The First Day After Soldier's Ear Cropping Surgery

By Nathaniel Rhine

I could hardly wait to wake up early in the morning to check on Soldier to see how he’s recuperating after his ear cropping surgery yesterday afternoon. To my amazement, he was and is doing great, thank God.

As usual, upon him hearing me rattling the keys to unlock the gate of my front door and the front door itself, he ran around the yard to greet me with open arms, as it were. I thought he would be a little sore or perhaps feeling a bit of pain. To my surprise there were no physical signs of any pain or soreness. His extremely high level of energy did a great job of disguising any pain, if there were any.

As a morning ritual, I replaced Soldier’s large drinking bowl with fresh and cool water. I had to fill it up to the rim, which would enable Soldier to drink the water for he is now wearing what I call a lampshade. The lampshade is a plastic cone that is wore around the dog’s neck. The purpose of the lampshade is to prevent the dog or any animal for that matter, from scratching the ears with his paws. When the urge comes to scratch the ear, which is a very common and a natural thing to due when the ears are healing and drying, the cone will safeguard the ears from any infections or opening of the wounds due to the scratching.

A few times I noticed Soldier scratching the lampshade luckily instead of the actual ear that needs scratching. To help alleviate or at least minimize the itchiness of the ear is to apply a cream that I must apply at least three times a day. This cream moistens the cut on the ears which enables the cuts to heal gradually and prevent the ear from drying too quickly which causes the irritation.

In addition to applying the cream that I’ve just mentioned, Soldier is given antibiotic tablets twice a day and a pain killer tablet one day until the five day course has been completed. If you are wondering how I get Soldier to take tablets, easy; I just slice an opening in a chuck of raw meat, insert the tablets into the incision and then offer it to Soldier. You name a dog that refuses the offering of fresh raw meat? I can’t think of one, especially not Soldier.

Moreover, the actual surgery, which I will talk about in another post within the next day or two, was relatively easy. The most difficult part of the entire ear cropping exercise is the post-surgery care, which is performed by the dog owner, yours truly. That mean, I must put forth the effort and time to make sure that Soldier is getting the utmost post-surgery care and attention. It is the healing process that requires more time, approximately a week’s time. The surgery took approximately one hour.

Let’s not forget, just because Soldier had his ears cropped and now requires my additional care and attention, does not negative the fact that I must continue my other daily obligations towards Soldier such as his daily walks which are performed twice a day, playing tug-of-war with him, feeding him after a good workout, changing the water of his water bowl at least twice a day, cleaning the yard of his defecation and the list goes on.

All in all, Soldier’s first day after the ear cropping surgery was a delight. I was able to see a happy dog who was overjoyed with giving me his love in return.