My dog has an ear hematoma. What's the immediate next step?

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!

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.

I'm so sorry that Julia has this problem (and she is adorable BTW). Aural hematomas typically never resolve completely on their own. If left untreated (i.e. undrained) eventually the blood that's trapped between the skin and the cartilage of the ear will be reabsorbed, assuming the ear infection (which is causing the head shaking and thus the hematoma) is properly treated. However, typically this leaves a scarred ear, something called a cauliflower ear, and this can be avoided with proper treatment. First, make sure that the medication that has been prescribed is going to appropriately treat the ear infection. That means a vet needs to do a cytology (microscopic evaluation) of the debris inside the ear. Most ear infections are fungal in nature, and need antifungal treatments to completely resolve. Then talk to the vet about draining the blood inside the ear. This may resolve the problem completely, but be prepared that Julia may need surgery to reattach the cartilage to the skin and resolve the hematoma for good.

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.

I also have seen people leave them be to eventually absorb. However I would not recommend doing this to your pet because it does cause them discomfort and there is a risk of having pressure necrosis develop on the ear flap. I would also not recommend draining this yourself because this requires making a cut in the ear flap and often a mild sedative is needed for the pet to tolerate a procedure like this. Also if there is an infection then antibiotics will be needed in addition. The best advice is to let your vet drain this area at the clinic/hospital. You can place a cold compress on the ear flap, if allowed, to help reduce the blood pooling for now and then get Bear seen by your vet as soon as you can. Best wishes with Bear and his ear hematoma. I hope everything works out well for her. Take care.

I'm sorry that Remy had a hematoma in his ear! Unfortunately, there is really nothing you can do at home to treat this problem - it will eventually go away on its own, but this can take several weeks in some cases and may cause some scarring or disfigurement of the ear. I do not recommend attempting to drain it at home, as this often introduces infection and makes the problem worse. Your vet can surgically repair the hematoma, or may prescribe a steroid or other medication to help it heal faster if you opt not to do surgery - so it would be a good idea to take Remy Martin in for an exam if you are able to. In many cases, affected dogs also have an ear infection or other underlying problem that needs to be diagnosed and treated as well.

Your dog will only have to go under anesthesia if the veterinarian decides to fix the othematoma surgically by opening it , draining it and reattaching the skin to the cartilage. the danger of a conventionally treated othematoma with draining, instilling steroids and hoping it goes away, is that the ear may become crippled, and/or (often) the it will refill with blood and may need to be drained several times. It is very important to find the underlying cause of the hematoma, such as an ear mite or other ear infection and also treat that. Your vet should discuss all options with you. Anesthesia nowadays is very safe.