Why does my dog's ear fluid sac keep refilling after draining?

They will examine Tank’s ear and then discuss the various options. If it is something like a hematoma, they may drain it or offer a surgical correction. The surgical correction generally works best. Draining hematoma is typically requires a few drainings as well as wearing a special sleeve to stop the ear from flapping around. Many times there is an underlying allergy, infection or a mast cell tumor so they will check him for those causes as well. If it is something like a tumor, that is a completely different treatment plan. I hope this helps.

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

Hi there. I can't say for sure without being able to examine him, but what you're describing sounds like an aural hematoma - this is basically a pocket of blood in the ear flap. It's usually caused by the dog shaking his head or scratching at the ear due to an underlying ear infection or other problem, which can cause a blood vessel in the ear flap to tear. If he does have an aural hematoma, this can either be surgically drained by your veterinarian, or managed with anti-inflammatory medication and time until it eventually resolves on its own. I would recommend taking Herbie to the vet when you're able to, to confirm the diagnosis and see what your veterinarian suggests as the best course of action.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You may be referring to ear hematomas. This is usually treated with a relatively simple surgical procedure. However, it is hard to know without being able to see this. I would encourage you to contact your veterinarian to let them know that he has not improved to see if that is something that seems likely based on their examination. Good luck!

This is actually filled with blood. This is a hematoma between the skin layers in the ear flap. They develop when dogs scratch or shake their heads excessively, usually from an ear infection or some type of allergy. Generally this requires a veterinary exam and surgical drainage. They will also check Dozer's ears to see if they are infected or try to find the cause of the hematoma. He will need to wear a cone probably until the ear heals. Without treatment the ear swelling will go down but it may take a month or more and the ear will scar up and become deformed. This can be uncomfortable and there is a risk of infection so I recommend veterinary treatment soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Dozer.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. This is not an emergency, I would suggest scheduling an appointment with your veterinarian to have this looked at. This will need to be drained and treated to prevent it from refilling. The technique I use is draining the ear and injecting a steroid medication into the ear flap where the swelling is. Sometimes this takes two or three times to resolve the problem. This is what we call an aural hematoma. And happens when the ear flap is hit against something hard and the blood vessels on the inside of the ear flap burst and leak blood into the ear flap filling it like a balloon. If draining the ear flap and using the steroid injection for treatment does not work after 3 times then I typically resort to a more surgical approach by placing a drain into the earflap itself. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please feel free to contact me with any other additional questions you may have. I am also available for consultation if needed.

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.