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My vet told me I should be plucking Fritz's ear hair. I said, "doesn't that hurt?" and he said "yes, of course". There is no way on earth I could do this myself. I could never do something to Fritz and Hans that would cause them pain :(. What do you guys do? Do you do it yourself?
I have two short haired hounds so I never have any problems with hair, but my aunt has a poodle mix and she is now 14 years old and she has never had to pluck her ear hair. She has to keep her ears very clean and clean them once a week but she has never plucked them. The groomer has cut hair out of her ears that are long but she has never plucked them.
I know I would never do it, it would be to painful.
Tanya, yes we do this to Bella and have had to do it to all of our poodles. I don't know if it is just a poodle thing but it is necessary. If allowed to gather, wax mixes in and sometimes there is an odor and even possible infection. We just take a few hairs at a time, not a clump, and they really don't seem to feel it at all. My one poodle, Ashley, would sit in my lap and would love to have her ear hairs pulled as I watched TV. I use a small tweezers and do the hairs that grow down inside the ear canal. That hair is more like fuzz so it probably doesn't hurt like pulling out a regular strand of hair. I think after a while they actually submitted to it willingly because they knew they felt better after it was over. In all honesty, Bella is not comfortable with it yet but she's only had it done a couple of times. We usually do it right along with her grooming which is every 4-6 weeks. If you take Fritz to a groomer, maybe they would do it as part of his grooming. That would get you off the hook! :D
My Vet told me to do the same thing last year to Dakota and I still have not done it. I can't do it. I got a pair of scissors for dog's ears and cut the hair in his ears instead. Of course, your dog has to be very still for this. My husband has to hold him down because it scares him but at least it doesn't hurt him. My vet said it's no different than me plucking my eyebrows. I said, I don't because it would hurt!!! If I can't do it to myself, I definitely will not do it to my dog.
I do it to Reece because I just have to with his chronic infections. Doesn't seem to bother him a bit. Enduring some ear hair plucking is a lot better than chronic infections which can lead to all sorts of other bad stuff. All my animals let me poke and prod all over them. Even if its uncomfortable, they seem to know its for the best. Anyway, even if there is a little pain involved, I think it it just better than the alternative. But I truly believe that it doesn't really hurt. Its sort of like getting a shot... they make some dogs extremely uncomfortable but we know we have to do it.
Lolly let me touch her ears when she had such bad infections that her ears were caked with layers of puss and blood and she couldn't even shake her head cause it hurt so bad.
Oh Aly, poor Lolly :( Cassie gets terrible ear infections also, she has to get drops into her ears twice a day for life...and then an antiobiotic into her ears when they become infected also. I know that when I first adopted Cassie her ears were so bad that she would smash her face into carpet/furniture, and smear blood all over the place from the blood coming out of her ears. Even though she's not fond of people handling her ears, she always holds still for her regular ear cleaning and medication administration. I really do think that they know it's for their own good.
And as for Fritz, yeah it is a little ouchie at first, but the more you do it, the more immune to the pain they become. Soon they will barely even notice you are plucking the hairs out of their ears. Try doing 1 session every month or 6 weeks, then give him a cookie after each session so he begins to connect cookies with ear grooming :)
You can go to any pet supply magazine and find ear hair pullers. They look like hemostats you see at the hospital.
If your afraid it will hurt him, you can try putting some Ambesol in his ear to numb it then do it. They say do this to your eyebrows to numb them before you pluck them. I just wouldn't use very much and apply very carefully. I think it would be worse to have my ears numb then have them plucked. :(
I had a long chat with my groomer yesterday. Well, not MY groomer, the dogs :D She plucks ear hair if the owner or vet requests it. She HATES doing it because some of the dogs cry :( So she's going to try it with Fritz. If he cries she'll stop and use a razor and scissors instead. I know, I'm a big baby when it comes to my dogs :D
My current dogs don't have much ear hair, but my previous two Cockapoos did. Like Pam's dogs, it didn't seem to bother them having the fuzz pulled out.