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#1953068
The White Wolf
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Suggestions? 
Hello,
My dog, Max, has a nervous reaction where whenever he is nervous he scratches his ears. This has caused him major swelling around his left ear and has even closed up his eye. This has been going on ever since he was a puppy, he seems almost deaf. We’ve been taking him back and forth to the vet constantly, costing over $1000 dollars. The veterinarian even said that it is the worse ear infection that they have ever seen. They said there might be an abscess/tumor/polyp blocking the ear canal and said that surgery may be required for removal.They may just want money but I am not sure.Another vet said a specialist is required. He is a mix between a Australian Shepard and I believe Pit Bull.The nervous reaction seems to be in the family because his sister would always bite her paw when she is nervous. Anyway we’ve recently been using an e-collar/lamp shade to get him to stop scratching.He scratches every time we point at him if he has done something wrong, raise our voices or sometimes even when we talk to him. Is there some substitution that I can use to help him stop scratching like bite a chew toy or something when he gets nervous.I don’t want him to be in an e-collar for the rest of his life.Thank you
-Emma
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02/15/09 11:20am
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#1953173
KrazyKelli
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Message To: The White Wolf In reference to Message Id: 1953068
Suggestions?
Hopefully it’s not something wrong in the brain of the dog to make it act like that. I recommend seeing both a behaviorist to correct and stop the behavior as well as checking out a dog ear specialist. Yes, they do have specialists. My mother took her vicious dog to a dog eye specialist when its retina detached.
This is a two-part problem.
One is a solution to stop the nervous disorder. A behaviorist will have two different approaches: One is to distract the dog and correct it every time it starts the action, two is to medicate the dog to calm it down. The behaviorist also may try to have you or whoever you’re living with act differently around the dog, but that’s on the side of the other two approaches.
The second is a solution to heal the wounds. If the dog has severely messed up the ear canal to the point that there is a growing abscess in there or an infection that you under normal circumstances cannot treat yourself, then have your vet give you the number or location of a specialist. Keep the Elizabethan collar on to prevent the kicking. Once an abscess or such is ruled out, you’ll probably be given medication to treat the wound. Keep that collar on until the wound is gone, unless you want it to open up again.
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02/15/09 02:51pm
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#1953333
The White Wolf
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Message To: KrazyKelli In reference to Message Id: 1953173
Suggestions?
Thank you so much Kelli, This helped me a lot. The swelling has gone down but it will probably start back up like it did last time.Anyway, I’ll use your suggestions. Thanks again.
-Emma
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02/15/09 07:36pm
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#1953447
Rae rae
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Message To: The White Wolf In reference to Message Id: 1953333
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well it doesn’t seem like a nervous habit for the dog to be scratching at his ears when he has a severe infection going on. he’s most likely scratching from the infection. the scratching most definitely makes it a lot worse and probably is what causes the swelling and such. however, scratching is the symptom. i would say to fix this you need to not treat the symptom but get to the root of the problem. obviously he has something weird going on in there. so i would let the doctor do whatever it is he needs to do. if you don’t trust him try a second opinion. i know you’re not made out of money but call another highly recommended vet and see how much they would charge for a consultation visit/exam to see what they think can be done for him. compare the two and see who you trust more. remember whether they are physicians or veterinarians it is called "the practice of medicine". which means they can be wrong and not know everything on one given situation. i really hope your dog gets better. i’m not sure what kind of dog it is but i know that regular ear maintainance is to clean their ears out at least once a week. more if they get wet (bath, pool, creek, etc). i see cockers with these chronic problems a lot too.
oh yea...just remembered this...i’m sure you’ve already done the whole round of antibiotics, ear cleaners and everything. sometimes it can be a fungus...so antibiotics won’t work. or sometimes it can be a very resistant strain of bacteria where the antibiotics aren’t strong enough. if he hasn’t done it already, ask your vet to do a culture/sensitivity test on your dog’s ears. it will tell what antibiotics will work and which ones won’t. not sure how much that costs there but at my clinic it is $45. well good luck and i hope you can fix the problem. keep us updated.
