Vets speak out against pet ear-tying as ‘painful’ trend goes viral

A vet has spoken out against a “painful” and potentially harmful trend which has gone viral again on social media. The trend sees pet owners tie their dogs’ ears with hairbands ‘in a bun’.

The “#PutItInABun” challenge originally went viral in 2019. But now it’s gone viral again, with one particular video amassing 3.8 million views.

The hashtag has amassed 427.9 million combined views on TikTok. As well as thousands of views on other social media platforms.

Since the release of the video and the resurgence of the trend in the last month, online searches for “dogs with hair bands” and “dogs with hair coils” have both increased by 100%.

However, Dr. Anna Foreman, in-house veterinarian for Everypaw Pet Insurance, urges people to avoid this trend. “Tying a dog’s ears is very unnatural for them and can be painful, especially if it’s secured with an ill-fitting elastic hair tie,” she said.

“Doing this can pull the hairs and damage the delicate skin of the pinna, the outer part of the ear. If a dog with (flat) ears is not prone to ear infections, then ear tying may increase the chance of it occurring. infection due to a change in the already stable environment of the ear.”

In light of this, Dr. Anna spoke about the dangers of this trend, for both dogs and cats. “Cats are very prone to stress-related diseases such as cystitis and dermatitis,” she explained.

“So doing things like this to them can not only upset them, it can create life-threatening clinical illnesses… By exposing the ear opening, especially for long periods of time, these dogs are also , more prone to auditory foreign bodies, such as grass seeds.

“Dogs with heavy ears are generally prone to auditory foreign bodies, regardless. However, ear tying does not help prevent this, but rather checking the ears thoroughly after a walk does.

“If a dog with this type of ear is not prone to ear infections, then tying the ears may increase the chance of an infection due to a change in the ear’s already stable environment.”