Problem with a linctus dog’s inner ear being licked by other linctus dogs. Took the former to the vet, has an ear infection; given antibiotics AND a disgusting spray to spray in the ear to make it non appetising. I tried a bit of the latter out to see how disgusting it was and it REALLY WAS DISGUSTING - lasted in my throat for half an hour and while it would be exaggerating to say I was almost sick I was probably 50% of the way there.
Yet the dog’s ears are still being licked. In other words, it’s super appealing to the extent it’s worth putting up with the taste of something I can only describe as tonic (as in quinine tonic in gin & tonic) X 1000. While I don’t have a problem tyring some vetinary spray that is described as non toxic I’m not prepared to lick a dog’s inner ear to get the taste.
So what do (at least some) dog ear infections taste of that make them so more-ish to other dogs?
Bonus question: Vet mentioned that the dog’s ears may need to be de-plucked (sorry, I forget the term he used) from the hairs inside, which would have to be under general anaesthetic. Anyone know anything about this?
Edit: This was the spray from the looks of it. I do not recommend trying it out yourself for fun, but on the other hand it won’t kill you and I do recommend it for inquisitive minds.
Dogs lick the wounds and sores of their compatriots to clean them, especially places where the wounded dog can’t reach. That is probably what is going on between your dogs. And yes, it is almost a compulsion with some dogs.
That anti-lick/chew spray is nasty indeed. The common OTC brand is Bitter Apple. I don’t think it is quite as nasty to dogs as to us – they have a lot fewer taste buds than we do.
I’m not sure what your dog’s ears might taste like, so I can’t answer the question you asked. However, you should find the source of the infection that is causing the funky ear-ness. My dog, for example has grain allergies. She can gobble up a baby rabbit, digest it, no problem. But give her a tortilla or bread, or grains of any kind, and she gets the itchy-stink-ear.
I no longer have a beard. But yes it is over the counter, although I have plenty of the stuff anyway for as detailed above it doesn’t really seem to work in this case.
Grain doesn’t cause infection. Microorganisms do. I suppose the grain may cause an allergy and irritation which can make the dog more susceptible to infections, but there’s no such thing as a tortilla infection.
I have a Maltese. Maltese have long hair, so we have him groomed. They are supposed to pluck his ears when they do that but the person we were using didnt do it. He eventually developed an ear infection. We found out the vet charges the same for grooming as the person we were using and they will pluck his ears. So we are now using the vet as a groomer. No anesthesia necessary but Malteses are small he is not going to bite you hand off if you hurt him plucking his ears.
I never did have any tests done to determine the actual allergy. The vet recommended venison and sweet potato dog food, and the reaction never came back. That food was quite expensive, so I switched to “Taste Of The Wild” grain free food from the local feed store, and the allergy hasn’t manifested again, so I assumed it was grains. As long as it dosen’t come back, I guess I’ll never be certain what the cause is.
My dog gets yeast infections in his ears from certain foods, so I have him on a Salmon/Sweet Potato food and that cleared it up…that could be what you are talking about.
Actually, there are many questions asked on this board, where the appropriate response would be ‘go and google it you noob’. While that isn’t really applicable here, there is a very straightforward empirical method that the OP might consider. Don’t forget to post your findings.
ETA: oh never mind, you’ve already stated you don’t have what it takes to be a real scientist. Bwaaaark bwark-buk!
Oh for goodness sake, no one who read the OP could reasonably think that the question is literally “What do dog ear infections taste of?”. That’s just a fun title, and so far beyond a sane question that I do not accept any reasonable person could think I was asking that.
The OP makes it perfectly clear that the meaty questions are “why do dogs enjoy the taste of ear infection so much?” (which has been answered although I welcome more contribution on the topic) and also “tell me about the procedure vaguely described to me as removing hair from a dog’s ear”.