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By JOHN ROBINSON
D.V.M. -

Mrs. Boise was..a close
personal friend and our
family visited back and forth
‘and shared a lot of. our
leisure time together.
*“John,”’ she began, ‘“‘we

‘never imagined pets could be _

such a problem. Harry says
_its a good job we already had
the children or we could
never have afforded them if
we'd got the dog first.”’

I knew Harry’s thoughts
‘about pets in general and I
knew veterinarians would not
get rich on his use of them.
But now he had no choice.
The family majority of Mum,
Charles aged 11, and Cathy
aged nine had been quite
adamant that they wanted a
dog of their own and so Ricky
.-.@ Miniature Poodle had
been bought...by Harry, just
over a year ago.

He had brought her in with |

the children for her vacci-

. nations, her spaying opera-

tion, worming on two occa-
sions, three separate times
for stitching up when she
was attacked by other dogs,
once for a broken leg and
once for a broken tail when
she was bumped by a car.
Now Mary put her on the
examination table. ‘‘It’s her
ears, John,”’ she said resign-
edly. ** She scratches at them
constantly and rubs her head
along the carpet.”

Ricky was a great little dog
and not at all nervous. I was
able to see that theré was a
great accumulation of hair in
the ear canals and hoped it
would be nothing more.
**Mary.’’ I said, ‘‘I am going
to admit Ricky to the hospital
for a few hours and give a
sedative so we can have a
thorough examination made.
You come back at 4 p.m. by
which time we'll have it all
sorted out. °’

Nurse Thompson took
Ricky and gave a sedative
injection. It is our policy
never to struggle with
animals for the purpose of
doing something to them.
The pet only gets excessively
nervous, -maybe someone
gets bitten, and for ever after
iis difficult to get the dog,
especially if he’s a big one,
through the front door. -

When Ricky was sleeping
peacefully 15 minutes later j
asked Nurse Thompson to
pluck all the hair aut of the
ear canals. This hair inhibits
the flow of air, encourages
the formation of wax and in
some cases infection. If such
is present, clean out the car
canals thoroughly and thenap-
ply an oily lotion containing

eT CORNER

antibiotics and cortisone
which is put in once or twice’
daily by the owner for five or:
six days then a switch is
made to a fine antiseptic
dusting powder to thorough-
ly dry out the ear canal.

_ Bacteria never get a foothold

in a clean dry ear canal.

But Ricky’s problem was
just irritation from the large
amount of hair growing in:
the ear...an unfortunate
characteristic of |= many
poodles. I told Mary the
problem was not serious but
that Ricky would have to be
given an ear plucking about
every two months if we were
going to prevent this irrita-
tion with the possibility of
further complications. ‘‘Be a
good friend John,’’ she said,

**Would you phone up after |

six when Harry’s home and
tell him this...1 just can’t.’’

Q. What’s the best kind of.
dog to get for a pet, doctor? ~

A. This question comes up so
often that I will write a full
column on it in the near
future.

Q. Our Maltese is eleven
years old and has had bad
teeth and gums for several

years. Now our veterinarian |

wants to remove those that
are left. Is this advisable?

A. If the teeth are loose and
the gums around the roots
infected they are best taken
out, after which a lot cf these,
mouth infections will clear ug)
nicely. Since most, dogs a
fed pap of one sort or another
they don’t really need teeth,
but you may find the tongue
will toll out one side or the
other when he loses them all.

Q. Our Scottie plays with a
rubber mouse, throws it u
im the alr and catches it an
amuses herself for hours
doing this. If she swallows it
what should we do?

A. Get quotations on a
gastrotomy. She might be
able to vomit it after an
emetic but this is unlikely,
and its not likely to pass
through the bowel. Better to
have routine surgery done
before there are complica-
tions. Only search under the
settee carefully first.

Q. I'm at my wits end. Our
16-month old whippet is
messing In the kitchen — day
or night. I¢ doesn’t seem to
matter to him. What can we
do to stop this?

A. Follow these instructions
to the letter. Place his
slecping basket in a corner of
the kitchen. Put a screw ring
low down in the wall beside
it. Attach a 24-inch long fine
metal chain with a clasp at

because every
child has the
right to smile

1979 Inte
of the Child
Unicef Canada &

national Yecr

me «
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7

the end to the.ring. When-
ever the dog is in the house
attach the.chain to the dogs
collar. Fortunately dogs. will
not normally: mess in the
immediate vicinity of their
sleeping area. If he is put
outside at regular times he-
will make other, hopefully
more acceptable, toilet ar-
rangements which should
become an established habit
after a month or two.

RRENG BS

THE PERFECT PESONALITY describes ‘Barney’ a mild sized Collie-Lab. He is kind
and well trained and would make an ideal second dog if you kave a spayed animal
who needs a companion. Please call Doris Orr at 987-9015.

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