My dog's ear is bleeding after a fight. How do I care for the wound?

Oh my. Poor guy. Unfortunately this ear has a hole through it and is badly infected. He needs to see a doctor for proper care of this ear and prescribed antibiotics as well as have suturing of the laceration. This cannot be treated at home with much success. For now you can try cleaning it with Betadine diluted 50:50 with warm water to help prevent further infection, but please schedule an appt with your vet right away or if he does no belong to anyone in particular, then he should be surrender to an animal shelter so that they can use their resources there to try and save this pets ear and eye. I wish you all the best moving forward and hope that you can Kata moving forward. Best wishes and take care.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Willow has a cut on her ear. It is possible that she caused it herself by scratching, but if you did not observe it happening, she could have traumatized it on something else, or been wounded by another animal. Based on your description of the wound, I recommend bringing her to your local veterinarian to have her evaluated. At the very least, the wound likely needs to be cleaned and flushed with a sterile solution to prevent infection. Depending on how deep or infected the wound is, it may require more extensive management such as surgical closure of the wound, or bandages. Willow likely also needs an Elizabethan (cone) collar to prevent her from further traumatizing the wound. Unfortunately, dogs like to scratch at their ears and can make it very hard for wounds to heal. If the wound is superficial and Willow is otherwise healthy, you may be able to apply compression to the wound to get it to stop bleeding, and monitor it closely at home for signs of infection (redness, swelling, yellow-green discharge, foul odor). If you see any of these signs, Willow should definitely be evaluated by a veterinarian. Just a reminder, NEVER give dogs any pain medications that are intended for humans, as they can be lethally toxic to dogs. I hope this is helpful!

It seems a small trauma, which is healing fine and at the moment (looking at the pic) I cannot see any sign of infection. Disinfection can be done at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any scratching (if any). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Hello. Hunter may require antibiotics for such a deep cut. I would visit with your veterinarian to see if this is necessary, especially before an infection sets up in the ear. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I think it will be fine to try and treat this at home for now (even though we don't know the cause), but would recommend a visit to the vet if: 1) It doesn't get better in 2 weeks 2) It starts to get worse or have a lot of discharge. Keeping the wound clean and keeping it covered are the key treatments for success in getting this wound to heal as soon as possible. For this, I recommend the following: 1) Wash/spray the area with just cool, clean water (no soap or other antiseptics) for at least 2 minutes at a time. Do this once a day. 2) Bandage the wound with gauze and apply an over-the-counter antibacterial cream (i.e Neosporin) to the wound. Here is a link to a good demonstration of a head bandage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3c-SXhUSBY Keeping it covered and keeping Indiana from pulling it off will be the most difficult part of the treatment. You can help keep the bandage on by placing a good (really sticky) tape above and below the bandage. NOTE: Be careful not to bandage too tight or it can cut-off the circulation. If you notice that the neck/chin area start to swell, then remove the bandage and leave it off until the swelling goes down. These types of lesions tend to take a while to heal, so don't be surprised if its not completely healed until a month later. Once the skin looks normal you can stop the cleaning/bandaging. I hope that helps and Indiana gets better soon.

As you have already said, the blood you are seeing on Khloe's ear could be due to multiple reasons. We could be dealing with self inflicted bleeding due to chronic itching. If this was the case, there is most like an infectious or allergic process taking place that is causing this type of behavior. If you don't go to the vet, you will not be able to verify the presence of absence of an infection under a microscope. There are however several over the counter ear washes and flushes that can be used with antimicrobial / antifungal properties. However, be aware that the use of these products before the ear is inspected for a punctured ear drum can have significant consequences. Should you decide to use them, I would recommend at least a week of use. There should be directions on the bottle. If the bleeding was caused by trauma from a dog bite, systemic antibiotics should likely be administered to prevent and/or treat any infection. I would fashion Khloe with an e-collar to prevent any further damage to the ear that she might inflict out of discomfort. You can obtain one of these at a pet store, veterinarian, or even create a home made one (look for a video on Youtube). I hope you can help Khloe feel better soon!

It's not an emergency likely but it may need to be addressed. For bleeding lesions, apply firm pressure for 10-15 minutes. You can use hydrogen perxoide to clean the area one time but don;t use it more than that because it can impede healing. After that, use soap and water to clean the ear if it gets dirty but otherwise leave it alone. You need to prevent Reese from shaking her head and traumatizing the ear. Sometimes and elizabethan collar can help. This is is though the best product to prevent shaking the ear: https://www.noflapearwrap.com/?variant=1045913141273 Lesions on the ear tips are commonly due to fungal infections, vasculitis or fly bites. You can keep the ear clean and dry. Keep the ear protected from trauma. You can give Reese a supplement for omega 3 fatty acids for pets to help with inflammation. You can apply a tiny dab of organic coconut oil to the lesion 1-2 times a day and rub it in well. If the lesion is not improving within 5 days, if it starts looking worse or if it will not stop bleeding after 15 minutes, have Reese examined by the veterinarian. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.