And so day four came around. After a week of no treatment the ears started to look pretty crusty and I was itching to get them thoroughly cleaned out. Unfortunately we still had the issue of getting him sedated enough to come close. I had the vet come out to figure out what his preferred cocktail would be. He got a load of something IV (I believe the same I had used as a gel) and the idea was that in about 1-5 min he would be dosed into oblivion ... 10 min later Mr. B is still eating his scraps of hay and he hasn't even slowed down his chewing. The vet is really surprised at Beamer's tolerance and comes to the conclusion that he is gone immune to this drug. I have to admit I felt slightly vindicated that it was not my amateur administration of the drug but his bio system that caused the lack of sedation.
So out come the big guns and he gets loaded up once more this time on some more heavy duty stuff. Within a few minutes Beamer is wobbling on all four legs and I'm afraid he'll buckle and drop down. Although that would make treating him soooo much easier !!! I still expect him to wake up when starting to touch his ears.
I did not need to fear he might snap out of this medical confinement. We open the stall door and he nearly falls through the opening as he was tucked in the corner. He is down and out, 0-1 for the vet. With Beamers nose safely tucked under said vet's arm I start 'poking' his ears, put the cream in and he's fighting a bit. This is where it helps having a big strong man to hold on. But he's giving up the fight soon and slips deeper into dreamland. By now he's not even trying to struggle anymore and I get to work on the crusts and gunk after clipping a bit more hair off. These drugs are great as I'm now pulling on thick chunks that I thought were crusted ridges of cartilage but come lose and are scabs about a 1/4 inch thick. Lots of pink skin underneath and I can finally get the cream to where it has to go as I dab on an other layer. I think there has been some normal skin that has gotten damaged by the inexact administration of the cream on the previous attempts and it's making it look worse. I hope this will get better as I from now on I can get to the correct spots.
We let him be as it's all done now. During all this Beamer has started getting really hot and is steaming. I take his blanket off and put the cooler on. I'm glad I just gave him his body clip while waiting for the vet or he would be sweating even more. Within 30 min he is starting to roam around and look for the rest of the hay scraps. I put his blanket back on and give him his grain.
I think we have a plan that works now and I'm glad we can make this whole ordeal less stressful or dangerous for all involved.
Here are the after treatment pictures, not too sharp but there was a lot of bright sunlight coming in. I'll try new ones on Wednesday night after treatment five ...
Right ear:
Left ear:
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