# HELP Dog with huge inflated ear



## Surge223 (Jun 27, 2008)

Joe-Joe has his right ear inflated like I have never seen before. Left ear is soft and floppy like it should be. It's 9:00 pm and I'm worried. Vet is closed.

Right ear is HUGE! What do I do?


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Don't freak... The dog will be ok. The vet will likely take a syringe and needle and draw the blood out. It's not life threatening and you can do it yourself even. It happens when they shake their heads a lot so check for ear gunk too

It's a hematoma. 

It may go away after it's drained but sometimes keeps coming back and might need surgery if it does. But not usually. 
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## Surge223 (Jun 27, 2008)

OK, thanks. I may try this myself tomorrow. I have some very small syringes, (sp?) but have never used one.

Dog isn't in distress, but I am. lol


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## catspjamas (Jul 14, 2013)

If the blood has clotted, an incision may be necessary to remove it. (The clot, not the ear.) Sometimes when the ear heals it wrinkles, no big deal unless he's a show dog. 

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## Surge223 (Jun 27, 2008)

catspjamas said:


> If the blood has clotted, an incision may be necessary to remove it. (The clot, not the ear.) Sometimes when the ear heals it wrinkles, no big deal unless he's a show dog.
> 
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He's not a show dog. This is only a few days old. What should I do? The vet bill will really hurt right now, but I need to keep my friend.

Surge


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## libertygirl (Jul 18, 2011)

The hematoma is a symptom of another issue. It is the result of head shaking or very aggressive scratching. The ear may have ear mites, a yeast infection, or a foxtail or other sticker in the ear canal. You'll have to deal with the real problem or the hematoma will return. Good luck and best wishes.


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## libertygirl (Jul 18, 2011)

Surge, If you can check the ear (if it's not too sensitive right now) check to see if it has a foul odor (really foul) that would be a yeast infection. If so, you can clean it with a solution of 1 part vinegar to 1 part rubbing alcohol. Flush the ear with the solution and clean with cotton balls. The vinegar cleans, and the alcohol is a drying agent. It will take repeated cleanings to clear it up. If the ear has a black build up in it and lacks the stink you may be dealing with ear mites. The black gunk is blood and ear mite poo. In that case, they sell ear mite medicine on the shelves of your local pet supply store. If you suspect it's a sticker (we have a lot of "foxtail" in our area) it may be in the ear canal. That will require a vet visit to remove it.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Our new adopted dog Marty got one right after we got him. I came and got thoughts from others here and decided not to have the vet treat it. It is gone now,no evidence except a tiny bit of scar tissue that only I can feel. I massage it every time I pet him. At first he didn't like it then he got used to it.


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## Surge223 (Jun 27, 2008)

The ear has no bad odor. I looked inside and it's a little dirty, but not bad at all. 

Should I just wait a few days and see what happens?

Thanks for all the help everyone.


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## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

If he is shaking his head and bruising it further, you need to take a pair of pantyhose, cut about a 2 foot section and slide it over his head. This will form a breathable snood that will keep the ear from flopping against the skull and becoming damaged.

Like this.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Our vet clinic has never had success with draining an Aural Hematoma with a syringe. It always fills back up with fluid. Surgery to remove fluid and and reattach with many sutures is the only way that seems to work.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

We've had a cat and a dog have an ear hematoma. Both had to have sutures. I strongly recommend taking the dog to the vet. 

Also, even though he may not be acting like he's in pain, hematomas are usually painful.


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## Wolfy-hound (May 5, 2013)

I've had dogs untreated and treated and sometimes the hemotoma heals perfectly, sometimes they get a "cauliflower ear".

Technically the fluid will be reabsorbed on its own and some vets actually recommend leaving it alone to heal(with anti-inflammatory and pain relief in some cases), while most want to cut it open and stitch it(not a huge deal, just a layer of skin really, but open wounds are always a possible infection).

Hematomas can be caused by the dog hitting it's ear on something when they shake, or it hitting dog tags on the collar, pinching it under/in something(rocking chair got a friend's hounddog) but most common is infected ears or flies. 

My old english sheepdog had a hematoma twice in the same ear. The first time the vet did no treatment and the fluid took over a week to go away, but the ear healed perfect. The second time, the vet cut and treated, and it healed wrinkled. I'm not saying the vet treatment increases the likelihood of cauliflower ear though, there could have been damage from the first time.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Interesting. I once had a Doby who was allergic to strawberry icecream. After sharing a bowl with him he greeted me the next morning with footballs for ears. I never had his ears cropped. Trip to the vet and a couple of benedryl and steroidal injections later and the swelling went right down. The allergy had caused his ears to itch. He shook his head until his ears swelled.

Point is, did you dog possibly get stung by something that is causing an allergic reaction?

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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

30+ years in Rhodesian Ridgebacks & I've had one hematoma. Ear was clean & dry, suspect a sting or spider bite that started the ear shaking.
I would NOT ever go the surgery route again, ear was infected at surgery site afterwards and a real mess with pus dripping into the ear, which of course made her want to shake her head even more ! 

I removed buttons & stitches very early and bathed daily several times with collidial silver.

Ear took several weeks to heal, but now is perfect.


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## Surge223 (Jun 27, 2008)

The dog spends his days outside, behind the house. I had to do some work under the house last week and threw some bug-bombs through the crawl hole (which is only a few feet away from the dog). It's very possible some spiders came out of there very upset.

I also found a small snake. It was grey and black. Don't know what kind it was since it was still a baby. So there are 2 possibilities. 

It's been 5 days now, and I haven't taken him to the vet. The swelling seems to have gone down some, but not a lot. Going to give him a little more time to try and heal himself.

I would try the idea of the pantyhose, but I'm fresh out :grin:

Thanks to everyone that is helping with this.


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## Wolfy-hound (May 5, 2013)

You can wrap the ear to the head(fold ear on top of head) and wrap it with vetwrap too.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm now wondering if your dog got bit by one of those bugs. If so, it will probably clear in a few days.


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