# Aural Hematoma? for a friends Chocolate Lab



## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Our Sydney has had both ears done..... it's a surgery where they go in and "quilt" the ear. I would think $1000 is pretty high....esp if they are doing them at the same time. Sometimes they can resorb, but the standard from what I've been told is the surgery. Sometimes an infection can be the cause, shaking their heads, etc but most of the time a cause is unknown.

If you do a search on here, you'll find several threads about them.


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## penparson (Sep 19, 2010)

Reuben had one when he was 12 or 13. Due to his age, the vet advised against surgery and put him on medication. The hematoma resolved completely in a couple of months.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

The most common causes are untreated ear infections and/or allergies. Bascially anything that causes head shaking. Sometimes it's caused by vasculitis (with is an immune mediated illness).


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My Rowdy had one from shaking his head in hydro therapy (he whacked the ear against the side) - he had surgery 3 times and I finally just let the ear heal by itself since the surgeries kept failing. You could tell by touching the ear, but not by casually looking that the ear flap was damaged once it did heal. 

I did spend a lot of money, but more importantly he was miserable with the surgeries, the bandages around his head and having to wear the cone. It did end up healing.


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

We never do surgeries on ear hematomas. We put in a cannula and allow the ear to drain naturally. Once fully drained (2-3 weeks) we take it out.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

LOL, I deleted my post -- changed my mnind. 

After 2 ear hematomas (one a canula and drain, the other the quilting procedure), I still can't make up my mind which is the better option ... or if letting them heal on their own is even better.

I'm glad Daisy only has 2 ears ... I think we're through with the hematomas now


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Rainheart said:


> We never do surgeries on ear hematomas. We put in a cannula and allow the ear to drain naturally. Once fully drained (2-3 weeks) we take it out.


Rainhart, if that has always worked for you, I think you've been lucky. Which is good!


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

Jo Ellen said:


> Rainhart, if that has always worked for you, I think you've been lucky. Which is good!



I've never had a dog with ear hematomas myself, but I'm speaking on behalf of my clinic, which we only do cannulas.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Oh, I'm sorry. So you're a vet or you work at a vet clinic? And you only do cannulas. Why is that? What is the rate of recurrence?


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

It's ok! I work in a vet clinic as assistant (I'm a to-be vet if I get into school this next year). We have a few dogs that get them chronically (off the top of my head I can name one) but the others do very well and don't need anything done again.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I wish I had had more confidence in the cannnula procedure. The quilting was agonizing. I swear, the recovery on that one was more difficult than either of the ACL surgeries she had. Honestly, I think it was the most difficult of any surgery she's had.


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

Jo Ellen said:


> I wish I had had more confidence in the cannnula procedure. The quilting was agonizing. I swear, the recovery on that one was more difficult than either of the ACL surgeries she had. Honestly, I think it was the most difficult of any surgery she's had.


I can only go off of the hospital I work at, so I've never seen the surgery done before (let alone even heard of it). At least it is done and over with for Daisy. 
The cannula procedure is pretty messy, to say the downside. A cone is a must unless you want drainage all over your ceiling.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Maybe you've seen these pictures already. This is after the quilting (they casted her ear) and then when they changed the cast, I got a picture of what it looked like. It may not look that bad, but I can tell you she was miserable. Especially towards the end, she couldn't sleep at night, she cried a lot ... I don't know if it was pain necessarily, just discomfort. I was beyond thrilled for her when the cast came off for good but she had it for several weeks, and non-stop cone too. She would have torn that cast up in a matter of seconds without the cone


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Rainheart said:


> We never do surgeries on ear hematomas. We put in a cannula and allow the ear to drain naturally. Once fully drained (2-3 weeks) we take it out.


Funny how clinics are different...we ALWAYS do surgery!


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

We do surgery, too. Draining never works and it is so messy. Of course, owners can opt to do nothing and potentially get a cauliflower ear.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Jo, not all surgeries have the issues that your poor Daisy had. Syd had both surgeries done and never skipped a beat...... very easy for her and us. Hopefully, you'll never have the issue again with Daisy or any other dog, but just in case wanted you to know that Daisy's experience isn't necessarily the norm.

Oh, and Syd's 2 surgeries were done by different vets, both of which always do the surgery too.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

That might very well be true, Betty. It really wore me down, and I'm a pretty tough girl these days.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

My former girl Cedah had the surgery twice but they did the quilting and it worked for good. The worst part for me was squirting the antibiotic creme between the inner and outer flaps through the huge hole in her inner ear flap. It was quite a few years ago but I don't remember the cost being anything serious. I was fresh out of college and pretty poor in those days.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Jo Ellen said:


> That might very well be true, Betty. It really wore me down, and I'm a pretty tough girl these days.


I well remember. It would have any of us down, I'm sure.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Sally's Mom said:


> We do surgery, too. Draining never works and it is so messy. Of course, owners can opt to do nothing and potentially get a cauliflower ear.


Obviously NOT a golden, but an example of what can happen to an untreated ear hematoma:


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

But does that dog bite???


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Well, it IS a chihuahua!


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