Hi,

I used to work at an animal hospital and saw many of these. My dog also had one after another dog bit her ear. Did the vet give you antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds? Also, have you been cleaning the ear with peroxide or something? If no to any of these questions, that could be why it's not healing well.

Also, I think the ear infection is supposed to be treated at the same time as the surgery, because that is the cause of the hematoma. So I'm wondering why your vet didn't do that. I could be wrong about that, but I just remember that the vet I worked for would treat the infection right away.

If the hematoma is back, I don't think there's any way to avoid surgical or medical treatment. If you don't treat it, it will cause huge problems for the dog, including tons of pain. But who knows...maybe the swelling is normal.

Since you're going to your vet anyway to get the stitches removed, you'll find out what's going on and you can ask your vet what to do.

Good luck,
Gabi

Thanks for your comments. Yes, the vet did give me antibiotics, which just ran out a day or so ago, and a small bottle of eardrops, which I assumed were for the infection. But the drops ran out about a week after the surgery, so I concluded that must be the end of the treatment. There was also a larger bottle of drops which I was supposed to use to clean her ear before giving her the other ones. But those in the larger bottle were only supposed to be applied once weekly after the treatment was over. Perhaps I should go back to giving them to her every day again. But they apparently hurt her, because she winced every time I put them in, so it was hard on both of us.

I have read on line that hematomas often dry up on their own, but leave the ear a little deformed afterwards. I think her ear is never going to be the same anyway, though, since it's been drooping ever since her surgery. From the way the vet described the surgery to me, I thought it was supposed to keep the hematoma from recurring. But I'm beginning to have doubts about that!

My Dalmation had one on his ear & I chose to have it drained, instead of doing the surgery. He was 11 at the time & I didn't want to risk him going under at that age. His did dry up on it's own after it was drained, it did fill up again but not as large as it was to begin with & it didn't deform his ear at all. Now you can't even tell where it was.
Lisa

They can recurr especially if the dog is still shaking his head for any reason. The only way to prevent them from happening is to treat the reason that the dog is shaking his head in the first place, which 99% of the time is because of an ear infection. My Rottie had a previous hematoma that was not well treated long before I got her, and now because of the way the ear healed she is more prone to ear infections. The ear crunched down a bit and slightly blocked her ear canal, so it doesn't get that much air circulation. I have to be very good about keeping her ear cleaned or it does become infected. Then of course she starts shaking her head and she could get a hematoma. It can be a vicious cycle.

Thanks, everybody, for your input. I took my dog back to the vet today, and she agreed to drain the ear again for free--though I'm going to have to pay for any medications. And we'll have to go through all that hassle with bandages again, which my dog really hates. I figure I'll give it one more try and, if that doesn't work, I'll just have to leave it alone and hope for the best.

Well, my dog got her stitches out yesterday, and today it looks as if the ear is already starting to thicken up some again. (Sigh.) I am still giving her eardrops, as the vet instructed. But, since they cause her to shake her head vigorously afterwards, they could be contributing to the problem rather than relieving it!

Our older cat got one of those in her ear (possibly caused by the other cat during rough play). She had the surgery, and basically they drained the area then "quilted" her ear. Basically sewed stitches through the three layers of the ear to pin them together at intervals. He warned us somtimes the ear becomes mishapen, but hers turned out perfect other than a tiny wrinkle that you can't really see but can feel a bit if you go looking for it.

I truly believe that is why it never came back. Was this the same kind of surgery? Did she pin through all the layers? Maybe not close enough together?

Yes, there were quite a few stitches, so that may have been the quilting you spoke of. The ear does seem to be doing better since being drained. Although it appeared to thicken up a little afterwards, it isn't as bad as it was before, and doesn't seem to be causing my dog discomfort. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get any worse. The ear is still droopy, but some people think the one up and one down is kind of cute, gives her a rather inquiring expression.