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Medications How to get the ear drops IN the ears?

CavyLover1234

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So my guinea pig, Asha, has a slight head tilt. We took her to the vet about 3 days ago, and he prescribed a medicine to get to her middle ears, by the way of ear drops. Asha gets three drops in each ear.
When I try put the drops in her ear, she shakes her head at the last tenth of a second, sending the drop in the opposite direction. After 10 minuets, I can normally get 1 drop in the right place.

In a little bit I'm going to have to give her the drops, do you have any tips to help the drop go into the ear canal? Or to make things go better for Asha? It sometimes gets frustrating to give ear drops to an eardrop hater.
 

HannibalLecter

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Aww, I truly hate eardrops myself.
You could try the burrito method. Basically wrapping the pig in a towel to restrict some movement.
Try holding her in different positions, I find we can clean their ears better if I hold them up against my torso, their back to me & my boyfriend doing the cleaning. They are busy enough with the odd position, and the back of the head is up against me & they can't flip it about as much.
 

CavyLover1234

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Thanks for the tip :) I once tried the burrito method, but Asha ended up somehow diving her head into the towel.

I just finished with the drops. I did a few things different this time; I went into the living room ( instead of the kitchen) and had her on my lap in while I sat on the couch (instead of her sitting on a towel on the table) and I approached her ears from the top, (instead of the sides) and success! Of course Asha ran away from me and onto the couch a couple of times, and she flipped around and had her back to me. ("That's the wrong end, Asha.") But all in all I am happy with the success, and the whole thing took less than 15 minutes! I think I'll do it this way tomorrow.
 

foggycreekcavy

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I usually end up sticking the tip of the bottle pretty far down, and holding the pig's head.

Are you giving her oral antibiotics, too? I've found that many pigs need them in conjunction with the ear drops.
 

CavyLover1234

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Yes, she gets the oral antibiotics too. She enjoys those more.
 

Tunundary

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I know you solved the problem, but I had a thought for people in the future. I hate putting eye drops in my eyes because I can see it coming and therefore flinch. If there were a way that you could cover up her eyes with a hood of some sort before putting them in, she might not try to squirm as much.
 
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