This Month at Vetrica

10 October 2005

Latest News

This page contains the latest news from Vetrica and Vetrica OnLine. It updates at least monthly, and will also keep you up to date with the latest news about animal care and welfare.

An archive of previous articles is also available.

Firework Phobias

October already, and that means bonfire night is not far away. For many dogs and cats this is the worst time of year. The high pitched whistles and bangs send some animals into a frenzy. There are things you can do though...

For animals that get just a little agitated by fireworks, simply having the TV, radio or music on quite loud will be enough for them.

For more badly affected animals, there are other things we can do. The simplest is to give them tranquilisers in the early evening. However, this does have its drawbacks, especially as the problems with fireworks often start two or three weeks before bonfire night. You may have to give your pet tranquilisers every evening for the whole of this time, which while not dangerous in a normal healthy adult animal, is to be avoided if at all possible.

The DAP device looks, and works just like a plug-in air freshener.

There is a drug-free way of helping dogs, and that is by using a Dog Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) device. This looks (and works) like a plug-in air freshener, slowly releasing a canine pheromone into the air. This has a calming effect on the dog. The results are generally excellent. Most dogs while still aware of the noises do not become agitated in anything like the same way.

There is also a desensitisation technique using a CD of firework sounds available from Sounds Scary, or for more information about DAP see the manufacturer's website here.

Focus on Ear Disease

Just what a normal ear should look like.	A normal, healthy ear should look much like the photograph on the left. The skin should be smooth and pale pink, there should be little, if any discharge, and the ear canal should be wide open. The dog should not be in any pain when the ear is touched.
Hairy ear canals encourage ear infections.	In many dogs, especially the toy and terrier breeds, hair grows out of the ear canals. This can be so severe as to completely block the ear canal. This hair traps dirt and wax, allowing an infection to develop. Yeasts and bacteria are commonly involved.
After the hair has been plucked out, we can examine and clean the ear much more effectively.	This photograph shows the same ear as the one before, but after all the hair has been plucked out of the ear canal. The skin lining the ear canal is thickened and inflamed. There is a yellowish waxy discharge, and a strong yeasty smell. A week later, after daily cleaning and antibiotic ear drops, the ear was almost completely normal.
Some ears are more severely affected than others.	This photograph shows an ear that has been neglected for a long time. The swelling of the skin has almost completely obliterated the ear canal. There is a thick yellow (pus) discharge, and the dog was in a lot of pain. Surprisingly, owners are often unaware of just how much pain their pets are in when they present them with ears as bad as this. Most dogs with ears as badly affected as this will require surgery to get them to a pain-free state. However, in this case, the dog improved a lot on oral antibiotics. After two weeks his ear canal had opened up and we were able to clean it, and start using ear drops.

Ear disease is one of the most common diseases affecting dogs, (cats and rabbits get ear problems much less, except when caused by ear mites). It is very important that you don't allow your dog to develop the kind of severe ear infection shown in the last picture above. It took many weeks, probably months for that dog's ears to get to the state they were in when we saw them.

For most dogs it's just a matter of examining them yourself on a weekly basis. Check that there is no discharge or putrid small, (a faint yeasty smell is OK though). If there is any hair growing out of the ear canal, gently pluck it out if the dog will tolerate this. Plucking the hair from the ear canal is not painful, and most dogs don't mind if you just do a bit at a time.

Any discharges should be cleaned away. Just wiping the top of the ear canal may be sufficient if there is only a very small discharge, but thicker discharges require the use of an ear cleaner. Salty water will suffice, but it doesn't dissolve wax as well as a proper cleaner, or dry as quickly.

If the discharge is profuse, yellow or blue-green in colour, you should take the dog to the vet. If the skin is red or swollen, or the ear is painful to the touch, or the dog resents having his ears handled, you should take the dog to the vet.

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