My dog smells like a pine tree! (Otodex Veterinary Ear Drops)

Member Name: faithlessone

Product:	Otodex Veterinary Ear Drops
Date:	26/08/08 (313 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No more cheesy ears

Disadvantages: None, unless you like the smell of cheesy ears

For those of you that don't know I have two dogs, one is a very ageing old gentleman (14 and a half to be exact) called Socks who is a very lovable greyhound and the other is a three year old Dobermann called Leon. He is not so much a gentleman but extremely loyal to me and perhaps slightly vocally challenged. As with all pets they come with needs and as such a good vet is a must. There are of course on line websites that now sell pet accessories and medication for a variety of ailments that are invariably alot cheaper than your local vets so it is definately worth a look a round to see if you can save yourself any money.

For some medication though you will need to print off a form for your vet to sign in order to receive the medication from the on line website. This is just to make sure you do not give an animal anything that could in turn be not in his best interest and go against the medical advice of your vet.

It is about a product called Otodex veterinary ear drops that I wish to write about today. The product itself is a liquid and has the consistency and colour of water, so for safety reasons I would advise you to keep out of the reach of children. It's fragrance is entirely pleasant and wellcoming with the air of pine trees. It comes in a very small white plastic bottle with a screw on cap, unscrew the cap and you can see a clear plastic nozzle and with a slight squeeze of the bottle you can release a drop or two of the product. The product is clearly labelled Otodex, with the words ear drops in bigger letters underneath. The writing under this to be honest is far too small but on closer inspection does explain the product uses.

The product does have a small variety of uses, one simply as a wax clearer and ear fragrancer the others include for the treatment of ear mites,
ear irritation or otitis externa. For people who have not heard of this before I thought I would offer some guidelines of what symptoms to look out for.

Otitis externa is an inflammation of the ear canal, humans can actually get this but it is more common in dogs. It is thought about 20% of dogs suffer with this condition. The more obvious symtoms include;

Persistant scratching,
Bad odour (ears),
Discharge,
Redness or swelling,
Shaking of the head alot,

Should your dog or cat be displaying any of these symptoms then you need Otodex.

Treatment time is reasonably quick, 3 or 4 drops in the affected ear(s) for 4 to 5 days. If of course you see no improvement I would advise seeing your local vet.

Should you suspect ear mites then you will see again some of the symtoms above a long with dark flakes which resemble coffee grounds and should treat with Otodex.

For other ear complaints such as a yeast infection then Otodex will not treat and special treatment will be required from your vet. Symptoms include brown waxy bits a long with a bad odour. For bacterial infections then again Otodex will not treat, symptoms will include yellow waxy bits and also a bad odour and more than likely will require a course of antibiotics.

When it comes to your pets there are so many things that can and will go wrong but for such a simple treatment Otodex is painless relatively cheap and available from your local vet and a vast array of on line stores. It lasts for a long while too, in my experience we have had the drops for about a year following a concern with Leon last year. We just noticed he was scratching a lot and his ears smelled awful. They do suggest you check your pets ears on a weekly basis and clean regularly ofcourse being careful of the inner canal and ear drum. We have found Otodex to be extremely useful in Leon's plight and use on a weekly basis when he has his ears cleaned and he smells wonderful for a while and he knows it! The fragrance probably lasts a day or two and Leon has absolutely no concerns about us applying it. Most dogs if not all like their ears being rubbed and if you do this for a few seconds before you apply the drops not only is the dog relaxed but it loosens up all the wax ready for you to clean and then apply Otodex so your dog smells like a pine tree, lovely.

Price wise it is relatively cheap and accessible, it comes in a 14ml bottle which although does not sound alot actually is more than you think as only a small amount of product is required on each application. It costs £2.69 from Seapets an on line store but will cost you abit more should you buy it fom your local vets.

I would definately reccomend this product to anyone who has either a cat or a dog (we also have two cats) as it is quick, painless and they just love all the fuss!

Summary: Pine fragrance ear drops for dogs and cats