How to Administer Ear Medication to Your Cat or Dog

When you have a possible ear infection in your cat or dog, you usually make a trip to the veterinarian to find the exact cause. Once the vet knows what the ear infection is, they can tell you what medication to administer to your cat or dog. If you ask them, they may even show you how to administer the medication to your cat or dog. But, in case you didn't get that far, here's a quick guide on how to do that when you need to.

I will warn you now, it will take at least two days before your pet gets used to this. After the first time you administer the ear medication to your cat or dog, they may run if they see the bottle. I find it helps if you have someone hold the pet while you give the pet their medication.

The first thing to understand is the importance of getting the medication into the horizontal area of the ear canal. Both dog and cat ear canals are shaped like an inverted "L". This means that you can't see most of the ear canal. Because of this it becomes important to get the medication in the horizontal end of the ear canal. The vertical end of the canal is what connects to the outer ear and the part you see; the horizontal end goes down into the eardrum.

Now that you understand that part, the rest will make more sense. Have your helper hold the cat or dog with a firm hug. It helps if the holder pets the cat or dog while talking to them as this will calm the pet a little.

The first thing you want to do is pull their ear flap straight up with one hand and hold it in place. It will look like you're hurting the cat or dog, but you're not. To administer ear medication to a cat or dog you must be able to fully access the ear canal.

Next, get the bottle or syringe as close to the ear canal as you can. You have to just about put the dropper into the ear canal for a cat; dogs don't need to be as precise as this but you still need to be close to administer the ear medication.

With the ear flap still extended, place a drop of medication into the vertical area of the ear canal. Hold the ear in position long enough for the medication to run down to where the ear canal turns down; it will take about three seconds. I count to 3 Mississippi to make sure I gave the drop enough time to reach the turn.

Put the medication down and place one finger at the base of the ear flap in front of the flap, and your thumb at the rear of the base. Continue to hold the ear flap with the other hand while doing this. Then gently massage the ear canal between finger and thumb. If you hear a squishing sound, this means that the ear medication is moving down along the canal. Do this for a few seconds to make sure the medication gets all the way down.

Now let go of your pets ear and let them shake their head. This will help your cat or dog shake loose any debris in the canal; the loose debris will then dissolve and clear the ear canal. The person who is holding your pet should continue doing so for the moment because unfortunately, you need to do both ears when you administer ear medication to a cat or dog.

If you have more than one medication to give to your pet, do all the doses in one ear first before moving to the other ear. This not only simplifies the process, it keeps your pet from more discomfort and the person holding your pet from getting clawed. When you are finished with administering ear medication for one ear, you will need to clean up the outer portion of the ear canal and the inside of the ear flap before moving on to the other side.

When you are cleaning up the ear, use a cotton ball coated with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide which helps kill bacteria and clean out any remnant infections. No, the cat nor the dog will much enjoy this, but it works. Do not use cotton tipped applicators such as Q-Tips because there is a danger of not only damaging the ear canal if the pet moves suddenly, but it will also cause debris to fall back into the ear which will cause more problems.

Once you have finished administering the ear medication to the cat or dog the person holding the pet should open their arms as wide as possible as the pet will leap away fast just to get away from the people. Don't expect the cat or dog to like you for a few minutes. They will come back to loving you again.