1. When you are preparing to give your pet its medication try not to let the pet know you are preparing to give them their medication. Conceal the medication as best as you can
2. When you are ready to approach your pet, do so in a calm, casual manner like you were just going to give it a pet or scratch its ears, having a treat within reach ready to be rewarded after you apply the medication will help with positive reinforcement. Gently petting your pet’s ears more often when not administering medication will help your pet get more comfortable with you approaching when you need to medicate them.
3. You want to position the pet with caution. NEVER PUT YOUR FACE IN THE FACE OF THE PET’S WHEN MEDICATING. If possible face the animal away from you or a good distance from your face. Try not to let the pet see the medication or figure out what it is.
4. When you finally are positioned to administer the ear drops try and do so while you are gently scratching the ears as casually as possible. Don’t poke medicator into their ear but gently ease it in and deposit the medication as quickly as possible while still trying to calm your pet with petting and calming words and voice continuing to rub the ears if the pet will allow for a short period after medicating. (This will also help the medication get thoroughly into the ear canal.)
5. Once the medication has been administered give them their favorite treat for behaving.
Tip: Try to administer ear drops in a different room as often as possible so that the pet does not associate it with getting ear drops.
