“Help! My dog is prone to ear infections AND they hate having ear medications administered!”

Unfortunately, this is a reasonably common issue. Pets prone to recurrent ear infections may become very “head shy” (or even aggressive) for any attempts at handling their ears, because they have come to associate ear handling with pain.

Here’s how we can help.

1. Seeing your pet promptly

If you suspect your pet is developing another ear infection, you should book it in for a veterinary reassessment as soon as possible. This will help prevent their ear issues from becoming excessively severe and painful. For very nervous pets, we may also recommend a dose of pre-consultation calming medication.

2. Starting anti-inflammatories several days prior to treatment

If we diagnose your pet with an ear infection, we will recommend a suitable treatment – usually a topical medication – to target the bacteria and/or yeast involved.

If your pet’s ear is inflamed and painful, we may also recommend that it start taking oral anti-inflammatory pain relief or steroid medication (sometimes several days before starting topical ear treatment) to reduce its discomfort when handling the ear.

3. “Hands off” ear treatment

For more severe or recurrent infections or pets who are very phobic about handling their ears, we may recommend sedation or general anaesthetic for a thorough ear cleaning and assessment. Depending on your pet’s type of infection, we may also be able to offer the option of a long-acting ear treatment gel (applied post-cleaning while your pet is still asleep) so that you are not required to administer any topical medications at home.

4. Maintenance therapy

For pets prone to recurrent ear infections, prevention is better than cure! In these cases, we like to ascertain the underlying cause of the issue (e.g., environmental allergies) and then discuss options for long-term management to help prevent ear flare-ups.

For more information on managing ear infections in pets, lend our experienced vets your ears!