[pyrnet] Badger's Ears

["kdbooth" <kdbooth@mindspring.com>]

Hi Everyone,

It's day 5 after Badger's ear surgery.  He started out doing pretty good but
seemed to degrade a bit by Thursday so I took him back to the vet for a
quick check-up.  Sure enough, he was running a fever.  I thought his right
ear was looking a bit too moist but the vet said his ears are actually
looking pretty good.  We think stress, especially from having to wear the
e-collar was running him down.  He's really hyper even when he's feeling
good but that's nothing compared to how he's been since coming home ...
trying to rub the collar off, running around in circles, banging his head on
walls and furniture, panting like he's run the Boston Marathon.  Let me tell
you, being rammed in the shins by an e-collar worn by a charging pyr is
painful!  The vet got to see him in action (thankfully!)  and gave him a
shot on the spot to calm him down.  She also sent me home with a week's
supply of acepromazine tablets.  This morning we decided to hold back on
giving him is morning pill to see how he would do.  He spent yesterday in a
drugged stupor and I feel really bad about that.  I'm worried that by the
time he's healed, we'll have to pack him off to the Betty Ford clinic to dry
out! What's a clear indication that a pyr's tranquilizers have worn off?
The skin around his eyes becomes nice and tight again!  Well, Badger's eyes
where looking nice and tight within an hour of him waking up this morning
and we were able to see how progressively stressed he was becoming.  It
started out with some head shaking and then lots of licking his chops and
the inside of the e-collar.  Then he would frantically spin around in
circles, plop down, jump back up and try to scrape the collar off on one of
us.  We were able to calm him a little bit with lots of rubbing on his head
and muzzle but that lasted only a few minutes.  When his head banging
started to get violent, we decided it was time for another pill.  Through
all of this, wearing the collar seems to have bothered him more than any
pain from his ears.  I'd written earlier about how the collar was rubbing
his neck raw.  Yesterday I went out to the fabric and crafts shop and bought
a yard of that fake sheep's wool and some shoe strings and then pulled out
the sewing machine that I haven't used in years.  I put together a wide
collar, wooly side down, and sewed the shoe strings on.  It ties around his
neck and then the e-collar is secured over it by shoe strings sewn at 6"
intervals to be tied through the plastic loops on the e-collar.  It seems to
have done the trick!  I made a couple so that he can wear a clean one every
day.  Calamine lotion seemed to help sooth the irritated spots on his neck.

I've had some doubts about whether we've done the right thing by letting
Badger have this surgery.  The vet assures me that even though it's rough
going now, it's worth all the suffering.  She says that every patient of
hers that's had this done have had nothing but positive results.  Knowing
that it's probably a good thing doesn't make watching him suffer any easier.
I try to keep in mind how crummy I felt the week after I had my gall bladder
removed and how much better I felt after I had healed.  That was definitely
worth it but try to explain that to a dog!

This whole experience has been a lot like having a newborn again.  We're up
with him a few times during the night and I'm very reluctant to go out
during the day and leave him alone while he's so drugged.  He definitely
can't be left alone when he's not drugged!  I have visions of coming home to
find he's gotten the collar off and scratched his ears to shreds!
Am I ready to recommend this surgery to anyone whose dog suffers from
damaged and infected ears?  Not yet ... I'll have to see for myself that
it's been worth it.

Kim and Flying-High Badger