How to bandage my dog's ear after an aural hematoma refilled?

I'm so sorry that you're dealing with this with Milo. Aural hematomas can be a challenge to manage. I have frequently bandaged ears after draining to prevent them from refilling, but the only way to do this is to bandage the entire head. Some animals tolerate this and some do not. Another trick that I have tried over the years is a Chinese herbal combination to prevent bleeding called Yunnan Bai Yao. Your veterinarian may carry it. So, I would ask your veterinarian about draining the ear again, bandaging it to the head for compression, and maybe adding Yunnan Bai Yao. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Your dog needs to wear the e-collar as pawing at the ear and shaking the head will only make it bleed more and increase the hematoma. Icing, unfortunately will not make it down. Your dog will need to be seen again by your vet. Treatment: evacuation of the blood and instillation of a steroid can often stop the bleeding , There are also surgical methods which will stop the bleeding. There is always a chance that the ear will end up shaped differently or "crippled", which is merely a cosmetic problem.

I would recommend to treat it medically with a long course of prednisolone, i personally have excellent results with this protocol. it is also very important to treat the ear infection that is making your dog scratch and shake his head, without treating it it will keep coming back.

If you wrap it too tightly, that can cut off the blood supply to the ear and make things worse, which is why I said no. I've seen owners wrap things and cause serious problems, worse than the original problem. It also doesn't help the hematoma. The ear will still end up misshapen and if the bandage slips, the dog may strangle.

It's possible that it will go away on its own in the next 2-4 weeks, but there will be some scar tissue that builds-up under the skin - maybe like the other ear appears. It's also possible that it will grow to fill the whole ear, or get infected. If it grows and/or is not going down in the next 2-4 weeks, then it's best to take Opal back to the vet. The vet will be able to drain it and can do a different procedure to keep it from swelling back up again (these often swell back up after they are drained). The steroid injections only work in about 70% of the cases and unfortunately it didn't work for Opal. There is really not much you can do for this at home that is very effective. You can try applying ice to the ear for 15 minutes 2-3 times daily and can also attempt to bandage it, so it's not continually being shaken. Below is a link to a good video that shows how to bandage the ear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FQ0JopKfY0 I hope that helps and Opal gets better soon.

This looks like an aural hematoma which is where blood from a capillary bursts and fills up the est between the two layers are cartilage. You can purchase a "no flap ear wrap" online to help with the flapping of the ears. Most commonly this problem needs a procedure done by a vet to allow the blood to drain while the two layers of cartilage re-adhere to one another. Also there is likely an ear infection that caused the shaking of the head to begin with that will likely need to be treated. If the blood is not drained the ear flap will eventually scar down and become a "cauliflower" ear which won't cause too many problems except that it isn't very cosmetic and sometimes they can be more prone to skin infections in the crevices of the cauliflower ear so this isn't recommended. I hope this helps.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are a variety of ways to treat an ear hematoma in dogs (oral medications, draining it and instilling a medication, or a surgical "tacking", as well as determining what the underlying cause for the hematoma is). They do need to be treated by a veterinarian, as they do not typically resolve on their own, and can become very painful/infected. After treatment, the ear may be the same, or it may have a "crinkled" appearance. I would recommend your dog be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine what treatment plan would be best. Good luck!