On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:39:01 -0400, "MauiJNP" wrote:

Sammie yelped when I petted his head Friday afternoon. That is not
like him at all. I looked into his ears and saw a bunch of gunk in
there. I called the vet and they said they couldn't fit him in until
Monday. I knew it was most likely just an infection and it couldn't
kill him, but I still couldn't just relax. I took him to the
emergency vet. It cost a whole lot more, but I got peace of mind.


is he fine now? I hope so. ear infections are not fun. Maui used to get
them all the time when he was younger and it finally stopped with a switch
in dog food (chicken to lamb). for a while though, I felt like I lived at
the vet and that his ears would never get better.

I know he is feeling a lot better because he doesn't have a fit when I
put the medicine in his ear. You could tell it hurt to get the drops
in there with the little tip before. Now he doesn't seem to mind at
all, and it definitely doesn't hurt him. He got dragged around by the
ear tonight in a wrestling match without yelping, which further
convinced me the medicine is doing its job even though he is only
about halfway through his course of meds. My daughters are really
happy that he's feeling better. I needed their help to keep the
squirming down so I could get the drops in the ear. But it just about
killed them to see him like that and have to help pin him down and
take his medicine no matter how much it seemed to hurt him. Now that
he's cool about it, they don't have to watch him suffer or even help
hold him down. In fact, now Scooter wants ear drops. When Sammie is
being told that he is such a good boy after the drops, Scooter tries
to jump up and get in my lap for his turn.

I really liked the emergency vet's style. He expalained that floppy
eared dogs can have a lot of ear problems and gave pointers on how to
prevent them, but also said that since this is his first, I shouldn't
worry that he is going to have a lot of ear problems. Good mix of on
top of things and laid back. Much as I liked him, I'll be happy if we
never have to see him again, though, so I hope he's right about it
most likely not being anything to worry about. My wallet would be
just as happy never to have to see the emergency vet again, too.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay