# Aural Hematoma



## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Our 6 year old Australian Cattle Dog showed up three days ago with a 1.5X1 inch hematoma on his left ear. No idea how he got it. I checked the inside of his ear and it is clean and normal looking. No sign of infection or mites but the ear was quite swollen and tender. Keep in mind this is a sweet but tough as nails dog who is constantly battering himself up just enjoying life.

Yesterday I called the vet, noting that the swelling wasn't subsiding. We had started him on amoxicillin that we had on hand from his last injury (foot puncture wound). The local vets dad, also a vet was on vacation and the son was handling two offices so they can't do anything with it till Monday. But we could try to drain it to ease the pressure if we wanted. As we are retired medical professionals, we have the equipment on hand to do the job so we decided to tackle it to give him some relief. He wasn't too happy with us, in fact he was down right p****d but we managed to puncture the hematoma twice and drain off a lot of bloody fluid from it. It's not down 100% but we managed to reduce it by a good two thirds and he seems to be more comfortable.

The vet wants to put him under, lance the ear, insert a patch so the ear cartilage and skin reattach. We hate putting this sweet dog through this. His ear is drooping a little but still looks good in spite of the swelling and he seems a lot happier now. 

Anybody have any experience with this? We are thinking of letting it settle down for a day or two and then draining it again with a lancet. We will be using ambesol as a topical anesthetic for it. Is surgery the only answer?


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Many of these will stay a cauliflower ear if left alone. I've heard so many stories about what vets do for them, I really don't know. We had a cat with one once, our vet said to leave it and he had a lumpy ear for the rest of his life. It didn't seem to bother him much, but it didn't go down when it healed either. I'd guess your vet's treatment would be his best bet to have an attractive ear when its all done. If you don't mind it being lumpy and hard, then you don't need a vet. What you are doing may be enough for it to heal properly, I just don't know.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Our adopted dog Marty a G. Retreiver had this happen last summer. I had a Lab. years ago,he had it happen and I had it lanced ect. So when it happened to Marty I came here and asked. I took the advice and let it be. It took awhile,but is fully gone and his ear is fine. Noone would ever notice the slight scar other than me,because once the swelling started to go down I massaged it all the time to try to avoid scaring, it seemed to have worked fine.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Try putting honey on it.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

It's almost 24 hours since we relieved some of the pressure on the ear. No major refilling. It might be a little fuller than it was yesterday (something the vet tech said may happen) but it's not nearly as turgid as it was. I thought we would let it go today and if we have to, drain it again tomorrow so it could settle down a bit for him. I'm glad we have until Monday to decide whether or not to go ahead with the surgery on it. He went jogging with us this morning, no worse for the wear, only his left ear bent just a little at the tip and bouncing with every step. Poor baby.

Strange in that we haven't seen him shake his head at all making me wonder if something didn't happen over night to cause the injury. Maybe a bug in his ear or hitting his head against something.


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## Classof66 (Jul 9, 2011)

My dog had one around the first of the month. The vet made an incision and stitched it down. Often when the hematoma is just lanced it refills they said. Pup had to wear one of those lampshade things for 10 days. $173.00


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Maura said:


> Try putting honey on it.


I'm into homeopathic medicine. Why honey? Honey is natural anti-inflamation. Natural occurring antibiotic. Is it a natural occurring diuretic also that will draw out fluid and reduce swelling?


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## Jokarva (Jan 17, 2010)

Plain white sugar is used in many countries to draw fluid out of wounds and keep them dry, supposedly works wonders on animals and humans...but while I've read about it I've never tried it, so this advice is worth every cent it cost.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

badlander said:


> I'm into homeopathic medicine. Why honey? Honey is natural anti-inflamation. Natural occurring antibiotic. Is it a natural occurring diuretic also that will draw out fluid and reduce swelling?


I held a cold rag to my dogs ear. The fluid is blood, it takes a long time to go away, think real bad bruise. I used to get hematomas in my breasts-it takes months to go away. The Dr. would do nothing except give me pain meds and an antibotic, but I've also done without too and just waited. Poor doggie could have shook his head too close to something like a wall or tree and smacked it hard with his ear.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

7thswan said:


> I held a cold rag to my dogs ear. The fluid is blood, it takes a long time to go away, think real bad bruise. I used to get hematomas in my breasts-it takes months to go away. The Dr. would do nothing except give me pain meds and an antibotic, but I've also done without too and just waited. Poor doggie could have shook his head too close to something like a wall or tree and smacked it hard with his ear.