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02/15/09 10:33pm
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#1954675
The White Wolf
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Message To: Rae rae In reference to Message Id: 1953447
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Well I mean he scratches every time he feels nervous. I guess it kind of relates to humans like biting of the nails or stuff like that.Anyway thanks for the information. Right now, we can’t really buy any type of medicine, my family doesn’t really have that much money and to see a specialist would cost around $445 to $1000. So what we did was we bought him a new chew toy with tags. He just loves to tear the tags off so it keeps him occupied.He hasn’t attempted to scratch since.We still have the Elizabethan collar on him.Anyway,thanks for all the help and tips.
-Emma
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02/17/09 08:30pm
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#1955033
BrandyLynn1182
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Message To: The White Wolf In reference to Message Id: 1954675
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Nervousness may be what inflames what seems like an inner ear infection. When you are nervous anxious or aggravated your blood pressure rises. What do you notice when your blood pressure rises? Pounding in your head that you hear and feel in your ears as well. Dogs can’t "rub" or "hold" with their paws like we would with our hands so what do they do? Scratch or bite, just as you made the comparison with the nail biting. I would bring him into the vet to have the ear examined and they will advise you on whether you need to see any sort of specialist be it Ear or Behavoir. A vet doesn’t just cost money, a good one can save you money and time in the long run not to mention the most important part, save your dog pain and anxiety. Good Luck, do keep posted.
-Brandy
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02/18/09 12:25pm
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#1955484
Rae rae
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Message To: BrandyLynn1182 In reference to Message Id: 1955033
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yea, it’s kinda the same like with little kids that have skin problems. eczma (sp?) can be pretty bad in little kids. i knew a 3 year old that had it. everytime he cried, he would begin itching and scratching all over. i thought it was kinda weird, but it happens. and a warning... if it is an inner ear infection it can definitely end up messing with his equilibrium. then he will end up having this lean to his head. once it gets to that point, you can clear the infection but the lean is permanent. the only animal i’ve ever seen affected by it was a hamster. we named him leany and he was one at petsmart. we ended up adopting him out for free. well please listen to brandy cuz it really can save you money in the long run if you get it under control now. oh, and i fully believe dogs have weird nervous habits also. my dog at my mom’s is a big 85lbs mutt. when he gets excited or anxious he runs straight for the food bowl. has done it now for his whole 12 years of life. when you play with him, if there’s food in his bowl, you have to pick it up or he will try to scarf it all down and end up choking or spitting up. it’s weird what kind of psychological quirks dogs can have. once there was a toy poodle that came in our clinic with a respiratory infection and he was coughing. we gave him medicine. a week later they were back. we treated him again. on their third visit the owners told us he was still coughing. then the vet asked, "what do you do evertime he coughs?" they said we pick him up and coddle him. so the vet told them for the next week, tell him no everytime he coughed and it worked. he didn’t have to cough anymore, he just knew that coughing got him LOTS of attention, LOL!!! dogs are smart
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02/19/09 02:19am
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#1955806
The White Wolf
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Message To: Rae rae In reference to Message Id: 1955484
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Thank you Brandy and Rae Rae,I really appreciate it. Once we acquire enough money I’ll definitely take him to a ear specialist. Right now I’m teaching him to bite his chew toy.Before when my brother or I would hit (playing kind) Max would also grab his stuffed squirrel and just shake it around,so I’m trying to incorporate that into his nervousness.Even before that his ears were so inflamed that it was even putting pressure on his ears when he tried to grab something or just open his mouth. When he tried to pick up something (toy,food,etc) he would often cry.Even now he tilts his head down and just opens his mouth and cries. Pretty odd huh? Anyway he’s doing a lot better than he was.Thank you guys.I’ll keep you updated and I’ll raise enough money for him to see a specialist,it just will take awhile.Thanks again
-Emma
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02/19/09 04:50pm
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