Quote: Betty Landercasp

The Q-tips are fine, just have to be careful not to pack ear wax down into the ear, and you have to be gentle. For a chronically infected swollen ear, Q-tips can be a little dangerous, the cotton head can come off inside the folds.
Ears don't have to be all cleaned up in one sitting --- take it a little bit at a time, as much as the dog will stand--- over a few days as healing begins there will be less "crud" in the ear, the swelling will begin to go down. As the redness gets less you can do a little better job, the dog will let you do more if you don't hurt him on day 1. Give plenty of treats!

Alright I will make sure to extra gentle and careful. It has been hard keeping up with cleaning the ears so often mostly because I am not used to doing it yet and almost forget. He seems to be a little more happier.

I know you'll remember, though, because you know now how much it hurts him to have an untreated infection. An ear infection is miserable.

It helps me to set precise times.

Good job, Caitlin.

Thanks. Iv'e never had an ear infection before but jsut looking at Gun in pain made me hurt too Lol! I said I was going to get a job and I am. There is a part time opening at Papa Johns so I guess I will take the job. I'm going to use some of my money to make sure all our animals are ok. One of our cats is overweight, one has a lump, Need to get more info on Gun and his ears and the bumps, we need mroe flea/tick protection, and they all need a titer test and possibly vaccines. Then I need to order some training videos, a crate, better toys, and start on RAW with supplements. I will be so broke this year LOL.

A lightbulb went off in my head the other day and I am not thinking about a Dogo anymore. I will start another thread on it....and then another about another question LOL.

Oh and there is only one bump on one of Gun's ear flaps. There is one bump in his armpit and a little growing one on his head, I looked and it does not look like a tick. There is another under his stomach and maybe more. I tried taking pictures but they were not clear enough to see them.

Gunner went to the Vet today. We got him his Rabies 1 yr (the vet gave him the shot before I could ask about 3 yr, turns out he said he recommended Gun getting it but did not say anything about it until I asked, my parents were only interested because it saved them $16, he will ONLY be getting Rabies 3 yr from now on), Influenza (Even my mom did not want it but it is required to board him just about anywhere), His Bordatella (again to board him he neeeds it), a whole year of heart guard (he has not had in regularly in a long time), Vet checked out his bumps and they are just fat, Vet complimented me on cleaning his ears (even thought my father gets very upset at me for "wasting it" aka using it), Vet complimented me on making him loose 10 POUNDS IN 1 YEAR!!! I WAS THRILLED when I heard that ! He was 96.6 last time and this time he was 86.1, We finally got him some glucosamine (it was from marine sources I guess because it says contains a couple of marine animals, I will go look and tell you what exactly it said later).

His nails need to be trimmed BAD so I am going to try and get some nail clippers and a dremmel, if its not too expensive. I tried to get a test run to check his Liver, Kidneys, and Thyroid but it was too expensive. Did not get a chance to ask for a titer test since they gave the shots so quick. So I am happy he got his Glucosamine, will get fish oil soon,... next step is to have someone call me back telling me I got the job so gun can FINALLY be started on Raw!

Congrats, Caitlin, and thanks for the update. Sounds like you're doing a great job with Gun. I'm sure he appreciates having someone in his life looking out for him. Great job.

Thanks! Poor Gunner was not feeling well the day he got his shots but he is back to normal now. He also got some rubber Chuck-it balls and he loves them. Here is a video of him playing with them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwakTNNeuA4

FYI you don't want to use a dremmel on nails unless you are shown by a groomer how to do it. Just saying.

Connie and Caitlin: I think the $500 procedure you are talking about is a surgical one...there was a dog I used to work on, a Springer named Buddy. He had such horrible infections that they went in and I think if I remember correctly, they made a new ear hole or something so air could get in there better.

In the words of Mr. Scott,

An oldie but a goodie.

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~jmerenski1/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html


This is how I learned, but it sure wouldn't hurt to review all this stuff, go through the desensitizing steps, and then watch a groomer do the actual grinding the first time.

Yep. The danger is dremeling off your skin when you slip, the dog kicks...etc. Besides that I like dremeling better...I may try one day with Logan, screwing up aside, its less painful for the dog.