Tikva has a minor eye infection Health

Ram came round earlier to give Tikva her 3-monthly Parkworm shot, leave the Bravecto pill to give her with her dinner this evening, and clip her nails. When I had phoned him to ask which day he could come round, I mentioned that her eyes get a bit damp - not really teary but enough to be a bit crusty in the corner, so I would like him to check them when he came. It does not seem to bother her and her eyes do not look red or sore - not something I was worried about, but as he was coming here I wanted him to look at them.

He had a good look and said it was just a minor infection, and he had brought a tube of cream with him just in case. "Ocil" [Oxytetracycline hydrochloride 5mg/g] - I am supposed to wipe a tiny bit across her eyes, twice a day for seven days. I say "supposed" but Tikva is a very strong little wubble and I only have two hands... so it might be a bit of a struggle. It looked easy enough when Ram did it, to show me how, but then he is twice my size, much stronger, and Tikva lurves him so she lets him do whatever he wants to her!

The little booga has somehow managed to gain 200gm since her last weigh in three months ago - she is now 7.2kg and I have told her she is going on a diet!

Aw poor ickle Tikki

She'll be doing an Oliver impression before long 'Please sir, can I have some more'

My little scrap is only 3.5 kgs and I think I'd definitely struggle to get the cream on

Chris - it is a struggle to keep Tikva on my lap as it is - always assuming the little booga will deign to come on my lap in the first place!

According to the instruction leaflet you are supposed to hold the dog's head back so it is looking at the ceiling - hold the eye wide open - and squeeze the ointment onto the inner edge of the lower lid. Then "gently press the closed eyelids and massage to disperse the medicine".

Oh yeah? This is Tikva. Tikva who is a Very Good Girl - but...

Anyhow, Ram just put some on his thumb and wiped it across her eye, so I think I will try to do it as he did and ignore what the leaflet says. But as I say, he is a lot stronger than I am, so it is easy for him to hold her firmly.

Poor Tikva!

Eye ointments such fun.

I'll just say that it is easier to apply on a dog's eye than a cat's eye - cats are more dexterous and have no qualms about scratching out YOUR eyes in the process....

Using your thumb or finger should be easier and you won't poke her with the hard plastic if she moves. It also makes it easier to hold the eye open with that hand while holding her with your other hand.

I've been known to do the cats when they they are napping on the bed or a chair - often I can get get the ointment on the eye before they realize what is going on. And my body isn't in direct contact with their claws or teeth.

Tornado-dog sympathises with Tikva's diet. His doctor used the word "chubby" at his last visit. He says there is just more of him to love.

Erm - Toed - you do not know Tikva! I will see how it goes when I try to put the ointment in her eyes this evening. She will either let me, or she will take a flying leap off my lap! But I will try. You would never believe how strong she is just to look at her though, as she is really not very big. It is only when you try to pick her up that you realise that she is heavier and stronger than she looks.

Incidentally, I will not really put her on a diet - she has no fat on her, she is solid bone and muscle and nowhere near chubby. Ram likes her to be no more than 7.5kg, my preference is 7kg. Considering that she only weighed around 400gm when I got her, and was 6kg at 6 months, we are both happy that she has been around the same weight for the last few years.

You think it harder with a cat, Toed? You haven't met my guy.

He looks so angelic, but turns into devil dog when you have to do something he doesn't think should be done

Chris - he is so cute, and I am sure he could never be a devil!

Now. How do I put this.

Tikva is not going to let me put the ointment in her eyes. Her teeth told me. Twice.

Oh yes. Just like mine when he's in devil dog mode.

He won't allow clippers and so I have to chop off his hair as and when hence the scrappy hair cut that could do with a lot more off

Juli - in my experience dogs are more steady if someone else does the deed. (I have been the someone else often enough to know that). Could you ask Amit to do the deed while you hold her steady - or vice-versa?
As Toed says, it is easier with difficult patients, to squeeze a small amount onto a fingertip, open the eye and gently dab the ointment onto the edge of the lower lid. We all worry about jabbing a pointed tube at an open eye. It is so much easier if someone is available to help you though.
I hope it clears up soon.

