[Pir8life4me07]

Good Evening!
I have been reading up and researching on here to prepare for cropping topics, including aftercare and posting techniques. And I thought I was “prepared”. Firstly, yes I know we should have gotten our puppy from a breeder that already came cropped and believe me we did go down that avenue first. After some time, several litters and it not working out in our favor, this opportunity came up and so here we are.

For the crop, we went with a local vet Dr Garrett in Fayetteville, NC that has mostly positive reviews and a couple friends of ours have used him and had positive experiences.

So to the point, here is Cartel pre and post crop. He will be 11 weeks tomorrow. I asked for a long-ish show crop and he got his ears done Monday, and came home Tuesday. Here is a before pic, Tues how came wrapped up, and a few mins ago after I removed the vet wrap. According to the vets instructions they want him back in 5 days for inspection and re-wrap. Then again after 5-7 days with suture removal on day 14. I was intending to take most all of his tape off and the cotton out of the inside of his ears to let the stitches air out and heal. I am also planning to post myself when we get there. What threw me off was how low the stitches seem to extend down beyond the ear. I have not seen that before and stopped removing tape and put his cone back on. The cut portion of his ears are now about 70% uncovered. Has anyone seen stitches this low before? Should I still remove everything? He has a little bit of blood on the edges from where he played a bit hard today.

Appreciate your help and expertise!!

 

[Konagirl]

I believe the experienced members will tell you to use some unisolve and get that tape off, let them hang and heal. With my pups show crop they cut out a V at the base and stitch that up. If I didn’t explain it right someone will correct me. I’ll attach pictures of then and now. She’s now 10 months.

 

[Konagirl]

Also note how the vet attached the ears to the cup, there is absolutely no tape on any of the cut and stitched edges.

 

[4x4bike ped]

Hi Pir. Welcome to you and Cartel from the Pacific NW.

So... Everything Konagirl said^^^^^^^. Make sure none of the sutures are covered with tape.

Here is a link to a general discussion on cropped ears:
Ear Cropping and Aftercare: Do's and Don'ts
Since Cartel's ears are already cropped, just skip to the pertinent info about post crop aftercare.

Also, you will see a few links to other articles about posting cropped ears. Read them all, paying particular attention to member greenkouki's terrific visual tutorial on "Posting show cropped ears using backer rod"

Please update and come back with any questions or concerns.

John L
Portland OR

 

[Pir8life4me07]

I believe the experienced members will tell you to use some unisolve and get that tape off, let them hang and heal. With my pups show crop they cut out a V at the base and stitch that up. If I didn’t explain it right someone will correct me. I’ll attach pictures of then and now. She’s now 10 months.

Thank you for posting these! Makes me feel better that is normal. Okay, I have some and will start on it since he is a bit sleepy now.

 

[Konagirl]

Thank you for posting these! Makes me feel better that is normal. Okay, I have some and will start on it since he is a bit sleepy now.

By the way, he is absolutely adorable. 💕

 

[greenkouki]

If it were me I would probably take everything off and just let the ears hang the rest of the time while they heal. Dr. Garrett does decent ears so you should be in good shape with the crop. If you need local help with posting I have someone in Fayetteville I could point you towards.

 

[Pir8life4me07]

If it were me I would probably take everything off and just let the ears hang the rest of the time while they heal. Dr. Garrett does decent ears so you should be in good shape with the crop. If you need local help with posting I have someone in Fayetteville I could point you towards.

The crop does look pretty good, I am happy with it, I was debating going to another vet on the other side of the state but with their availability it would push it around him being 14 weeks and didn't want to do that.
I went ahead and removed just about everything-it seems like they used an entire roll of tape! There is a hard plastic something they used to help keep ears upright I was having a hard time removing on one side that I will get today. He was done with me messing with his ears last night and I can't blame in!

I was actually just looking at the sticky thread with members offering to help and only saw one person in NC listed. That would be great if you knew of someone local, Cartel and I would appreciate any help we can get to make the process go as quickly and smooth as possible for both our sakes 😊.

 

[4x4bike ped]

Hi Pir.

The plastic supports are probably glued on with a skin glue, like Torbot or Osteobond. The best and easiest way to get them off and clean up the ears, is to use a medical grade adhesive solvent/remover like Uni-Solve.

You are going to want to get some for removing tape and posts between taking down and putting up the ears during posting.

Try no to disturb the sutures and any scabs that are forming. Basically, just leave the ears alone and let them heal.

John L
Portland OR

 

[dobebug]

In a pinch the surgical glue that was probably used on the plastic insert can be softened with oil--any kind including mineral oil and wesson oil--it's mess but if you work at it from the edges with a q-tip or your fingers it will be less painful for Cartel that just trying to slowly pull it off.

