Maggie's Ears.....

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Maggie and Rufus have a vet appointment shortly. Rufus for his first check up, shots, and flea / tick medication. Maggie for her ears, yet another yeast infection.......and I know it's yeast because I recognize the smell. ugh

Over the course of a lifetime I've owned many dogs of varying personalities and breeds/mixes. I can't recall any other who was "skiddish" when it came to medications or being cared for when hurt/ill. They all just sort of let me do what needed to be done without much fuss if any at all.

Not Maggie. And let me tell you having an intelligent dog can work against you at times. Maggie is so intelligent it is impossible to "fool" her. Bribes don't work.......except it will ruin that treat for her forever it seems. (she refuses cheese now, won't take peanut butter, and won't so much as smell yogurt.........3 things she used to really like) Approaching her calming and sort of sneaking it up on her doesn't work more than once. Actually she has never fallen for it again. Just doing what needs to be done doesn't work either. Oh, I can maybe manage it once.......but then it takes days or weeks to get her to come to me again. ugh (and she will be skiddish as all get out for a long time)

I'm going to guess this is due to her being too smart and not having been properly socialized with people while she was still with her Mommy. She has come a very long long way in her socialization with people........she is finally attempting to sit in my lap for love.......of course now that she is basically too big to do so. lol But it doesn't quite extend to trusting me in this area. Maybe it never will. (god I hope not)

The vet looks at me like I'm sort of stupid because of course she'll let him do whatever he wants to her. She's pinned on the exam table for pete's sake and he only does it ONCE. If he had to do it twice, he'd see a totally different dog. And when Maggie doesn't want you to touch her, you're not going to touch her because she's fast, she's squirmy, she jumps HIGH.......so yeah.

I'm going to refuse the ear drops. I don't care if he likes it or not. I've done that several times now. They're sitting on my hutch. 3-4 bottles of the stuff. I have gotten only a couple of doses out of the first bottle and that has wound up on the floor more than her ears. I'm wasting my money on the stuff. There is no point.

I'm hoping, and pretty sure this time he has no choice, he will put her on pills. (the yeast has now gone from ears to mouth/feet)

Bad thing is.............. I don't know that I'll be any more successful attempting to get pills down her than with the drops. Oh, I can get them down the first time, regardless of method. It's after that when we have the problem, especially if it upsets her tummy. I *might* be successful with pills if I can grind them up and hide them in canned or homemade dog food. (notice how I worded that) But Maggie's nose is so darn good she could easily be a drug sniffing dog. omg

If I can't grind them, though.........I'm gonna have major issues.

I have never been so frustrated over an issue with an animal......... Even Rufus, little as he is and as much as I know it hurt, seemed to know that I was "helping" him when I had to remove those nasty ticks from his ears.

As far as the flea medication..........not a problem. It's a once a month deal. Goes on fast, doesn't hurt, and it's done. Not to mention she gets a month to forget the procedure. lol

I think if we can get this yeast licked once and for all, it may never be an issue again. She got it by licking Molly's ears when they were infected.........she'd never had an issue prior to that.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Vet gave Maggie a potent medication for her ears. One a day for 30 days. No drops. Yay. Now I just have to get them into her. lol :p
 

Hopeless

....Hopeful Now
Lisa- our dog is allergic to grass and gets the infection in his ears and feet. We fight it all spring and summer. I feel for you. At least our dog sits now when I get ear drops and lets me put them in. Good luck with the pills. I was going to suggestion peanut butter around pill and then cheese over it, but I see she won't go near either of those anymore.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
We use cheese cubes or sausage cubes... make up about 8 cubes, but put the pill in ONE of them.
Then, feed in rapid succession... with the pill about half way through.
Our dogs basically don't chew cubes that size - it's gulp-gulp-gulp... no idea one has a pill.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Food doesn't work.......not that way, at least. Molly taught Maggie to chew her food well. Maggie doesn't gulp anything, not even a treat. (which is why she can eat bones with no issue)

I am good at giving pills to dogs, thankfully. I just have to get her to hold still for it. lol

I don't think I'll do my usual give them a treat after the pill, though.........as Maggie seems to then associate one with the other and then will refuse the treat later on. I'll just praise her heavily instead. Then maybe she'll see the pill just isn't a big deal, unlike the drops.

Vet did seem more understanding though, this time. I think it finally registered with him that Maggie, while very social now, was not socialized in the beginning so there are trust issues still being resolved. And medications can't work if I can't give them.

Maggie is improving though. She will let me pet her ears and she likes it. Look inside them? No way! She will let me handle her paws now too. That one she had no choice but to get over as it's spring and I wasn't going to let her track in mud every time she went out to potty. She has to stop at the door and be wiped off with a towel before coming inside. She's not thrilled, but she will let me do it now without mouthing my hand the whole time.