We are suspecting that he did something like that to his ear. At this point he is showing no sign of an ear infection or mites. No head shaking. I can tell the ear is bothering him but as stated, he is one tough dog. Once he stuck his head through a wire fence after chewing...yes I said chewing a hole in it in order to go after a rabbit on the other side of his yard. It resulted in him tearing a 2 inch gash in his cheek that was about 3/4s an inch deep. I found it when I was caressing his face and stuck my finger in the hole. The vet called us after stitching him up and chuckled told me that we wouldn't believe the amount of tranquilizer they had to give him in order to get him to relax and be sutured. He is one tough dog, the vet said. He just wouldn't give up.

So we speculate that maybe he had a bug teasing his ear, shook his head and whacked it against something resulting in the bruise. The ear isn't quite as turgid as it has been but we are probably looking at a trip to the vet on Monday. He is a beautiful dog with a very expressive face. We don't want to risk the chance of a cauliflower or deformed ear for him and most of all, we want him to be comfortable. In the mean time we will probably ambesol it up and try relieving some of the pressure for him again.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

UPDATE: Well, 3 days after we relieved some of the pressure on the injured ear, the hematoma has refilled and is bigger than ever.

Our boy goes in this morning to have it drained and repaired. We still do not know what has caused this to happen.No outward sign of infection or mites. No head shaking. He will be home tomorrow. 

He is like the little boy who is perpetually falling down, skinning knees, breaking arms, etc. I've never had a dog like him before. Is it possible for a dog to be accident prone? LOL


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

badlander said:


> UPDATE: Well, 3 days after we relieved some of the pressure on the injured ear, the hematoma has refilled and is bigger than ever.
> 
> Our boy goes in this morning to have it drained and repaired. We still do not know what has caused this to happen.No outward sign of infection or mites. No head shaking. He will be home tomorrow.
> 
> He is like the little boy who is perpetually falling down, skinning knees, breaking arms, etc. I've never had a dog like him before. Is it possible for a dog to be accident prone? LOL


Best of Luck for your Pup!


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## Waiting Falcon (Nov 25, 2010)

DVM prescribed Remadyl after surgery on my ACD. She shook her head after the surgery so hard that she shook her ear out of the wrappings. 
Later she got a hematoma in the other ear..That time I used oragel which relieved the pain with out the side effects of Remadyl.. neither did she shake her head causing further bleeding as in the first time. 
Both ears now tip forward..ruined her show career I guess .

In the past a tube was put in the ear on another ACD I had, for drainage as it kept filling.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

We just got our boy home. Poor baby is completely stoned and has three sutures in his ear but the ordeal is over for him.

Official verdict? Nobody seems to know, not even the vet. He incised and flushed the ear, looked it over close. No infection internal or external, no injury, no bite marks, no scratches, no reason why he had the hematoma so it shall remain a mystery. Possibility that he hit his head against something here at the farm, or got his head caught somewhere. Who knows. 

Poor baby is sleeping off the anesthetic and looking pitiful. Our boy has two scars on his nose from another adventure. He knows how to enjoy life so being a movie star was never in his shall we say, stars anyway.

Hopefully he won't have any more problems once healed.


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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

Had the same thing happen to one of my girls. No idea why or how it happened.

Hundreds of dollars & days later, even after careful cleaning, the ear flap started to smell real bad, with no healing starting. I took the buttons/stitches out after 5 days. The ear healed really well, looks completely normal


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

The procedure cost 116 dollars. Not bad at all. Vet thinks the ear will heal completely normal.

I had a big blue Doberman once who had hematomas in both ears from eating strawberry ice cream and having an allergic reaction. (my mother had decided to share her strawberry milkshake with him). He looked like a canine Princess Leia. It took a huge dose of benedryl but both of his ears came down on their own in about 48 hours without the vet having to incise them.

The buttons are a different twist.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

The allergic reaction may not really be a hematoma, but just serum swelling from the allergy in the ear. That would reduce normally when the allergy abated. A hematoma is bleeding in the ear (or other site) that causes the swelling, usually a blood vessel is broken through trauma.


