What a mess.....

[Dingus the Great]

So we got Dingus's ears cropped about 3 weeks ago. The vet stitched em up and told us to leave the stitches in for 10 days and then come back, they'd take the stitches out and post them up. So we did. I noticed at the bottom of his right ear it started looking really pussy and bloody. So I took the posts down and he had a sore at the base of his ear, and when we took the tape off it totally ripped off some of the scabs along the stitches that hadnt healed yet. We waited for a few days to let his ears dry out and heal. We reposted them again and again started having the same problem with the same ear only it was much much worse. I took the posts off again and his whole ear was raw and bloody. He cried and cried all night, I gave him half of a baby asprin which seemed to help him a little bit. I took him to our normal vet, (not the one that did the cropping, I wasn't impressed with them at all) and found out he has a massive infection in his right ear. So hes now on antibiotics, pain meds and pro biotic yougurt for the next 10 days to see if his ears will heal. Then the vet said we can try and post them again after he is completely healed but that there is no guarantee that they will ever stand!

I guess if it's meant to be they will stand but man its been a mess doing this whole crop thing.

[CCRom]

I'm really sorry to hear the problems your little guy is having. I hope his ear heals and won't have any effect on them standing. I'm just a newbie at all this but I'm sure someone will post with some info that may help you.
Best of luck to you!

[Paradis]

I am sorry that you are going through this. How bad is the infection that he has in his ear are you able to post a picture or pm one of his ear that is having the issue? When he was tapped up into the posts was the ear 100% bone dry, or did moisture get into the ear from rain/snow, moisture in tapes will cause infections.

What are you using to post in the ears, is it rubbing inside? Also, it seems off that the vet taped into posts without the ear being fully healed. When you do the next posting apply some Gold Bond Medicated Powder to the ear, quite a few members here have had good luck using it before posting. When you remove the tapes next time use some sort of adhesive remover such as Remove or Unisolve to make the process a whole lot easier on Dingus.

[Sparrow]

How long did you keep them in the posts? And the stitches are completely out now right? I hope his ears heal up soon. I think once they heal and can be taped up again he'll do ok.

[lwrees72]

I second Gold Bond when the ear is ready to be reposted.

[AshieLu]

He is only 11 weeks old. He is plenty young for the ears to heal while being down and floppy. I had a bitch that had a serious ear infection and actually lost the tips of her ears due to a reaction to vet wrap. She was out of tapes for 3 weeks while healing. Her ears stood beautiful once we able to continue her tapings without using vet wrap.

Just take your time and let him heal. Your boys health is more important than anything.

[Malyshka]

One time we had a local vet tape Max' ears (what a mistake that was!), and he did a horrible job (the vet's excuse was that he is used to cropping but that his technicians usually tape the ears, as such he was out of practice). If you look for one of my posts here on the forum you will see some pictures of the damage the vet's taping did. The vet had taped the ears way too tight, and the result was swollen ears, and a gaping wound on one of his ears. The vet then put him on anti-biotics and told me not to tape him for a month.

We treated Max with the antibiotics, and applied gold bond (orange bottle) to his wound. Two days later the swelling was down. We then started taping again (no more vet taping!), but left his wound open (not taped) so we could apply gold bond to it daily.

Now, many weeks later, his ears look great. You can still see where the wound was, but even that is getting smaller by the day.

Your puppy is still very little. I bet with some dedication and tender care he will be just fine.

One thing that confused me about your post though is that you said you took the posts down and the tape off, and he had scabs alongside of the stitches. Did you post him before the stitches were removed? Looking at your picture album, you got him January 2nd of this year. He didn't have cropped ears yet on that picture. It sounds to me that maybe you started posting and taping too soon after the cropping?

[Sparrow]

One thing that confused me about your post though is that you said you took the posts down and the tape off, and he had scabs alongside of the stitches. Did you post him before the stitches were removed?

That confused me too, that's why I asked if the stitches were all out. Still curious about it.

[Dingus the Great]

Update

Ok I'm sorry its taken me so long to get back to everyone. His stitches were out when they posted them the first time, but there were still a few scabs. So i dont think that they were completely healed. But this is my first Great Dane and my first experience with cropping ears so I assumed the vet would know what he was doing (big mistake!)

He seems to be doing better since he's been on the medicine so I'm happy about that. The vet said to wait the 10 days that he is on the meds or until his ears are healed to try and start taping them again.

@ Malyshka We actually got Dingus the day after Thanksgiving, I found this site around the 1st of January which is when I posted the pics. We got his stitches out of his ears on January 7th so they were cropped 10 days before that.

@ Paradis I didn't know there was an adhesive remover that you could use to get the tape off. Where can I find it? I wish I would have know about that sooner. Also I've tried getting pics of his sores but they don't turn out very clear. Basically hes got a sore right at the base of his ear where it meets his head, maybe from the tape rubbing it raw? And them also along the side of the same ear where the stitches were.

I will definitely be getting some Gold Bond as that seems to be something people have had luck with. But I'm going to wait until his ears are completely healed before I try doing anything with them again.

I really appreciate all of your posts, info & good wishes for Dingus. It has just made me sick to my stomach to see him in so much pain. I was against getting his ears cropped from the get go because I was afraid we'd get into a mess like we are in now. I'm hoping that once they get healed we can get them taped and up and they will look right.

Thanks again for all of your responses and I will keep you all posted on how he is coming along in the next few days.

[AshieLu]

Don't get discouraged, he will be fine. Next time you go to tape him, just be sure all his sores are completely healed up. Coat them real good with Gold Bond and get some adhesive remover and you will be all set.

[lwrees72]

Smith & Nephew makes an excellent medical grade adhesive remover. It is called uni-solve in the bottle, or Remove in the wipe form. Any pharmacy can special order it for you or try Ebay.

Many people have used Goo Gone, but I prefer the medical grade stuff.

[Twin Bay Danes]

I also agree with the Gold Bond. It's good stuff. Keeps it from getting moist and yucky under the tape. I am wondering what kind of tape was used, as well. My harl boy, Loki, had a pretty severe reaction to the tape the vet used and got horrible tape burn and sores. Some tapes alone can cause irritation and sores. You should be able to get an adhesive remover from most pharmacies. The best of luck. I think your pup is young enough that it should be ok. It doesn't sound like their is extensive damage enough to cause horrible scar tissue or anything.