Carole - there is no way Amit can come here twice a day. As it is he has to find time to do the few things I need him to do, such as collect meds, or a package that has been sent to a pick-up place in town - and he is always in a rush when he does bring them.

I tried it with a bit of ointment on my finger. Tikva warned me she did not want me to put it on her eye, but I gently dabbed it on and barely got my hand away in time. She then made sure she rubbed it off by digging her face into her nest! I then got the second warning so took notice of it and did not even try again.

I am not really sure it is necessary, and think that Ram was just being a bit over cautious. It is not as if it is a sudden thing - I first noticed it in the winter [and forgot to mention it when Ram came here in March] and thought it was the cold, so if it had been something serious, it would have got worse by now. It just gets a tiny bit crusty in the inner corners of her eyes but her eyes are not weepy and definitely are not bothering her.

I will call Ram tomorrow and tell him that there is no way she will let me put the ointment on her eyes, and see what he thinks.

But I am not going to try and force it. If Tikva is not happy with something the last thing I would do is force her to accept it. She is an extremely good-natured little wubble - since she was a puppy she has always been wonderful with children, even the littlies that fall all over her, and I do not want to ruin that by forcing her to accept something she obviously does not want.

Dogs can be difficult and can drag you or bite, etc, but cats are tazmanian devils - just a whirlwind of teeth and claws that strike in every direction at once.

I will admit, I've never had a dog fight eye ointment other than to try to avoid it which I was easily able to counter. But I've had to treat some antisocial cats and have scars for it.

Strangely, clipping nails is the opposite. I have a horrid time doing the dogs, but there is only one cat I couldn't easily clip his nails. I had to wrap him in towels and do one foot per sitting. Everyone else just gets plopped on my lap and clip clip clip we're done. With the dogs it's because they tend to have black nails and I can't see the quik - so I hesitate. With cats, I can see exactly how far to go at a glance.

Just a thought. Have you tried giving Tikva something to focus on while doing the ointment? A kong with peanut butter can appease a dog into letting you apply an ointment.

Have you ever tried to use clippers on a cat? We had a cat when I was growing up whose fur matted every summer in massive clumps. So my Mom made my Dad clip him at the beginning of every summer. It took three of us to hold that cat for him and we still got cut up. But it was still easier than trying to cut out the mats if he didn't get clipped.

Clipping parrot nails is bad too. Those beaks hurt!

I have no problem giving my dogs pills, I open their mouths and put the pill as far back as I can get it, and clamp their mouth shut and stroke their neck to encourage them to swallow. I’ve done eye ointments too, just don’t remember which dog. Bandit has always had blocked tear ducts. He doesn’t much like me wiping his face to clean up the discharge, but none of my dogs have ever done anything aggressive while I was trying to take care of them.

However Bandit growled at me and was very defensive about a bone I had given him when he was a puppy. I was trying to get him to come to the other side of the property. Once I was able to get him to come with me (I don’t remember how) I decided to just run him through all the commands that he knew, as a way of reminding him that I needed him to listen to and obey me. He hasn’t gotten anymore bones. I’m not willing to deal with that aggression and resource guarding.

Katie Mae will absolutely not allow me to trim her nails, it’s just not going to happen. I once took her to a mobile vet to have them do it. 3 vet techs tried to no avail. So they got another vet tech to help and they tried holding her down on her side. She didn’t like this, and was scared. She peed in one of their faces. No nails trimmed and no charge.

When I visited my parents in January I boarded the dogs at a kennel at my old Vets (he’s not there anymore having sold it to a corporation). I checked off the options of them getting baths and nail trims. They had no problem trimming her nails. I need to take them back to that vets for a nail trim soon. Well worth the expense.

@Toedtoes - If Tikva has something to focus on, there is no way I would be able to get near her, let alone near her face. She has the Doxie stubbornness and if she is occupied with something, she does not want to be disturbed. She can move like a streak of lightening and her teeth hurt like Hades.

