Why is my dog's face bloody after ear hematoma surgery? Is it normal?

Hi there and thanks for posting! Try holding pressure agains the area with a clean dry paper towel for 3 mins. You can also hold a little ice agains the area to help constrict the blood vessels. If it is still bleeding even after a couple tries and Riley is still bleeding where it is coming out very quickly or is too frequently to count, Riley may need to be taken to an emergency clinic to help stop the bleeding. I hope this helps and best of luck to you and Riley!

Ear hematoma occurs due to an ear infection, your dog is probably quite prone to this type of infection. when such an infection occurs some dogs shake their head violently which causes the ear hematoma. There is a medical treatment for ear hematoma (steroids for 1 months), in my experience it is as successful as the surgery.

The blood is clotting and slowly will be reabsorbed. If Bonbon is shaking his head or scratching the ears the aural hematoma will probably come back. I would suggest to treat possible underlying otitis and leave the ear as it is now, without draining. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any scratching.

Surgery is the "gold standard" for addressing aural hematomas. Draining it with a needle and syringe may provide a quick fix, but more often than not the ear refills with blood. Allowing it to resolve without treatment may take weeks and could lead to a deformed ear flap. Surgery can be done to clean out the clotted blood and stop the bleeding. A specific suture pattern is used to keep the ear flap from refilling and in shape. The underlying cause, usually ear infection, should be addressed as well to prevent excessive head shaking.

This is a very difficult condition to treat. Othematomas can occur when the dog scratches his hear a lot or shakes the head a lot (often because of a mite infection or other ear infection) or other trauma...There are several ways of treating othematoma. One is to remove the blood via syringe and to instill a corticosteroid, It is likely to fill again and will often need a second or third time emptying, Another way is to empty the hematoma and sew in a little catheter and attach a bag to collect blood and serous discharge,and hope the blood vessel stops bleeding. The third method is to fix the problem with surgery. Often the dog;s ear will cripple some, but this will not impair its function.

Ear hematomas can take a while to heal and can fill up multiple times after the initial drainage. Many times for the recurrent hematomas, I will need to place a drain into the ear flap and Stitch it in place. This drain will remain there for several weeks before removing it. This allows the ear to actively drain during the healing process so that scar tissue can form to seal the hematoma site. The fluid that you are seeing, is likely fluid that the body is accumulating in the area of the hematoma in an attempt to fill in the Dead Space. As long as this fluid does not look thick yellow or smell it is likely not infectious and is more likely serous fluid. If this fluid continues and does not resolve after several weeks then I would have this rechecked by the veterinarian and consider having further treatment done to try and resolve this problem. If Mimi does not have an anti-inflammatory, I would certainly recommend giving her one to help reduce any inflammation associated with the ear hematoma. I hope this helps solve the problem. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions you may have

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.