Ear hematoma in dog is an affliction which gets too much attention for needing surgery to repair. In fact, surgery seems to cause more damage than the hematoma itself. First, let’s look at the cause. Something has happened to rupture a feeding artery into the pinna. An underlying condition contributing to ear irritation most likely made the dog rake the ear against something or shaking the ear repeatedly. Either way, an artery is the only blood vessel strong enough to release fluid pressure to tear apart the tissues binding the skin and cartilage. These tears as well begin releasing fluids into the now ever-growing hematoma being created. Here is where different approaches to treatment occur. Should the vet address the blood pool only and aspirate once or multiple times? Should the vet incise the ear and suture the skin back to the cartilage? Should the vet install a drain or allow fluids from the bleeding vessels to exit the ear? In my opinion Yes, No and No. Aspiration alone relieves fluid buildup without harming or wounding. If coagulation has already begun, then a hypodermic needle aspiration will be non-effective. With an early onset hematoma, a hypodermic needle aspiration is pet and pet parent friendly with both relieving the pain for the animal and keeping costs down for owner. However, aspiration is not going to fix the broken blood vessel. The only way to repair the broken blood vessel feeding the hematoma is to allow the animal time to build reparative tissues to seal the break. These repairs take place while the aural hematoma condition is in suspension, meaning the hematoma is no longer filling, the fluids become still allowing for rapid coagulation to begin growing granulation against both skin and cartilage, and the once flowing broken blood vessel now has back pressure against it and the site of break begins to seal and heal. This occurs naturally in untreated aural hematoma. Consequences are that the bulbous blood clot formed is reduced in a fashion where granulation has attached all skin and cartilage to the blood clot, and as the clot is reduced towards the center, the skin and cartilage are pulled along with it causing the shrivel. Since in this scenario the amount of shrivel is proportionate to the diameter of the blood clot, then the solution would be to limit the blood clot size to as thin a layer as possible, making the skin and cartilage in as close proximity as possible at time of blood clot coagulation and granulation. This process is not foreign to veterinary medical. Splinting the auricle for a duration of time will achieve natural healing by allowing a thin layer of blood clot to form in the entirety of the hematoma region. The thin layer acts in the same fashion as a natural bulbous clot, but without the consequences of crinkling the ear after reabsorption. Keeping an open mind to aural splinting for aural hematoma can and will bring new Holistic medical treatments needed to address the current clinical duress patients and their owners are now having to endure.

I have a 12 year old cat who developed an aural hematoma. He had surgery two days ago (Friday) to drain the ear and this evening (Sunday), it started to swell up again.

Is this to be expected? He started shaking his head as well and not sure how to prevent him from doing so.

Unfortunately it is late at night and I am not able to reach the vet. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

My Golden Retriever was running in the yard playing and let out a yelp. She is now limping and won’t put weight on her back leg. Could it be a pulled muscle? I will take her to the vet in the AM if not better. Can I give her anything for pain?

Hi! This is my first time posting here!

We are taking our baby Rusty to the Vet next week. He has been recovering from Parvo this past week after being hospitalized for 6 days. He is doing AMAZING. Eating great, keeping it down. Still has slight runny poop/diarrhea. But we know that was to be expected. No blood, colors great.

We take him to the vet next week for a check up to see how he’s doing.

My husband and I noticed a tiny red spot on his arm where his vitals/catheter was they stuck in him at the hospital. We thought at first he was just picking at a scab, so to prevent it I went to wrap it back up and bought a inflatable cone from Petsmart.

As I was about to wrap it up, I noticed it was a pretty big open area exposed. Looking closer, I see a tiny pinpoint hole in the middle. At first, I thought it was again from the vitals they put in his arm.

Looking on Google being paranoid, I came across the possibility of warbles. My heart sank.

I just wanted to know what you think. He has been doing so so well. All my life my family has had dogs but never have had this issue before.

You can see it is right above where his previous bandage at the hospital was.. so not sure if it is really from all the IVs or warbles.

I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you so much!