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## Teddi (Aug 4, 2014)

I went through the same thing with my shepherd mixed from the animal shelter. I canceled the surgery after reading on the internet about the return of them and ultimate surgery. I don't know how this popped into my head but I tried Hemorrhoidal Ointment from the drugstore. I looked it up on the internet and it said that contained shark liver oil and vitamin E, sounds safe to use. I applied it twice a day morning and evening rubbing it into the Hematomas. After 2 days they started to shrink and after 4 days they were GONE ! The scratching that caused it was not allergies like the first Vet said but was diagnosed by a second Vet as Sarcoptic Mange after treating the dog with Paradyne the constant scratching was gone all her hair grew back and her ears still stand up not deformed from surgery. Do Not have surgery without trying Hemorrhoidal Ointment first.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Teddi said:


> I went through the same thing with my shepherd mixed from the animal shelter. I canceled the surgery after reading on the internet about the return of them and ultimate surgery. I don't know how this popped into my head but I tried Hemorrhoidal Ointment from the drugstore. I looked it up on the internet and it said that contained shark liver oil and vitamin E, sounds safe to use. I applied it twice a day morning and evening rubbing it into the Hematomas. After 2 days they started to shrink and after 4 days they were GONE ! The scratching that caused it was not allergies like the first Vet said but was diagnosed by a second Vet as Sarcoptic Mange after treating the dog with Paradyne the constant scratching was gone all her hair grew back and her ears still stand up not deformed from surgery. Do Not have surgery without trying Hemorrhoidal Ointment first.


I think I'm going to give it a try. Thanks. I had to call the vet's office again this morning. The swelling in the tip of the ear is recurring even with hot packs and massage draining. We got to the point where we just couldn't bear causing this sweet boy any more discomfort so tossed in the towel. Vet advised us to do nothing for two days in the line of hot packs and massage and see what happened. The fluid has stayed pink tinged serosanguinous. When the vet incised the ear he flushed it with normal saline and checked it internally. No sign of a broken blood vessel internally. How and why he has this remains a mystery.

You are correct though, PrepH does reduce swelling. Would be worth a try.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

UPDATE: Well, sorry to say, nothing we tried seemed to work for our boy, including the Prep H suggestion so back he went last Thursday for another round of surgery.

Here is how he came home later that day. He is laying at my feet at the moment so I snapped this picture of him.











We just couldn't stand to put him through any more discomfort hot packing and manually draining the ear twice a day. He was such a good boy, tolerant and gentle with us but we knew it really was hurting him for us to do it.

The brace is plastic and is stitched to the back of his ear. No, he doesn't much like it but the swelling to the ear is minimal now, just a little puffy at the tip which we expected. He has to have it on for ten days then hopefully all will be well.


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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

similar idea to the buttons that was done on my girl.
- do try to keep it as clean & dry as is possible.
Fingers crossed that it works.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Poor Pup, I hope he feels better soon.


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## Teddi (Aug 4, 2014)

Sorry to hear about what your dog and family is going through, I know when Teddi my dog was going through this I felt so helpless about what she was going through. I hope the surgery fixes the problem.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

He got his sutures and ear gear off Saturday. The hematoma hasn't returned, thank goodness but his ear is still a little abnormal looking and feeling, mainly I think from having it sliced open twice and then having a ear shaped form sutured to it. It still hasn't peaked back up yet either so we are wondering if he is going to live out the second half of his life with one ear up and one ear half down. We don't care if it doesn't peak. He's such a sweet boy. In fact, he just came back from fishing with me, mainly splashing about in the pond scaring off anything worth catching.

The mystery still remains as to how he did this to himself.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I'm glad he is doing better. My Marty shook his head last night while I was sitting on the sofa. He smacked his ear on the wooden carved part of the arm, I instantly was thinking Oh no....


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Anyone have any suggestions of anything we can do to lessen the thickening in his ear?

I'm wondering if vitamin E oil might help.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Just massage is all I know of.


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## kalmara (Aug 21, 2011)

apart from keeping my girls ear clean & I did nothing, took several weeks, before the swelling/thickening went.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Its been a week since the sutures came out. The ear continues to heal but there is a little thickened 'crinkle' in his ear now that we are massaging a couple of times a day hoping it will smooth out and his ear will peak again. If it does, great, if it doesn't it isn't going to change how much we love him one bit, in fact it gives him a sort of 'cute' appearance.

No more fluid problems but we have noticed that he has started being very careful when he rams his way through the door. We suspect that was how he hurt the ear to start with, probably pinching it somehow on his way outside.


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## NancyS71 (Aug 27, 2020)

badlander said:


> UPDATE: Well, sorry to say, nothing we tried seemed to work for our boy, including the Prep H suggestion so back he went last Thursday for another round of surgery.
> 
> Here is how he came home later that day. He is laying at my feet at the moment so I snapped this picture of him.
> 
> ...


I may suggest not using a hot pack.. as heat increases inflammation.. it is best to ice a swelling.. 5 minutes on 5 minutes off. And hematoma's take well over a month to reabsorb on their own. I have wrapped my dog's ears back on the head.. so she doesn't continue to shake her ear and cause further damage. I have heard this aids in healing as well.


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