A few years ago I went to pat her on her head as I went past her. She was on her nest on the couch [the what was originally a beautiful velvety throw that she turned into a nice, scruffy, comfortable nest], and before I knew it she had macerated my thumb. It turned out that she was laying on a half chewed little chewstick, and her evening little chew is the only thing that she resource guards. I accept that. It is her one and only little foible - her chewstick is hers and nobody but nobody goes near it. So not knowing it was there, I not only went near it, but put my hand out to pat her - which made her think I was going to take it.

She does not get any other treats during the day - unless you count sharing a banana with me a treat - and her chewstick is hers once I have given it to her.

This is just her. She is a very good little wubble, delights in having small children playing with her [I do watch them like a hawk, just in case] but if she says "no" to something, she means it. And I am not going to argue with her and force her to be any different to how she is. Because I love her just as she is.

Anyhow, I have spoken to Ram and he said to leave it, as it was really just a precaution on his part.

I am so lucky. Tally lies on her back on the floor while I cut her nails, and last week l even talked her into lying on her back in the bath so I could shampoo and rinse her underparts, really useful as I have nobody to help me. Even for a Beagle she has a very laid back character.
When I used to have puppies, they learned to being touched all over right from the start. I would tap their teeth with at first a nail file, and then a tooth scaler, so they just accepted tooth care as a normal part of the grooming process. All my dogs have let me scale their teeth when necessary, the only veterinary dental work was extraction caused by too determined chewing of hard bones and antlers.
Starting desensitization isn't much use when there already is a problem, but it might be useful in case of a future problem.

ps. In my vet assistant days I learned to wrap a cat. A large towel and exposing one leg at a time is sometimes the only way you can treat them. Does lead to trust issues though!

Years ago I clipped the nails of my then shepherd. As I was clipping, I noticed the neighbor walking around looking in my windows. He honestly thought the dog was in some sort of agony...

I spent a lot of time working with Tornado-dog to have him sit still for eye, ear and mouth exams. He does really well. And I can give him ear ointments easily - he's prone to infections.

None of my dogs have been major resource resource guarders. And with Tornado-dog, I really got his trust in that regard. He will shove his treat IN my face, touching me, because he knows I won't take it from him. He knows "let me see it" (I want to see what you have but I don't intend on taking it away) and "give it to me" (that is something you shouldn't have and you need to let me have it).

For pills with the dogs, I just use the pill pockets now. Cat-dog gets her daily prozac. I split each pill pocket to get more for the money. Cat-dog gets her pill in half a pocket and Tornado-dog gets 1/4th of a pocket at the same time. Before that I used liverwurst or cream cheese.

Cats are too smart for that. You HAVE to shove the pill down their throats. Fortunately they rarely need a pill.

Pills. That's another advantage of being a Beagle Mum. They are sooo greedy, you just throw them on top of the meat ration - one gulp and they've gone!

This is what I do not understand about Tikva. She is well used to being handled and checked all over, both by me and by Michal, the young vet who first came here when Tikva was a tiny puppy, and then by Ram as he took over when Michal left [she was fairly newly qualified and was working at his surgery for six months before going to a permanent surgery].

But she did not want me to put the ointment in her eyes, and I cannot think of anything that might have caused her to object so strongly.

Hmmm. That ointment usually doesn't bother animals - there's no sting or anything to it.

Maybe she just didn't like the sensation of her eye being touched. Some people freak at putting in contacts.

Most all dogs I've had would eat the pill in their meal. But I got into the habit of giving the pills by hand when I worked at a family friend's kennel at a teen. There were dogs that stayed who would eat around their pill.

These two know they are getting their pills every day when we get up. They sit next to the bedside table for them.

I actually sit and prep the pills and the placebo pills in advance - I make about 20 days worth at a time and keep them in a tupperware container in the drawer. That way I don't have Tornado-dog drooling with anticipation while I "roll" a pill.