And while you are waiting for them to heal and the sutures removed get the UniSolve--it helps so much during the posting process.

And I'm another one who would just let the ears hang until healed.

dobebug

 

[Pir8life4me07]

Hi Pir.

The plastic supports are probably glued on with a skin glue, like Torbot or Osteobond. The best and easiest way to get them off and clean up the ears, is to use a medical grade adhesive solvent/remover like Uni-Solve.

You are going to want to get some for removing tape and posts between taking down and putting up the ears during posting.

Try no to disturb the sutures and any scabs that are forming. Basically, just leave the ears alone and let them heal.

John L
Portland OR

All done!
I am accumulating my posting supplies and did have this on hand! Helped a ton. I went today and got a “special” bone that he will only get when I work with his ears. That along w the Uni-solve helped get the last of the contraption off. Stitches look good-little scabby but to be expected. I would post a pic but he does not want to hold still for an inner ear glamour shot tonight.

 

[Pir8life4me07]

This is beside the point but I just realized how bad my house looks like looking at this on a computer monitor! I had just magic erased sharpie off that wall
Anyone have any toddler training tips ??

 

[Pir8life4me07]

Day 8 Update:
One ear (his right ) has significantly more scabbing and is a bit puffier than the other. When I was trying to take a picture he bumped into my hand pretty good and cried out. However I could gently handle it without him seeming to be in pain. His ears are a bit grimey from all leftover adhesive from the vet’s initially wrapping and I didn’t want to rub too hard. Does this ear seem infected? I was going to take him to the vet Friday to check and possibly remove stitches. However, I may need to get him there tomorrow morning if this looks abnormal to avoid it getting worse. The first three pics are of the “problem” ear and the latest one of his left ear.
Thoughts/Advice?

 

[dobebug]

Doesn't look to me as if there is an infection going on. There is always some variation on how long it takes each ear to heal and always there is a variation as to how much scabbing and how much puffiness you get.

Overall it looks pretty normal for 8 days post crop. If you were going in anyway to get the sutures removed (and that sounds about right for what they look like right now) I'd just do that--just keep an eye on the puffiness. But I can tell you that you'll see that if a puppy bangs into anything (and they will cry if the ear edge comes in contact with anything--until they are fully healed and the sutures are out that ear edge is very sensitive.

When they remove the sutures some of the scabs will fall off and inevitably some of unhealed scabs will also get pulled off but healing goes pretty quickly once the sutures are out. Don't worry about the dirty looking areas from the adhesive--I don't get very excited about some adhesive and dirt stuck to it is left from post to post. And I don't do a really thorough clean up until the ears are standing.

dobebug

 

[Pir8life4me07]

Thanks DB! Sutures are out and once we are all healed-the posting adventure begins! I am sure I will have many more questions/concerns...

 

[Pir8life4me07]

Pupdate!
Ears healed nicely and free of any scabs so first posts went in today!
I didn’t take any pics of the actual posts bc I was anxious to get them done😬
I followed the backer rod method in the sticky thread here using a zip tie to stiffen the posts. I did use bumpers on the posts as well. I think his right ear post might pop out, as the first ear done, I am not confident I pushed it as far down as I could have. Also, the bridge is a bit messy for sure.
Thoughts?

 

[dobebug]

The posting looks pretty good and the puppy looks exhausted.

When a post pops out--you get to say a bunch of very bad words and take the ear down the repost it entirely--just don't even try to stuff the post into the ear and retape--never works--there was something wrong with the posting technique in the first place.

I just told someone else that when it comes to bridges I usually do a very bad and sloppy looking job (frankly they tend to look like they were done by someone's 5 year old. But really--all they need to do is work. They can do that and look terrible.

But tell your poor puppy not to look so worried.

dobebug

 

[Pir8life4me07]

My daughter looked at my finished work and said, “erm it looks kinda bad” 🤕 haha. I thought it looked decent for my first time!

So far so good with everything staying in place after some head shaking and couple trips outside. We shall see if they last the full 4-5 days.

As far as his face, I took his bone and held it up so I could get a better pic of his posts. So he had reason to look concerned, he was worried he wouldn’t get it back😂

 

[melbrod]

You don't really want the posting job to be all smooth and nice. You're supposed to lay the tape around the ear somewhat loosely and then squeeze it with your hand to make it stick--so it will look all wrinkly.

At least, that's what I tell myself.

Seriously, though, you want to avoid putting the tape on too tight, so it's not necessarily going to be an absolutely smooth job.

 

[Pir8life4me07]

Whelp - that post popped out right before bed. So was able to reuse the same post just back wrapped it again. I had forgotten to add a bit of cotton and medicated powder to this side so probably for the best it popped out so soon. I think I already got it a bit better. His face says, Am I done now Mom ?