My dog hates ear medicine. How to apply it without stress or bites?

It is not a good idea to try and apply ear mediccine while she is asleep. I suggest you ask your vet whether a differen medication such as Osurnia, which can be applied in the vet's office once and is good for 7 days is not an alternative to struggling with your dog. If not, you may need to put a muzzle on your dog every time you intend to apply the medication.

Poor Sansa! How stressful for all of you. There are ear medications that can be administered at the vet's office, that work on their own for up to two weeks without you needing to do anything with the ears at home. We use them frequently at our clinic, because many dogs with sore, painful ears will not allow them to be handled at home! I would recommend calling your vet to let them know that you aren't able to adminster the meds at home, and asking about a long-acting option like Claro or BNT ointment. Even if they don't carry these meds normally, they may be able to order them for you, and you can bring her back to their office to have them apply the medication if needed.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear you are having difficulty applying the ear medication - I understand this can be a challenging task! Ear infections themselves can be frustrating too. For my own dog, I find it helpful to stand over him with his head between my legs, that way I can gently use my legs to hold his body in place while one hand holds his head/ear and the other applies the ear medication. I then gently massage the base of the ear to allow the medication to contact all surfaces of the ear canal. It is certainly OK if Storm shakes his head immediately afterwards and a little medication comes out. Additionally, if you do not already have one at home, I STRONGLY recommend purchasing an Elizabethan collar (cone) for Storm, to prevent him from being able to itch his ears. Dogs can create a significant amount of trauma to their own ears and skin from scratching incessantly, and a cone will prevent him from getting to his ears while the infection heals. This will also help keep the medication in the ear. I hope this is helpful!

Poor Canelo! Ear infections can be very painful. I would recommend asking your veterinarian about one of the long lasting ear infection treatments that do not require you to medicate them at home. There are a few on the market now, but here is one of the them ( https://osurnia.com/ ). We certainly don't want to ruin your relationship with Canelo, so I would recommend having your vet do all treatments until this infection is resolved. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

I wonder if he is having a reaction to the medication? It Shouldn’t bother him, and if it does I’m worried. I would encourage you to have a follow up appointment with your veterinarian soon. I have had a handful of patients over the years have reactions to ear medications and they seem so painful! Best of luck and I hope he improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

Poor Billy! Ear infections are no fun! Ear infections can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection, or a combination of these, and can be associated with dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, or a combination of the above. There may be other options for treatment, such as a long lasting ear ointment that the vet applies once a week (so you do not have to do anything at home), or potentially oral medication, depending on what the cause of the infection is. I recommend you contact your vet to discuss your options and get Billy feeling better.

Antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications can be given orally as well, but they will be indeed less effective and take longer to work. Please discuss with your local veterinarian this treatment option (as it has to be prescribed anyway). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!