I guess I really should not complain. This is the only undesired behavior she has. Oh, well that whole once she goes outside she doesn't want to come back inside until she's good and ready thing.......but that isn't that much of a PITA with a fenced in yard. She just enjoys being outside.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have a hard time giving Abby pills too and she hates that flea stuff on her back. You would think it was burning her or something. As far as touching her feet to clip her nails? OMG...I cant even do it anymore. She hates it. You cant even say the words "let me have those feet" before she runs for her crate!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I don't mess with Maggie's nails. For 6 bucks the vet will do it and I'm not the bad guy. lol I trimmed nails for years and years. But I hate to do black nails........and of course both dogs have black nails.

She doesn't mind the flea/tick medication on her back. That one has never bothered her. (I think some of them can burn or irritate the skin though)

She took her pill with no fuss whatsoever. I'm hoping that is a good sign. I had her sit (same as I always did Molly) with a treat shown to her, swapped the treat for the pill at the last second, then gave her the treat. To test if it bothered her............... I got another treat a few minutes later and had her sit for it, she did, and I gave her the treat. I wanted to show her that not every time is going to be a pill. So hopefully tomorrow's pill won't be an issue either. Or any of them for the next 29 days. ugh
 

susiestar

Roll With It
She is very smart. Smart enough for you to tell her that you know she doesn't like it but it has to happen and it will happen and then you have to make ti happen. The making it happen is hard, just like making 'no' happen with a toddler is hard. In time they learn that you mean it and nothing else can/will happen until it (whatever 'it' is) happens.

we had a cat like this and I refused to chase him to give him medications. Flat out, not one time did I chase him. I made him come to me. No food refills until he got his medications, period. Had a screaming fit at my dad for going against me and made him do 3 days of medications and it taught both Dad and Cat that it would be my way or they would not like life at. all. I know it is hard, but it works. ii was fifteen then, and it has worked for some very wily cats since.

do you explain what you are doing and WHY to Maggie? Before you do it? Our vet looks at me like a freak, but it works with every animal we have had or my folks have had that thy needed help wtih. It makes a big difference.

I am glad he gave pills. When/if it happens again, push for diflucan if you can afford it. One pill works for a week. Most people ins will give one a month but sometimes you need to take one a day for a week or so to really kill it off. Keep track of the medication names and how they work because this is likely to be a long time problem. I do find that using a better quality food makes a huge difference with yeast infections.

I am sorry it is so hard to give her medications. Skipping the treat to hide the pill is a good thing,it keeps her trust in you. Hide too many things before you have trust and ti may always be hard to help her when she is sick. If she was a cat I would say to crush it and make a paste of ti and wipe it on her paws. Or side. Cats will lick it off no matter how bad it tastes then except for one or two odd ones.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I've been a bit more no nonsense about the pills. But then I'm far more comfortable giving them.

Day 2 was also a success. :) (I'm feeling quite accomplished as I knock on wood lol ) Without much ado either.

I'm doing it the way I always do. Have them sit via showing them a treat. Give the pill no nonsense.....just in and done. Then have her sit again showing the treat, give the treat. With her though......to reinforce that not every time from now on that I have her sit she will get a pill..........I have her sit for a treat again.

I"m guessing the pill must not be too bitter either, or it's going down very easily because while she doesn't like me holding her muzzle until she swallows.......mom doesn't let go until she does, period. She tried a little squirmy tonight.......but it didn't work, pill was already in place all she had to do was swallow. Once she did, lavish praise and the whole sit thing with the treat.

It's sort of a shame. Now that Rufus is here it just really makes it obvious how unsocialized she was at the same age. Rufus is all about lovin and laying in a lap........Maggie would attempt to run away and hide. Even now she has some issues with Rufus I'm noticing. When he doesn't want to play, he makes no bones about telling her so. He is NOT afraid of her one little bit. Problem is, it doesn't quite register with her until he is really in her face (literally) about it. The same issue I see with Bruce. Not quite sure why as Molly most certainly had no trouble getting Maggie to understand she wanted her to back off.

on the other hand, it seems Maggie still believes she is Rufus' size. And now that she sees him all up in Mommy's lap...........well, she is all for that! I encourage her, of course, we've been working on this cuddling thing for a year now. But it's funny because she tries to plop the way he does only she's like 10 times larger than he is. lol
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Rufus is all about lovin and laying in a lap...
Umm...
Rufus definitely is a LAB.
And Labs are among the largest lap-dogs in the world.
They ALL think they are the size of tea-cups. Literally.

(you should see ours... when TWO want attention at the same time...)

Some of the differences can be breed.
 

nerfherder

Active Member
Oh, labs.

Marley thinks she's the size of my foot on cold nights, she tries to get on the bed. It's not a large bed.

And if there's anything cuter than her lying in front of the woodstove, with the two youngest baby vikings using her as a headrest. All in front of the woodstove. The 2 year old will sit on her while she's lying down, and play "horsie!" And she just thumps her tail. That baby will also sometimes use her as a tumbling horse. And she just thumps her tail. I cut her nails, and she just thumps her tail.

Now if only we could break her of her crayon/plastic/lego/Playmobile addiction...
 
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