# Aural hematoma nightmare



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I had a similar situation - 3 failed surgeries!! I finally opted to let the ear heal naturally after that and while you could feel the damage & scarring a year later, he did not have cauliflower ear and I think he was much much happier without his head wrapped in those colorful 'babuska' wraps that had even professional photographers snapping pictures of him when I brought him along to agility trials so I could keep an eye on him.

He was a golden so very doable - of course you do risk cauliflower ear but when all is said & done, multiple failed surgeries is also risky what with the anesthesia, the open wounds and the failed healing processes.


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## swishywagga (Nov 13, 2012)

My boy also had aural hematomas, fortunately our vet advised against surgery and after a few weeks they completely disappeared, I did notice a slight change in shape to his ear but to be honest I doubt anyone else would have. Good luck and I hope things work out well for your boy.


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

Well I honestly don't mind if he gets some kind of minor disfigurement. The hematoma is rather small so I guess the disfigurement would be proportional. 
My main concern is whether it will eventually heal on its own and that we don't just leave him with his ear irritating him and then after few months end up putting him under again and again with all the risks this carries. 
How long did it take for your dog's hematoma to start shrinking-drying up? I would like to have idea so that I ll know if things are going well..


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## swishywagga (Nov 13, 2012)

saras_gr said:


> Well I honestly don't mind if he gets some kind of minor disfigurement. The hematoma is rather small so I guess the disfigurement would be proportional.
> My main concern is whether it will eventually heal on its own and that we don't just leave him with his ear irritating him and then after few months end up putting him under again and again with all the risks this carries.
> How long did it take for your dog's hematoma to start shrinking-drying up? I would like to have idea so that I ll know if things are going well..


From memory I think the first one took about 4 weeks maybe slightly longer. The second time it happened I think it was about 3 weeks, I do remember our vet saying that normally it takes around 3 weeks but can be longer depending on the severity. The first one that Barnaby had was bigger than the second.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I also remember 3 to 4 weeks. I started massaging the ear once the incisions healed over to try to limit any disfigurement, it worked


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Ruby had one of these. The vet drained it three times in total (no bandaging) in a two week period, but it came back each time. The fourth time, she drained it then re-injected a cortisone solution into the cavity. Within a week, the thing was gone. It left minimal scarring: not visible to the eye, but you could feel a hard ridge on her ear if you touched it. It never came back.

She told me this approach works in about half the cases. If it hadn't worked for us, we were just going to let it absorb on its own, with regular massaging to minimize scarring.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

I went thru this with my Irish Setter. My vet drained at first but doubted it would work. But was worth a try due to Boots being 11 years old. It filled back up and God bless him, his ear was so heavy he walked with his head tilted. Vet did surgery then and it worked and Boots never any more trouble with that. My DIL's lad had it happen to one ear, it was fixed and a short time later his other ear developed a hematoma and had to be fixed. Hank didn't have any more trouble either.


Since you poor dog has been thru surgery twice, maybe waiting would be best--unles you think it is getting worse. Then surgery is about the on thing to do.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

We are going through this right now. Brady had one back in Nov, bothered us more than him. Had it drained by the vet, she did not want to give him a steroid because he needs to lose weight already. She had me massage the ear a few times a day. It just came back last week, so probably about 12 weeks later. She said we could drain it again if it came back, or let is resolve itself since he is not a show dog. Right now I am waiting to see if it will dissolve. Again it bothers us more than him.

She did tell me sometimes when they are drained, the dog has not even left the office and it has already filled.


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

Not a golden but my friend's ridgeback is dealing with this exact same thing at the moment. This is not the first time with this dog. Previously they had the operation. They are choosing to wait and see if it will resolve itself this time. Her husband is a retired vet.


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

cubbysan said:


> We are going through this right now. Brady had one back in Nov, bothered us more than him. Had it drained by the vet, she did not want to give him a steroid because he needs to lose weight already. She had me massage the ear a few times a day. It just came back last week, so probably about 12 weeks later. She said we could drain it again if it came back, or let is resolve itself since he is not a show dog. Right now I am waiting to see if it will dissolve. Again it bothers us more than him.
> 
> She did tell me sometimes when they are drained, the dog has not even left the office and it has already filled.


