***Ear Cropping***

Ear cropping is a very difficult decision for anyone, or at least it was when it was legal in this country! it is still legal in some other countries including america.

People recognise certain breeds of dogs for their distinctive look, including the head and the apperance of the cropped ears for certain breeds!. Doberman Pinschers, Boxers and Great Danes are the breeds that everyone recognises straight away for trademark cropped ear appearance. As well as some smaller breeds of dog such such as the Miniature Schnauzer.

Many people have come to question the need for canine ear cropping. Aspects of animal cruelty comes into many peoples mind and will argue that there is no medical, physical, environmental or cosmetic advantage for the dog to have the pinnas (the ear flaps) surgically altered. And for any dog to have "disfiguring" and unnecessary surgical procedures, taping and bandaging that sometimes needs to be done after the surgery amounts to animal cruelty and is indefensible. There are also many people that will argue that for some dogs, ear cropping will help prevent ear canal infections and make the opportunity for pinna trauma and infection much less likely. They will state that the ear cropping is no different philosophically or ethically than any elective surgery:
I.E - spaying, neutering or the removal of dew claws.

Ear infections are common in most breeds of dogs whether they have cropped ears or not.
Having the choice to crop a dog's ears is a personal decision for the person considering having their pooch under the knife whether pure bred or not. Even though a dog goes under the knife and has their ears taped up after the surgery, not all of these procedures are successful and that is fact!!!!!!
Not all ears will stay erect after the surgery and taping and there is nothing that can be done to make them, no amount of taping and glueing can help them stand 100% erect and not all ears do!!!

Potential reasons for cropped ears not to stand erect:
- The cartilage within the pinna is too thin to support the weight of the ear
- The ear crop was too long for the size of the ear
- The ears are "set too low" on the dog's head
- Scar tissue formed along the ear margin

Some people will add calcium to their puppies diet, hopeing that it will help buid the cartilage in the ear and in fact it doesnt realy do anything for the pups ear cartilage and the minerals with phosphorus and Vitamin D has actually been shown to cause growth problems in dogs and puppies. You should never add calcium to a dog or puppies diet in the hope that it will help strengthen and build up the cartilage, as it wont!

There are all sorts of methods of taping the ears up after the surgery and helping to support the pinnas while they heal. You can do everything right and yet in some dogs the ears will not hold that erect posture, that people aim for which was the potential goal of the surgery in the first place! Even when people massage the pinnas in the hope that the cartilage will strengthen doesnt help either! All pups should be eating a well balanced diet to begin with so supplementing an already high quality diet will have no additional benefits, just over dosing the vitamins and minerals which will potentially cause more problems than good!

Before anyone considers putting their dog/ puppy through an operation to make them look potentially better, you should weigh all the pros and cons, and then make your decision. Not all people will agree with the decision as it is unneccessary surgery. its not beneficial and should always be thought through, more so for the dog/ puppy than for yourself, will they benefit from it????????

Have your dogs had their ears cropped? do you know anyone that has?

Attached Images

	boxer - ears cropped & non cropped.jpg (16.0 KB, 10 views)
	doberman - ears cropped & non cropped.jpg (28.8 KB, 8 views)

Ear cropping has been illegal in this country for some years now

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Small enough to bath in the sink

how many years would that be? i've recently seen a litter of boxers 'de-eared' advertized at our local vets

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its Greeeeny!

Ive seen on the internet that it was only April 2007 that the law came into this country!

i have also seen some people advertising puppies with cropped ears?????

I didn't know you were a veterinarian?

its a american thing they loved cropped ears,
god knows why i think they are ugly

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Fadey was 'ere

looks like they've been hit in the face by someting!

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its Greeeeny!

sorry forgot to take that bit out! lol

im no vet!

Oh right, where's the info from then?

I love the look of some breeds with cropped ears,such as the apbt,but as pointed out it is illegal to do it in this country.

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