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.

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.

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?

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)

I have an 11-year old female domestic shorthair cat (Nala) who has been very healthy until around springtime last year when she started to develop a snorty sound when breathing and rapid sneezing fits. We figured it was maybe allergies at the time, as ours were really bad too. But it kept lingering and we finally asked our vet and he was reluctant to do a full exam on her because of the expense, and he also diagnosed her as having herpes, and prescribed Chlorpheniramine 4mg and Duralactin paste 2.5ml for her. I give her a 1/4 of the pill crushed in her canned food once a day, but the paste makes her sick. I have been giving her the pill for about 3 months now with zero improvement. I have been doing a lot of research, and the closest thing I could find that matches what she is dealing with is a video I found of Dr. Magnifico performing surgery on a cat for a nasal polyp. The description she gave completely matches what Nala sounds like with the snoring sounds when breathing and the constant sounds of trying to clear her throat. She has lost a lot of weight because I think it’s difficult for her to eat a lot but otherwise she acts like nothing is wrong, she is very playful, and also eats (best she can) and drinks normally, and litterbox habits are still great. My question is if this diagnosis sound like it could be correct, and if so, is this something that could possibly be fixed without breaking budget?

My daughter’s elderly cat Astra seems to have sprained her left front paw tonight and is acting strange. Her leg/paw isn’t swollen, but she can’t put any weight on it without falling down. She’s meowing a lot and walking in circles. At one point, she was hiding by my daughter’s desk which is unusual, she seems to be confused, and has no appetite. We’ve read how cats don’t metabolize aspirin or nsaids very well, so we don’t want to give her any. What can we give her and what can we do to comfort her? Is there anything we should look for? Is her behavior typical of a feline in pain? Thank you for your help!
Edit: Now she’s pressing her head up against things.

Teddy sprained something in his left hind leg about 3 weeks ago. He is a standard golden doodle, weighing 72 lbs, and before this injury, was having a hard time getting up at the end of the day, from lying on the floor. The vet said, without x rays, that Teddy has arthritis in his back legs, even though he is young for this, at 5. I’ve been giving him Dasequin, 2x a day for this. I thought he was starting to improve, when he took a bad step, running up some stairs into the house from outside. He let out a yelp, then cried for less than half a minute, and would not put his left rear foot on the floor. Eventually, he did try putting the foot down, and walking on it, but immediately picked his foot up again, and would not use that leg. I took him to the vet, who x rayed Teddy’s back legs and hips. Everything, bones and joints, looked normal and healthy. The diagnosis was a sprain, and I was given a bottle of carprofen to give Teddy, 2x a day. Teddy now is using his leg, but with a slight limp. I have taken him out of doggy day care, where he was going twice a week, to play with other dogs. I didn’t want to risk the sprain getting worse. I’ve also been taking him out on a leash, to potty, and for short walks for exercise. At the end of the day, however, he is obviously sore, and has a harder time getting up from lying on the floor. He is back to getting onto the couch, but can’t climb on the bed yet.
He’s also very bored, as I won’t play fetch with him (I don’t want him running on that leg yet), and is probably depressed at not seeing his doggy daycare friends. Poor guy won’t play with his toys, and now is turning up his nose at everything but treats. He will eat breakfast-at about 5 pm, then wants more kibble at bedtime. I’ve been reducing the amount of kibble late at night, and giving him apple slices and carrot sticks for treats.
So….how long will this sprain take to heal? How long until I can let Teddy go outside, and let him run around as he usually does? And, how long before I can let him go back to doggy daycare?