Ear Infections

The Ugly Side Of Grooming...

Ear Infections

I have noticed, especially in the past few months that a lot of dogs are coming to me with moderate to severe ear infections, mostly in the Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Cavalier King Charles breeds. I have informed the owners of these dogs that they probably need to see the vet for a course of ear drops and maybe even antibiotics, only to see the dogs return 6 to 8 weeks later and still with the ear infection. Let me tell you this- Ear infections HURT, and as the infection gets worse it makes it harder for me to groom around the dogs head and face due to the constant head shaking, and the dog in general becoming more and more skittish with the clippers and scissors around their heads and faces because the vibration and noise of the clippers and even the position of the head or if I touch the ears in the wrong way can cause pain. This in the end causes a bad grooming experience for the dog and they become scared and misbehave the next time they are groomed because they don't want to get hurt! I can completely understand!

One dog that I have been grooming every 5 weeks for the past year without fail has had an ongoing ear infection since the first day I groomed the dog. I remember when I first started grooming the dog, I informed  the owner in the nicest way possible that the dog needed to see the vet because he had red, inflamed ears with a bit of dried yellow gunk in the ear canal.  

Below is an example of a dog with a similar ear infection to the dog I am talking about.

This infection is not overly serious and is probably a little bit uncomfortable for the dog, but it can be easily treated with regular cleaning and some ear drops from the vet. Not a real problem, or an expensive one. The owner smiled at me and acted like she was going to take the dog to the vet. 5 weeks later the dog returned and he still had the ear infection. I went about with my normal routine of plucking and cleaning the ear and the dog was not overly fussed. I asked the owner when she picked up the dog if she had got round to taking him to the vet, she said no, but she did buy some ear cleaner which was a good start. I simply told her that the ear is going to get worse if she doesn't go to the vet soon but to keep cleaning the ear as needed. She acknowledged and I honestly felt that the next time I saw the dog he would have seen the vet.

Any way, 1 year later the dog still has not seen a vet, despite me constantly reminding the owner about it. Every grooming session became worse and worse for the dog to the point where I have not been able to pluck his ears for the past 4 visits and even cleaning them has become a traumatic experience for the poor little fella. 

Well the dog came for his regular appointment a few days ago and the owner was complaining that ever since his last groom he has been licking and chewing at his feet and he smelt terrible within a few days and in her exact words he smelt like 'Rotting Flesh' I was made to feel that I had done something wrong so I told her I would express his anal glands and use a stronger shampoo and douse him with perfume at no extra charge. All was well and good and I can admit that the dog did smell like death which I thought was very strange considering he is a very regular customer, but I had used a different shampoo on his last visit as he had fleas so I had to use a flea shampoo in conjunction with a soothing skin shampoo to help with the flea allergy. I just figured that that particular shampoo wears off fairly quickly. 

I put the dog in the playpen so I could set up my grooming tools and hydrobath for the job, I also mixed up some stronger shampoo in the hope it would get rid of his horrid stench. When I returned to start grooming the dog I noticed that there was a small white maggot on the floor of the playpen. Confused, I thought that maybe the dogs anal glands were a lot worse then I thought. I put the dog on my table and started the prepwork of shaving his sanitary areas and clipping his nails and cleaning his ears. I got to shaving his bum and thought I would check his anal glands whilst in that area and they seemed completely fine but I expressed them anyway. THEN I got to his ears, I cleaned the right ear first, and that one was fine. Then I allowed the dog to shake his head and I noticed another small white maggot on the table. Still I was completely confused as to where these maggots were coming from, I went to clean his left ear and as soon as I lifted up the ear the stench that came out nearly made me pass out.. Being 35 weeks pregnant at the time  I did not have an overly strong stomach and I nearly puked my breakfast all over the place, thank fully I controlled myself. As I took a look at the ear I could not see any more maggots, but at this stage the dog was whimpering and crying at even the thought of me getting any closer to his poor ear. I go to put my ear cleaner in his ear and he goes to bite me! This dog has never put a foot wrong in the year I have been grooming him so this was completely unexpected and I knew this dog must be in some serious pain but I also knew that his ear HAD to be cleaned out of all the puss and gunk. I called my husband so he could gently hold the dog still so I could get close enough to give the ear a good clean, it was not an easy job, but eventually the dog gave up and realised I was trying to help. Once again, I let the dog shake his head to loosen the ear canker and out popped another maggot, from INSIDE the dogs ear canal, as well as a big blob of puss and who knows what else. My husband nearly ran a mile! He said it was the grossest thing he has seen in a long time! I was too overwhelmed that I forgot to take a photo of the ear before I cleaned it out, but here is one from after the cleaning:

You will notice that there is still puss coming out of the ear and even after 3 cleans there was still puss so I just gave up. I am only getting paid $40, not enough to be dealing with that! 

I bathed the dog in the shampoo I had previously prepared, blow dried him which was so difficult around his head and then finished the groom, taking special care around his face. I scissored his ears short in the hope that might help with his infection and maybe air out his ear, I am no vet, but it made sense to me haha!

On pick up I told the owner what was going on and how severe his ear infection was, I even kept the maggots to show her and explained that his ear is the reason for his horrible stench and him chewing at himself could be a pain response. I was not so nice this time as I was disgusted and upset that the ear had ended up so bad even after me telling her on EVERY visit for the past YEAR that the ear needed vet attention. I think I may have finally gotten through to her, she looked like she was feeling a bit embarrassed and expressed that she could not afford the vet...Mind you she drives a BMW convertible and has just returned from a 3 week holiday to Spain! I explained to her that there are a few vets around that do offer payment plans and concession discounts. I sent her home with some vet phone numbers and I gave her some ear cleaner for free for the time being so she could at least clear away all the dried puss. She seemed grateful and sympathetic and apologized but I guess I will know if any of it actually sunk in when she returns in 5 weeks time. 

So everyone, this is one of the many ugly sides of dog grooming that you will be witnessing in my blog! Sadly, this is not the worst I have seen. I will write another post later tonight, or tomorrow morning with one of my worst cases ever, and yes, maggots are involved as well!