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Great Danes => Great Dane Discussions => : MyDaneDuke February 28, 2007, 01:53:58 PM
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Hi everyone! My husband and I are getting our puppy's ears cropped next month. I was just wondering what everyone's experiences with ear cropping has been. What did you do to make puppy feel better and did the ears seem tender or did the puppy seem to be in pain? Please no debates (I know many people feel strongly against this), I'm just looking for some advice and some first hand experience. Thanks everyone!
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we had our pitbulls ears done, and i will NEVER do it again, because even getting pain medicine 2-3 times a day he would just sit there and scream out of pain all the time. it looks "nice", don't get me wrong, but to me it just wasn't worth the torment he and i both went though (i felt very guilty for intentionally putting him through that). his also got infected because our vet wrapped them too tightly and they couldn't breath at ALL through the layers of bangages, also his bandages did come off really fast and we had to have them rewrapped twice a week the first two weeks, because his ears bothered him so much he'd paw at them b/c the infection and we ended up putting an e-collar on him to make him stop. we ended up changing vets after the second week, because i just knew something wasn't right (which is when we found out they were wrapping it wrong, and that they were horribly infected). it took them 4 hours to clean his ears and let them air out enough and go down in swelling enough that they could re-wrap them and let him go home. it was a very horrible experience for us, especially since everyone told us it was a very "simple" procedure that didn't hurt them much if they got their medicine.
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I don't really remember Maggie's ear cropping but I don't think it bothered her too much. She did end up with an infection though and only one ear stands, so I have to say you must go with someone who knows what their doing. Not all vets know what their doing when they do it and often mess it up!
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have always been a little hesistant about the ear cropping because I don't want to do anything wrong and have my pup get an infection or something worse. My husband is very insistent about the ear cropping though and has already scheduled an appointment. I really do not want my puppy to be in pain. How long would you say that the puppy was in pain? I'm going to have to do some more research so that I can be fully prepared.
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I like the ear cropping look, and to me it just doesnt look right on danes, dobe's, and some pits without cropped ears. I have pits and the two got there ears done, I gave them pain med. and put an ecollar on them to keep them from scratching them but after 12 days the stitchs were taken out and they were fine, not a big deal. I think your dane would look gorgeous with his/her?? ears done. Just make sure to get some pain med. for the first few days and maybe you can just take him/her to the vet to get them taped so they can sedate em and it be over with.
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forgot to put in we had caine's ears laser cropped, and they came out looking very nice after it was all done and said. our vet was clueless about the after care, even though they did sedate them, they wrapped them too tightly.
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true, our vet we changed to (who was great) told us after about 4 months it isn't guaranteed they'll stand even with tons of taping. also, i agree, the older they are the more it hurts b/c they move SO much more, just like with tail docking.
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I adopted a 6 month old Dane who already had cropped ears. I tried to tape them. He had severe anxiety whenever he was wearing the tape, and would only settle down after I took the bandages off. His anxiety made him lose about 15 pounds and have diarrhea every day. I finally gave up and we've got floppy ears most of the time unless he is alert. He absolutely hates having his ears touched now, and I simply cannot clean them without a fight. Seems to me like he is never going to forget about that experience. :(
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We got memphis' ears cropped at i believe he was 6 weeks old, the breeder gave us tips to help the ears stand.
The only time memphis had been in pain, i'd say, would be durring the stitches removal... he cried in pain, but was fine right after that. Holding him still do tape was a chore, but he was really good. and the ears turned out alright (for our first time) lol
personally, i prefer the look of a dane with cropped ears... though, all danes are beautiful.... :)
Jodi
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I have owned dogs with cropped ears, and would gladly take on another, however would not Crop my own dogs ears. Idont see the point. Natural is the way to go. JMHO.
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i have so many people with min pins, dobies, and danes that have gotten their dog's ears done and regretted it....and nothing looks worse than a bad ear crop. almost every dog that i have worked with that has had cropped ears will not let anyone touch his or her ears. what a drag! i like the cropped look better but why put your dog through the pain and the risk of it looking like crap for the chance that it might turn out ok. i think that cropping is a waste of money, time, and your dog's trust in you.
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Hi everyone! My husband and I are getting our puppy's ears cropped next month. I was just wondering what everyone's experiences with ear cropping has been. What did you do to make puppy feel better and did the ears seem tender or did the puppy seem to be in pain? Please no debates (I know many people feel strongly against this), I'm just looking for some advice and some first hand experience. Thanks everyone!
Welcome! I haven't posted for a while, but saw your question and had to add another note. I'm Tessie, mom to Belladonna (Great Dane).
