Users' questions

Can I lance my dogs ear hematoma?

Can I lance my dogs ear hematoma?

If your dog has a large or painful aural haematoma, it will need draining. This can be done using a needle and syringe or an indwelling plastic drain (see below). Left undrained, large aural haematomas are often painful, scar and cause a thickened, crinkly earflap (like a rugby player with ‘cauliflower ear’).

How do you fix a hematoma in a dog’s ear at home?

If your dog allows, place gentle pressure on the area to help it fully drain. You can also wrap a soft bandage around your dog’s head (holding the ear flap flat against the head) to help keep the pocket from filling again. Make sure to check and replace the bandage often to ensure it stays clean and dry.

How do you fix a hematoma on a dog’s ear?

Treatment options include:

  1. Removing the fluid with a syringe and needle—which may be an exercise in frustration because the fluid may come back repeatedly.
  2. An injection of long-acting cortisone inside the hematoma.
  3. Placing a teat cannula, which was originally a device to treat infection in a cow’s udder.

Can I drain my dogs swollen ear?

The hematoma is drained of fluids and allowed to heal over several weeks. This method is generally successful, but the dog must tolerate the discomfort of the cannula in the earflap, while it drains fluid.

How can I clean my dog’s ear canal?

Stand on his other side. Grasp one ear and hold the ear flap (pinna) up vertically to expose the ear canal and help straighten out the ear canal. While holding your dog’s ear flap, gently but firmly with one hand, hold the ear cleaning solution in your other hand. Squeeze some ear cleaning solution into your dog’s ear.

How is the ear flap of a dog made?

The ear flap is made like a sandwich, with skin on the outside, and cartilage in the middle. The capillaries lie between the skin and the cartilage, when a capillary ruptures then blood begins to fill up the space under the skin.

What to do if your dog has an ear hematoma?

It is a teat cannula used to treat cow mastitis, and can be used to treat dog ear hematomas, using only a local anesthetic in the ear flap, then taking a #15 blade to lance the hematoma, then insert the cannula, and suture in place with one suture. (Removing the cap off of the tube before inserting to allow drainage).

Why does my Scottish Terrier have fluid in her ear?

For your Scottish Terrier with a folded over ear cartilage due to the hematoma, this condition may be permanent. Draining the fluid out can alter the interior architecture of the ear flap and will result in a sort of ‘crumpled’ or ‘cauliflower’ appearance of the ear flap.