I am looking for a way to post using minimal tape because koa still has a tiny scab on the bottom of his ears by the opening. Should I try zip tie method or wait it out and do the rod method? I feel like I’m losing time with his ears! He turned 11 weeks yesterday. Edges are fully healed it’s just this one spot. I plan on doing the rod method, just seeing if there’s something I can do now.
Zip tie method?
- Thread starter Koadob
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Rits
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Hard to see the spot entirely with the picture quality but the location I don't think should rub on the post any? Looks like it'll be healed in just a few days with some neosporin anyhow which won't hurt to wait a few days at this age. My litter wasn't posted until 11 weeks old. I had one girl that had an ear infection so she wasn't posted until 12 weeks old. Her ears are great now!
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Aww what a beauty! Thank you!
I know less about posting here than many, but I can share with you that my Katyusha's cropping vet wouldn't even do the surgery until she was 12 weeks old, then told me to wait another 2 weeks until her stitches came out to post. It turned out ok for us, even though that vet's posting instructions were crazy less than many here use. I will follow the advice from here on DCF next time, even though we got lucky. I think, based on our experience, you can easily give enough time to heal, then post.
Wow, that in itself is crazy.
If I shared that entire process with the rest of you, you would be absolutely shocked. But our ears are up when they need to be. We got lucky.
When I worked at the vet clinic in the 1980's doing them at 12 weeks was standard. I think back then the anesthesia was iffy to use on younger puppies, or maybe the size of smaller puppies like Schnauzers and so they just made 12 weeks for all of them? I don't know. Could have even been our vets opinion, not everywhere. But I do remember 12 weeks being the recommended time. Since most puppies were sold locally they often times went straight to their new owners from surgery recovery with instructions when to come back for stitches etc. The vet I worked for was on the leading edge back then, by gluing the ears to a foam "cone" - everyone was impressed how well that worked to keep the stitches dry and exposed - this was in the days where many were still using wire racks.
Katyusha's crop vet is, if I were to guess, into her 70's at this point, age wise. Maybe this is just her being old school?
We went back 2 weeks after the crop to have stitches pulled. The vet showed me her method of posting, and gave me instructions to post 5 days in a row, then 2 days no posts, and do that until her ears didn't fall in the 2 days not posted. If one of her ears were to fall after i thought they were good, post another 5 days, keep this cycle up. (this seems crazy now that I have read more about posting on DCF) She then very gently took her hands and put them under Katyusha's chin and put her thumbs on her cheeks and turned Katyushas head for eye contact and said to my dog, "darling, being beautiful is hard work." I never knew why seeing that exchange was so burned into my brain but it was just so touching and very noteworthy. Come up to just about a month ago and I learned that the vet was Miss Minnesota from one of the years in the early '70s. About a week after that, it dawned on me why that exchange was so darn touching.
Anyway, Katyusha had her ears posted a total of 15 days. 3 cycles of 5 days. Her ears aren't perfect now, they have a slight curve rather than being straight up, but they are definitely Doberman crop ears when she wants them to be. I can't say I am unhappy with them. Again, I think we got lucky, and I will do things differently next time through.