My Plott Hound had a large internal lipoma removed on Monday directly above his penis in his abdominal area. Almost immediately, he developed prominent swelling directly to, proximal, and distal to his operative site. In addition, he has swelling down his leg. Took him back to the vet where a needle aspirate was done. He was diagnosed with multiple seromas. There was no WBCs seen or anything else visualized under the scope to indicate infection INSIDE. However, externally, his skin is red and angry and there is a lot of swelling. He is on 2 broad spectrum antibiotics. He is having a hard time walking on his right leg. Took him back today (day 5 post op) because swelling is even worse. He has swelling all down his leg. Vet says it made sense to her because of gravity. My dog is in a lot of pain, can’t sit down. He put his paws down and his bottom stays up in the air. No one can even palpate his operate site without him going through the roof in pain. He is on Tramadol and an NSAID. I’m extremely worried. The vet isn’t a fan of the drain because she doesn’t want to create more room for infection. Ultra Sound showed no abscess. He is drinking a lot of water (more than usual) and urinating normally. His last BM was yesterday. Eating mostly fine. Low grade temp. Does this sound all right? I hate that he is suffering. The pics I have included were yesterday, not today. But you get the idea of the areas of seromas and erythema. Today, the swelling is worse and his entire leg down to his paw is fluid filled.

My kitten 5 weeks old got her foot slammed in window she was playing and the window fell some hoe her foot is swollen should I take her to vet or can I splint it or wrap it at home

Does anybody know what this could be? It happened the first time when he was around 6 months old, he has been to the vet a few times and had multiple tests done but the vet can’t seem to figure out what it is. Usually it will first appear as a bald spot and then over the next few days turns into a moist sore, and then within a week or so it starts healing and the fur grows back. This is probably the 5th or 6th time it has happened but this time it was worse, the photo with the big bald spot is one that appeared a few weeks ago and is now in the healing stage but now the smaller one just appeared today. I will take him to the vet again but I’m getting frustrated not having an answer, has anyone seen something like this before?

Hello, how can I reach Dr. Vet Krista Magnifico?
My email msolchavez815@icloud.com
Please let her know that I need to talk to her, thank you.

Hi, i am wondering if a vet can help me with my dogs on going skin problem, he is losing excessive amounts of hair, fibres and his paws are very irritated, constant chewing and biting his paws. I have tried everything from medicated shampoos like malaseb, omegas, blackmores PAW Nutriderm conditioner, Virbac spot on skin lipids and the dreaded prednisone which we just experienced some very bad side affects. My vet doesn’t know what is going on just keep telling me the same thing to wash them in malaseb 3 x per week for his paws and they say his skin is fine apart from some ATOPY.
Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thank you
Carlie

a while ago my cat became sick, around the same time we noticed he had been leaving our house and stealing cat food from the neighbors who leave it out for other stray cats (therefore he was eating after other cats) his lymph nodes became swollen, he stayed in one spot all day and rarely moved, he wouldn’t eat or drink, and lost weight. We brought him to the vet and they examen him and did x-rays and said that it appears that he could have cancer/a tumor that has spread to his lymph nodes already as well as some other things like fluid/pus in his chest. They said the cancer was very aggressive since it’s already gotten that far and we just noticed it. A few days later his lymph node swelling went away, he started eating and drinking again, and he was acting like himself. We brought him back to the vet and they performed FNA on the tumor which came back inconclusive. They were also shocked that his lymph node? weren’t swollen anymore, and they said the tumor had moved places, and they started to question their diagnosis saying that he could just have an infection. The gave him antibiotics and sent us home. Since then the tumor has gotten bigger and moved places, it feels sort of soft and moves around easily. I’m questioning if this is just a lipoma rather than cancer because of the way it feels and moves, it has also been about 2 months since we very first noticed this, and to me it doesn’t appear or feel to have spread anywhere, his vet was also talking like he wouldn’t live more that a week or two and it’s been 2 months. No one can really come to a definite diagnosis… so if anyone could give advice or help on this i’d appreciate it very much!! (i’ve also included a photo below of the tumor though it’s a litte difficult to tell)