# HELP!! Hematoma Question



## SprtsGrl (May 22, 2007)

OK, so we all know Golden's come with bad ears. Well my poor guy ended up with a hematoma in his right ear. I took him to the Vet and they did surgery on the ear, incision and stiches to adhere the flap together. With medication all of this cost over $500. A day after the stiches were removed the Hematoma returned....they now want another $200 to re-do the surgery. I am puzzled over this....am I wrong or should this not be covered under the first surgery that did not work? I am having such a hard time with this that they want to charge me again. Am I wrong???? They charged me for an office visit when I brought him back with the returned hematoma. Am I being unfair? I know they are doing a service etc. I would appreciate any opinions. And I think normally this would not bother me so much, but these days $700 is a lot of money!! Thank you for reading!!


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

Boy, that's a tough one. Our old Sydney has had both ears done... years apart. The latest being about a year ago and complete lab and surgery with a follow up visit was around $250. Being in the White Rock area of Dallas, we drive over to Midway and NW Highway to see the best vet ever who is SO SO reasonable. We found him when we adopted our springer, as ESRA uses him and he did a wonderful job dealing with Cody's life threatening autoimmune anemia. I hope your sweet pupper does well with handling this again. If you would want a second opinion, let me know.


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## SprtsGrl (May 22, 2007)

Thank you!! My question for you is if it didn't work...would you expect to pay for a scond surgery and a second Vet sisit? Withoout a break on the cost or anything being that the fiorst didn't work?


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Sometimes they don't work, not because the doctor did the surgery wrong, but because there is an abnormality with the dog (maybe the capillaries are weaker than they should be or the dog has vasculitis that isn't easily controlled). We had one dog that had to have an ear done 3 times before it was healthy enough to stay put. You can't necessarily tell what's going on on the inside by what it looks like on the outside. On this dog, it looked normally healed from the outside.

Now if you were talking about a surgery where say the doctor left an ovary inside or something, then yes, I absolutely think the second surgery should be free. Because the doctor did something wrong. But an ear hematoma? Probably not actually the fault of the doctor. From the sounds of it, you are probably just paying enough on the second surgery to cover costs rather than the doctor making profit from it.


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

I've never even heard of surgery being done for an ear hematoma. Our vet puts a cannula in the dog's ear and let's it drain that way. We usually just use a small amount of local since it is a very easy procedure. That way, it prevents the ear from filling back up. Most dog's are fine afterwords, but some dogs do have a reoccurring problem.


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## bioteach (Nov 13, 2010)

Buckskin was the hematoma epicenter of the universe. Yes, we did pay for each one because each one took up the vet's time and resources. I came up with the idea of quilting Bucky's ears - putting in a stitch every cm or so in each direction. That did the trick!


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

2 ear hematomas here, one in each ear 

The first one, canula and a drain -- it worked. Ear is lumpy though, no big deal really. I sometimes think the reason this worked and why there has been no recurrence is because of the scar tissue that formed within the flap, makes it less likely for fluids to collect. Not sure though.

The second one, canula and a drain -- didn't work. Had to do the ear quilting, it did work. Ear is beautifully smooth, no recurrence. 

I've probably spent over $2k on my dog's ears. Did you know they can cast an ear? She's so sweet here (after the quilting), but really it was a very unpleasant experience for both of us ... IowaGold had to talk me down a couple of times (thank you IG!)

2nd picture is at the vet's when they changed her cast. I'm glad this is a memory now!


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

My irish setter, boots, developed one of those things when he was over 10 years old. Can't remember exactly how old he was (lost him at age 12 1/2 to bone cancer back on july 9, 1997)

my vet tried to syphon it out first, even tho he said it probably wold not work. He avoids putting dogs under if there is any way he can get around it. Well, in about 3 days boot's' s er was full--bet it weighted a pound or two. They hvae such long ears.

So surgery. Rickey opened it up and drained it but did not close it up. He had it stuffed with gauze for a day, and then i removed the gauze and every day i had to put a cream down in that opening and swabit around with one of those long handle cotton swabs---jerry and our son would leave the room when i did that. 

I can't remember how many days i had to do that, but it did heal up and he had no more problems. I think your vet is a little high, or maybe i am just use to my vet. Hopwever, i think the others are right and most, if not all, would charge to repeat a surgery that wasd being done, not bcazue of a botvched first one, but because it just happened.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

My first dog had them twice in the same ear. But my vet told me there was a good chance it would not work. I believe I had to pay for the second surgery also. The second time they quilted the ear and it never came back.


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

Both Syd's ears were quilted also.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Maggie had surgery for an ear hematoma, she was probably 11 or 12 y.o. It came back, but not a bad. We didn't want to put her under again, it didn't seem to be causing her any discomfort, so we left it alone. Some of the blood was reabsorbed over time.


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## SprtsGrl (May 22, 2007)

Oh thank you all so much for the input! I really do appreciate it. We are going this morning to take the poor guy in for a second ear surgery. 

JoEllen I cannot even imagine how tough that must have been! I have never seen an ear casted. They wrapped his head after the surgery he looked like a derranged cosmanaut! Hopefully soon this will be over, thank you again for all the advice!!!


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