Why is my puppy's one ear folded backwards? Should I worry?

Your pet has a cartilage defect, this cannot be helped unfortunately. Cartilage cannot be bent or repaired like bone, because of how it is made. However there is no real danger to your pet as this is purely cosmetic, so I would not be too concerned about it. You will just have to accept that your pet has a cosmetic difference that gives him character and love him all the same.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Sometimes this can be contributed to developmental factors and the cartilage in the ear becomes more firm in a particular position. Sometimes an ear infection can cause an ear to lay differently then the other. I would recommend having Lily's ears examined by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Oh my, Gemma is beyond adorable! It could be there is a problem with her ear such as an ear infection causing one to be down. I wouldn't be concerned about it, but it is something that I would have checked out by a vet. If she does have an ear infection, the vet can diagnose the cause of it (ear mites, yeast, bacteria), and can treat her for it. If she doesn't have an ear infection, it may be her ears are naturally like that, which would be so cute! I'd make an appointment for her with the vet on Monday. Good luck, I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about your concern for your puppy! Unfortunately in many dogs we can have changes in the carraige of the ears as they grow/mature. In some breeds, such as german shepherds, the ears will be taped by a vet or experienced dog breeder in an attempt to get them to stand in a certain manner, but this is not a gaurantee of the altering of the ear carraige. If you are not planning on showing your dog, I would accept her for ear sweet self and learn to love her funny ears (and they may continue to change as she grows). I myself have a lab mix with ears that do not match in their carriage. It gives them character!

The outer ear of the dog (the pinna) is made of cartilage, and that is what helps Rolo's ears stand up. It sounds like she experienced some damage to her ears if she had a aural hematoma in them (what you referred to as blood clots), and there is the possibility that the cartilage was damaged enough that her ears will remain floppy. Over time, however, they may heal and her ears could return to standing up. Unfortunately I can't say for certain one way or another, only time will tell. Best of luck.

Great question! She is just fine like this. Ear hematomas do wrinkle the ear flap. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to correct it. The best thing you can do is to make sure she doesn't get anymore hematomas by keeping her ears clean.

As much as you can keep the other dog from chewing on her ears, do so, but it's not the end of the world. Their ears will go up and down as they're teething and growing, so they may tip up and down for a couple months more until they stand for good. Congratulations on your new baby, she's absolutely beautiful!