My dog has a broken blood vessel in her ear

[Guest]

It has gotten bigger in the last 24 hours. The vet we took her to said she needs surgery, I thought they could just drain it without putting under surgery type but they said it won’t get all of it drained. Is this what y’all have experienced?

[Lisa]

Happen to my mini poodle. Both ears. Vet told me to do nothing. It will go down by itself. The first ear wasn't going down. Decided to have the vet drain it. No surgery. Thankfully it didn't fill back up. Second ear. I decided to wait, like the vet suggested. Took about a month for it to start to go down. No vet visit. The ear that was drained went back to normal. Just a little bump. The ear I let drain buy itself, wrinkled up.

[Taylor]

Hematoma (pretty sure) my dog got one and her ear looked awful, I took her to the vet and they gave her a steroid shot, and told me I could ice it to help with discomfort, it went down but her ear looks a little odd on the inside, they def didn’t jump to surgery as the first option.

[Stacey]

Dealing with this currently . My girl's ear was swollen so big and tight and turned purple . My vet said just draining it would allow that empty space to fill back up , and putting in a drain tube would allow the possibility of infection . She didn't recommend surgery as she had done it in the past and it came back again. I followed her advice to give my dog a 3 week treatment of prednisone and allow it to heal on its own. She's on the 3rd week now and the swelling has gone down by about 50 percent.

[Karen]

We recently dealt with this with our senior dog. They drained it on a Friday and put a compression wrap on until the followup appointment on Monday morning. If the fluid refilled he would have needed surgery. Thankfully swelling went down and no surgery. I’d ask if they can try the less invasive treatment first.

[Courtney]

You can definately drain and do surgery.... also steroids work and can sometimes eliminate the need for surgery (my clinic starts with steroids first, I've never seen them have to do a surgery for it in 6 years). Would be worthwhile asking about it as an option.

[Ashley]

Depending on the severity of the swelling they may be worried about a rupture which can be an issue if it doesn't clot properly as it won't stop bleeding. Sounds like they plan to surgically remove the hematoma and then place a drain to prevent any other swelling.

A rupture is not fun and can leave your pet with a cauliflower ear.

[Jennifer]

Hi!! Hematomas are very common. They do occur because of broken blood vessels, usually from shaking their head often. If you have it drained it may fill back up again but then again it may not. If it doesn't, it will shrivel and honestly is just a cosmetc issue. I've seen clients do all three, it is your decision. At least it isn't a terminal issue and no matter what your dog will be ok.