Well it looks like we'll both have to be patient.  I have decided to let it resolve on its own...unless it starts getting bigger and covers the majority of the ear. My dog also doesn't look like its really bothering him so no more surgeries for now. 
I read on a few places to use some arnica cream on it..so I am also trying that. Not sure if it will help...but why not. Best of luck to both of us and our dogs


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Actually thank you for posting this thread, I was feeling guilty not going back and second guessing the vet. Seems like every vet deals with these differently. Mine was a new one at our office only out of vet school a few years. She also told me Brady's was about medium size, so they must get pretty big because I thought his was pretty big, and his is mid ear to the bottom, not affecting the ear canal.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I'll have to look up what arnica cream is. Not sure if we have it in the states.


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

cubbysan said:


> I'll have to look up what arnica cream is. Not sure if we have it in the states.


I am sure you got it in US. I think the plant is called arnica montana and I have seen arnica gels on amazon. Keep in mind that I have only been told it helps..don't have personal exprerience. I have been using it on my dog's ear for 3-4 days now along with giving him arnica homeopathic tablets and the only thing I have noticed for now is that the hematoma is not as hot on touch as it was on first days it reappeared.


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

I thought I would give an update about Toby's hematoma. Nine days after the recurrence and things are looking really good. So good that even our vet was surprised. I dont know if arnica helped or if it's because of the previous surgeries that created some scar tissue inside and contained the situation but the hematoma stopped growing 3-4 days ago and started becoming solid. Inflammation is down and vet thinks that it will probably resolve on its own pretty soon!


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## Kuiper (Jan 7, 2016)

We had our 8 year old mutt dog get into a fight with two strays that somehow got into our backyard. He actually developed pretty large hematomas in both ears. Took up the whole pinna on both sides. They bothered him at first and we went to the vet and found out what they were. They said draining it, for the most part, was fruitless, as it would just fill back up. Surgery or letting it reabsorb was the best thing to do.

We decided to just let it run its course. After about a month both ears were no longer squishy feeling. He has some scarring and his ears look crinkled but they don't bother him, and they don't bother us.


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

I am happy to report that it's been around 15 days that Toby's ear is perfectly normal. It's completely dry and the only thing left is some minor scaring in the form of increased thickness. Vet was surprised to see it resolve on its own so fast and thinks that this scaring will prevent it from recurring. It took us a while (3 months and 2 surgeries) but I believe we are done!


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## saras_gr (Nov 7, 2015)

I remembered I had this post opened last year and I thought I would share some news. The hematoma in the left ear that I reported last year did indeed heal without any problems as I wrote on my last post. There is some thickening but the ear is perfectly normal for almost one year now.

The bad thing is that Toby got a hematoma on his right ear about 2.5 months ago and all hell broke loose again. After draining it and injecting cortisone in the cavity for the first 2-3 weeks we realized we weren't getting anywhere. We proceeded with surgery number one..we went for the one where the ear is sliced a gap is left open and the area is filled with stitches and the ear is then bandaged. The vet left the stitches in for about 2 weeks after the trouble we had with his left ear. Post op looked great . The ear was healing nicely..and scar tissue had formed inside the cavity. We took the stitches out and removed the bandages...6 hours later fluid starts gathering again. the pressure opened up the freshly closed wound and blood starting dripping everywhere. So back to the vet the next morning.

The vet this time did the procedure where he placed a drain in. After 4-5 days no more fluid was coming out but we left the drain in for about 10 more days just to be on the safe side. Drain was removed and we left the ear to heal bandaged for 15 more days cause we didnt want any more surprises. Everything was looking great so 1 week ago we removed the bandage almost sure that the job was done. We were so wrong! Not even 3 hours passsed and the ear started filling up again. 

Now one week later the ear is filled up as much as it was before even doing the first surgery. Exactly the same thing that happened to the other ear last year. We really dont know what more to do..I talked to another vet..he is also really shocked to hear the story. He said we could try running some blood to check for clotting factors in his blood cause this should not be happening. Other than that he told us that in some hard cases like this he does internal stitches that need about 2 months to dissolve.

I really dont know what to do and wanted to ask for opinions..the internal stitches make sense but on the other hand nothing guarantees that 2 months later we wont get the same thing happening. Its clear that something deeper is causing this. I am thinking of letting it heal on its own as the other one did last year..but to be honest its quite bigger in size and the vet told me that I probably was lucky with the other ear healing as fast as it did on its own.

Needless to say the dog has no other health issues..great bloodwork..no sign of ear infections..nothing


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