Hi everyone,

Last night I noticed my dog has an ear hematoma near her pinna (sp) about 1.5" square. The emergency vet care at U of Penn said it was not an emergency case last night and to bring her to a regular vet.

Here's my question, I am worried her ear will be deformed and want to know the proper method to take care of this. It's a mess here b/c a noreaster storm has just started and will continue through tomorrow afternoon. The appt. I have with my vet is tomorrow but may be canceled b/c of the storm, if this is the case it will be moved to Monday.

AHHHHHHHHHHH Please help!!!! (I'm just glad she has medical insurance).

The only way to reduce the hematoma is to remove the accumulated blood clot from the ear tissue.
Perhaps you could just appear at the U with your dog. They won't turn you away, and I'm sure she will get good care.

Interesting, as these are more commonly found in floppy eared dogs from excess ear scratching. We had a ferret that had gotten one on each ear (assumed from scratching, that we didn't see her doing to any excess) Maybe the ear tissue on some animals is more sensitive than others. Our ferret had to have then both surgically (under anesthesia) removed. But it did not adversy effect the look of the ear, but that may depend on where it is located on the ear. Basically, I believe they just opened it up & drained it & stitched it closed. Neither of them ever ever came back.

Quinn got a hematoma from a lab that bit his ear. We did nothing to it or with it and it eventually reabsorbed on its own and there are no side effects. As he is a floppy eared dog I was not worried about ear set on him; I just don't know about how it may effect a pointy eared dog... I might put in an ear shaper that is used to train pups ears while teething as a precaution if it looked iffy...

All three vets I talked to about hematomas, for Quinn's and for some fosters I had that got them from shaking their heads due to ear infections, said that their are two schools of thought. One that if you drain them, they will likely just refill again, so it is best to let them reabsorb on their own. The other is that if it has hardened and not trying to reabsorb, that it is recommended to surgically remove them, but to know that the cavity may just refill on its own any way.

It was more likely to occur in dogs that, for what ever reason, shake their heads violently. Ear infections, fly/bug bites, object in the ear and all common. If the cause is not addressed then the recurrence is much more likely what ever the cure was.

I worked at a vet clinic during high school and I saw a few of these in the dogs that had ear infections and had been shaking their head excessively.

We would drain them and use a piece of cast to support the ear ( like an ear shaper) and wrap the cast and ear to the head. We did this to keep the gap between the skin (caused by the hematoma) in the ear closed, so the hematoma would not refill and them wrapped it to the head for a few weeks so keep it from being shaken off while the ear infection was healing.

You could get it drained and use the ear shaper, as Jessica suggested, to keep some pressure on the ear so the hematoma doesn't refill itself?

Thank you everyone. It doesn't seem to be any worse than yesterday. She tried to scratch at it one time since I've been home. Her appointment is tomorrow so we'll see how it goes, but now I understand what can be done for it. She has had ear infections in the past but the most recent time she scratched at her ears they found nothing and it went away. I am using the Zymox w/ hydrocortisone but I will ask them to take a deeper look into her ear canal this time while she is under and maybe do a thorough cleanout if any debris is in there.

Since her ears are pretty big and stand tall stuff can easily get in there. Hopefully the Dr can do the procedure tomorrow.

Thanks again. Thsi is the info from my vets website on hematomas.

AURAL HEMATOMA FAQ


Stephen Birchard DVM, MS, DACVS
Surgery (General & Soft Tissue)
QUESTION

What is the best way to prevent the cartilage distortion that occurs following surgery for aural hematoma?
ANSWER

Our preferred technique to treat aural hematoma cosmetically is to use a skin biopsy device to make multiple small holes (3.5mm) over the hematoma in the skin on the medial aspect of the pinna. The skin edge of each hole is sutured to the deep cartilage with a monofilament, non-absorbable suture (e.g. nylon). This technique tends to result in less deformity of the pinna when compared to other techniques, such as making a longitudinal or "S" shaped incision in the pinna.

Just to keep everyone updated. She had the hematomas drained and her ears are pinned down over her head. I was told to give her benadryl before coming to the office to help calm her a bit so she could possibly have the draining without sedation.

Well she at first put up a fight but they managed to do it without needing to give her anything else. She will be going in next week to have the surgical procedure done so it will not return. She did have a small hematoma in her other ear also (I noticed this last night). Thank you all again.

I can't help but laugh at her with her head bandaged up (in neon green dressing) and the ecollar on. She looks so defeated.

Did they numb her at all to do the draining, or only the benadryl?
And I assume she will be sedated for the further surgical procedure?


Poor baby, I think you should post a picture so we can fully feel sorry for her.

I believe they used a topical. She will definitely need to be put under for the next procedure, so she had blood work done today also. I am going to ask them to clean out her ear canal while she is under and to check around for any foreign stuff in there. I'll post a pic later, it's truly sad, I have been giving her small treats because she looks so pathetic.