Ears!! - Page 1

Hey everyone,

What vitamin or mineral is great for ear strength in 3 month old puppies. What is a good supplement that woudl encourage ears to stand. I have a 3 month old puppy. Of course she is teasing me with her ears somtimes they are up but then they are down LOL is there any source of vitamen or mineral that helps strengthen the cartilage?

Thanks

At 3 months it's not uncommon for the ears to yo-yo up and down. It generally lasts the whole teething period. Around 5 months the ears should stand on their own. If not, they can be taped or glued as per your preference -- however the dog still will have genetically weak ear structure that can be passed down to future generations.

There's no suppliment that will make the pups ears stand up. In the past people have recommended calcium suppliments, but there is no evidence to support this and too much calcium can be detrimental to the puppy's health. Excess calcium interferes with nutrient absorbtion, which can ultimately have negative consequences on bone, organ, and muscle growth.

If the ears are left alone, and haven't assumed their upright position by 7 months, it's unlikely that they will ever come up on their own. There have been cases of taping/glueing being successful past the 7-mo mark, but these are the exception, rather than the norm.

The people at Knox (the Jello people) have made a product specifically for bone health and joints called NutraJoint. It contains hydrolyzed gelatin , calcium , and vitamin C. Calcium is of obvious importance to bone health and vitamin C (preferably Ester-C) is an essential and limiting nutrient for connective tissue formation. NutraJoint is cheap, has no side effects, and tastes good.  Remember,  Gelatin is just a processed version of a structural protein called collagen that is found in many animals.  Collagen actually makes up almost a third of all the protein in a animal's body. It is a big, fibrous molecule that makes skin, bones, and tendons both strong and somewhat elastic.

http://www.americarx.com/Products/18712.html

Here's a previous thread on the suppliment topic: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/bulletins_read/174400.html

There is a tendon that goes under the jaw that is part of holding the ears erect. Teething can effect it.

Dogs who are fed whole raw chicken parts strengthen that tendon and it can help to get them through the teething. I fed my puppy chicken drumsticks and he really loved it.

These pictures were taken 12/9/07, Pharaoh was born on 9/20/07. He to this day likes eating his chicken on the placemat.

Michele and Pharaoh

It's common for puppy ears to go up, then down, then up again repeatedly. Sometimes you can help the process by massaging the area around the ears. Most puppies enjoy this. As other posters said, it is common for ears to go down when the puppy is teething. They should be up by 5 to 6 months and certainly by 7 months. If they aren't, try taping. Of course, if they aren't up by 7 months, your puppy could have genetically weak ears. Usually this means heavy ear leather and weak ear muscles and ligaments or tendons. But 3 months is a little too early to worry if the ears are sometimes up.

Yes, weak tendons will definitely let those poor baby ears go floppy.

So, you can give your puppy something  like a chicken drumstick to sink his teeth into to strengthen those tendons or just hope for the best. Kibble cannot supply the exercise that is needed. Also, eating the raw cartilage gives some of the real nutrients needed to stiffen those ears.

Dogs commonly eat kibble which cannot give the tendons the strength needed. I am not surprised that going up and down is common.

Been there, done that, had enough.....

Michele and Pharaoh

 FWIW   The  "up and down" syndrome can make you crazy.  My current puppy is the only one I have had whose ears went up and down.  For that matter, she is the first I have had whose ears weren't fully up by  10 weeks.   I have used the PSD recommended on another thread.  It is a calcium supplement, but a veterinary dentist has told me to dispense with that, as the ears are fully up and essentially stay up all day.  One ear did go downon part-way on Friday, as a new tooth was breaking through in a bloody manner.  But, as soon as the little heathen got on the field with Ivan B for puppy bite-work, it reversed and has stayed back up since.   

I think that exercising that tendon is important and I think it really helped get those ears up, too.  I refuse to deal with raw chicken, though.  So, I used soup bones from an Asian market (the only place I can find raw bones anymore in Seattle) and gave her the "rounded" joint bones.   That gave her the jaw and "ear-tendon" exercise she needed, probably helped pull out some of those baby teeth, and provided raw meat, too.   Multi-tasking, gotta love it!

I admit it:  the tipping right ear bothered me enough that I used a "Breath Right" strip in it.  It really kept it up for some time, until another tooth broke through and brought it down again.  But, as I said, the bitework brought it back.  So , I am convinced of the need to work that tendon, too.

http://www.hauspharao.com/health/ears.html

Things for pups to chew on does do wonders for ear strength.

I also think genetics play a big role in ear going up.

I bred a mother and daughter to the same dog, and the mothers pups ears were not up
at 5 weeks, but her daughters pups ears were.

I bred them again, different sire, but also the same sire for both, and sure enough, the moms
pups ears were not up as quick as the daughters pups, beginning at 4 weeks!

Daughters pups 5 weeks

moms pups at 5 weeks (Same sire for both litters!)

The bottom line is if mom & dads ears are up, and you can see many relatives and their ears are up,
then don't worry, it just takes different times for different dogs.