At first, I was going to crop Bella's ears. I just thought that was the thing to do. After some research about how hard it is to tape and keep up with it (not to mention pain), I was hesitant. When I went to my vet for our first visit (Bella was 8 wks old), he took a long look at her and explained that her ears sat low on her head already. He said that he could only give me a 50-50 shot of her ears standing even with me returning every week for him to retape properly. So... I would be out 300+ dollars, Bella would have smaller but limp ears, and I probably would have lost my mind trying to deal with it along with everything else that comes with a new puppy (house training, etc, etc). I'm glad that I didn't do it, so just make sure that your puppy's ears even appear to be high enough on the head to give it a chance. Otherwise, you may end up with a dane with ears too small for its head! :)
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I appreciate everyone's feedback! :) To answer someone's question about why we are waiting so long,....it's actually only a little over a couple weeks. He will be under 12 weeks old...the vet that we are going to wouldn't crop them if he was any older than that. They also asked if we wanted a show crop or a standard crop...I'm not sure what the difference is.
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Great link! Thank you! I'm going to talk to my husband about it getting done before 10 weeks.
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I dont think you have to worry about your pup being head shy. I have my two bullies whose ears were cropped my littlest had her ears cropped really short and I play with her little tips all the time, the experience didnt tramatize her or leave her head shy not one bit.
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not to mention p.b.'s in general are pretty pain tolerant, where as a lot of danes are a lot more sensitive to pain.
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Gag, it's been months since was here!
And I only have a minute.
I'm not big fan of the cropping thing, but if your husband's going to insist, I suggest asking the vet for something with a mild topical painkiller for a few days. My friend Kevin used Bactine on his dobie's ears years ago, but I'm sure there's more effective stuff available now.
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Wow Sheryl , welcome back ! don't be such a stranger !
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I agree that the earlier you get it done, the better chance they will have to stand. Does your husband know that even with proper cropping and taping, they may never stand properly?
I love the look of a cropped ear, but it is an expensive procedure with tons of aftercare so I opted not to do it on my dane Gunther.
I also recommend to go with the standard crop. The vet I used to work for did ear crops regularly, and fixed many a botched job by other vets. Some he could fix, others he could just even out to look halfway decent. Make sure you have a vet that knows what they are doing. Dane crops are long and tall, if they mess it up its possible it could be fixed, but why go thru that?
Also, just so you know.......... .this is a very bloody and messy procedure. One of the bloodiest ones I have ever witnessed and I've seen alot of crops. There are alot of veins in the ears and you are going thru alot of them to get the "look". Be prepared afterwards that if your dog's bandages come loose and he shakes his head (which he will do)..........bloo d can and will fly and spatter everywhere. Your vet should show you the proper way to wrap the ears for the first day or two and may show you how to tape them.
To be extra prepared, bring some photos of the kind of crop you want for him, it will give the vet a better idea of what you are looking for (some people are clueless...... ....there are actually 3 different kinds of pit crops and get very upset when asking for the standard one, and then are upset when it wasn't what they thought it would be). So look up the type of dane crop you want, again the standard would be better if you don't plan to show and know what to expect.
It is a painful procedure, but as with any other the pain should only last a couple of days unless it was done poorly.
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HEEEY! Is this my JM friend? ;D
I love the look of the crop, but we opted against it after looking into how much was involved in the procedure. Just make sure you find a vet who is very experienced with crops. Duke sure is a cutie! ;)
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I don't mean to be rude, but anybody who gets ears cropped just because they "like" the look or any other reason other that medical should have to present for the operation. I am a Certified Vet Tech and used to work for a couple of vets that cropped ears (now it is hard to find one that will and luckily the vet I work for now will absolutely NOT crop ears). No matter how much pain meds you have on board before hand the pup always wakes up screaming in pain. It is really hard (actually impossible for me) to justify putting a pup through that just for a cosmetic reasons.
Other issues (as I am sure others have stated) are that the procedure may not work and you may have to do it again; risk of infection (as are other surgeries such as spay/neuters, but that is not a cosmetic thing); they may turn out to be head shy due to the excruciating pain that they have endured to their ears which it makes it almost impossible to apply ear meds if they ever get an infection.
Please have your husband think otherwise about the procedure (or maybe just have him sit out in the lobby while it is being done). I would also question the type of vet nowadays that will actually perform ear cropping.
Just my 2 cents.
Stacie
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Since the question was about pain management and not wanting your puppy in a lot of pain - just be clear on the procedure you are doing. Perhaps "ear cropping" has become such a common and benign term that we forget what it is - it is amputation. This is extremely painful - nerves galore are being cut and ear is being removed. All dogs are individuals and express pain differently - some are more stoic than others but that doesn't mean they don't feel the pain - they just aren't expressing it in the same way and may not be vocal about it. Make no mistake that your puppy will be in extreme pain. There are a lot of drugs they can give you to manage this - but there will still be a lot of pain.
Just a reality. I would listen to those who have witnessed this procedure and can attest to what the dog actually goes through to be sure you are doing this for good reason.
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HEEEY! Is this my JM friend? ;D
I love the look of the crop, but we opted against it after looking into how much was involved in the procedure. Just make sure you find a vet who is very experienced with crops. Duke sure is a cutie! ;)
Yes it's me! Thanks for introducing me to this sight, it's great! I'm going to post some pics on JM soon, but Duke is never still enough for me to take any...lol.