

TillyTots5

Hi everyone, my 2 year old pooch has had ear problems since she was a pup, when we first noticed her scratching her ears and shaking we took her to the vet and they gave us drops, now as most of you will know drops and dogs do NOT go but we managed to get them in as she was tiny...didnt work so they took her in and did some digging in her ear canal and found nothing abnormal just abit of dirt and wax, she hasnt stopped shaking though and they gave us some more drops but Roxy will not let us put them in, she runs a mile when she see's the bottle, but since the drops didnt work before i dont think they'd work now even if we could get them in! Some people have said it could be a habit?? but she scratches and sometimes cries when shes scratching and loves it when you massage her ears, like you relieving the itch or something...mum thinks it might be mites? but if roxy wont let us put the drops in what do we do?

Tess

A couple of thoughts...

- Sounds like your pup has chronic ear infections, could be both bacteria and yeast.

- The type of food you feed your dog can make the pup prone to ear infections

The "cure" will probably be to both change the food (to something high quality and grain free) and use some medication.

Your vet will likely not be clued into the food issue, as vets are so used to just treating ear infection after ear infection and not getting to the root cause.

I'll leave it to others to recommend how to counter condition the dog so you can get the medication in.

Another suggestion is the ask the vet for oral antibiotics that you could give in a treat, and skip the ear drops all together.

TillyTots5

high quality, grain free...ok ill go get her some different food today, would kibble be the sort of thing im after? and what makes would you recommend, arden grange etc that sort of thing? her ears flop down so its so hard to lift them up and put the drops in..she scarpers! if her ears stuck right up i'd just squirt it in lol i'll pop to the vets and talk to them about oral medicine also...

Tess

"Scarpers" sounds Brittish to me? Are you in the UK? If so, you'll have to tap into some of our UK members for dog food brands.

Yes, a floppy eared dog needs to have her ears kept clean, so you can work on helping her to tolerate that process by feeding her delicious treats as you gradually work to touch her ears, then use a cotton ball gently, then a cotton ball dipped in cleaner (warm it in your hand first) etc. Taking the time now to train her to not hate this, will pay off for a life time of ease.

Tess

Watch this...

Tess

PS. This video of counter conditioning did not take much time. You should be prepared with your pup to work gradually over a period of days or weeks, as she already has a history of painful ears and fearful reactions to handling her ears. So take your time! Always keep the sessions short and pleasant for her (5 minutes a day is good). If she is scared you are going too fast.

TillyTots5

haha yes im english lol she is fine with us touching her ears, rubbing them and we clean them with dog ear wipes as they can get abit mucky, she actually quite likes it lol its just as soon as the bottle comes out and we try to do it shes off so yes we need to get to her to not fear the bottle lol thankyou for the video i will watch it when ive got enough time to take it in and give it a go

Tess

Two tricks then that I'd recommend. Put the ear medicine in a small dropper or syringe w/out a needle (something different she does not have a bad association with)
AND
warm the medicine until it is skin temperature (just hold in your hand for 10 minutes) before putting it in her ears. Sometimes its the sudden introduction of the cold fluid into a tender ear that causes the panic.

Of course always give lots of fabulous treats before after and during the application of the medicine!

tozie

tess, i was about to suggest the same thing! <grin> when my kids were young they would have ear infections occasionally, as children do. and i would take the ear drops and put it in the waistband of my pants or (dont laugh now) in my bra. this gets the drops body temp without having to carry it around the house with you. warm liquid is much less painful when you put them in the ear. if you've ever had cold fluid in your ear (even without an infection) you would remember forever to warm it first. lol!
my mutt, rocky, has always had sensitive ears. he rubs them and moans and shakes his head. he has a clean bill of health so we've never found out why. he, like your pup, also will sit and moan in pleasure when you rub his ears. (i think he's slowly going deaf, he's 11yrs old, so that could be part of his rubbing and shaking. but that's an old age thing i believe.)
does the vet have any other reason to believe your pup has ear infections? or is he just treating the scratching like it is an infection? there may be something else entirely going on. sometimes drs over here will prescribe an antibiotic just to make the patient (or patient's mom) feel like they are doing something to solve the problem or as a precaution against secondary infection. When its something that'll work itself out if you just give it the chance.

TillyTots5

I will do that, warm it up and put it in something else, see if it works well Roxy was given a clean bill of health after they had a dig about so im stumped really :/ well he firstly thought she'd caught something from where she was born as it wasnt exactly a very nice area/place/house so thats when we got the drops then they went in hoping to find maybe a grass seed or something that was lodged causing infection but nothing...i think if we cant get the drops in after your suggestions ill go back and enquire about oral medication, yes Tozie hes treating the scratching and head shaking as an infection. Shes had it for 2 years so somethings going on but im not even sure the vets know what it is really!