Hank’s Ears

Our black lab Hank is beautiful, but he has lots of issues.  He had double elbow surgery when he was young, to remove bone chips that had splintered off somehow.  Then he started having seizures.  And getting ear infections. Apparently he has very small ear canals.  The first time I took him in you would have thought the vet was sticking him with hot needles instead of cleaning his ears, the way he cried.  Like a baby.  The vet came out after a few minutes of ear screeching howls and said, “I can’t clean them.  I would have to put him out.”  So he gave me antibiotics and ear wash and told me I would have to squirt the stuff down his ears every day for the rest of his life.  “Great,” I thought to myself.  “One more thing I have to remember to do.”  And the cleaning solution stinks.  And it’s nearly impossible to administer.  It takes two of us to hold him.  Once I squirt the stuff down the right hole (my husband always misses), I have to massage it in until I hear squelching.  Hank moans in pain, or maybe relief.  But the minute you let go he shakes hard and that stinky stuff sprays everywhere.  My youngest has it down.  She says to me before she grabs his collar, “Just tell me when to step away so it doesn’t go all over me, okay?”  Then poor Hank smells like the ear wash so nobody wants to pet him.