My dog has an aural hematoma. Can Petco drain it and what's the cost?

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. This is not an emergency, I would suggest scheduling an appointment with your veterinarian to have this looked at. This will need to be drained and treated to prevent it from refilling. The technique I use is draining the ear and injecting a steroid medication into the ear flap where the swelling is. Sometimes this takes two or three times to resolve the problem. This is what we call an aural hematoma. And happens when the ear flap is hit against something hard and the blood vessels on the inside of the ear flap burst and leak blood into the ear flap filling it like a balloon. If draining the ear flap and using the steroid injection for treatment does not work after 3 times then I typically resort to a more surgical approach by placing a drain into the earflap itself. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please feel free to contact me with any other additional questions you may have. I am also available for consultation if needed.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There are a variety of ways to treat an ear hematoma in dogs (oral medications, draining it and instilling a medication, or a surgical "tacking", as well as determining what the underlying cause for the hematoma is). They do need to be treated by a veterinarian, as they do not typically resolve on their own, and can become very painful/infected. After treatment, the ear may be the same, or it may have a "crinkled" appearance. I would recommend your dog be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine what treatment plan would be best. Good luck!

The hematoma needs to be drained by your vet first. Then you will need pain/anti-inflammatory medication to help reduce further filling of the ear pinna so that the ear can return to normal size. And lastly treat for any underlying ear infections, which is the -# 1 cause for ear hematomas. Schedule an appt with your vet and they should be able to help take care of all of this for you and your pet Millie.

I also have seen people leave them be to eventually absorb. However I would not recommend doing this to your pet because it does cause them discomfort and there is a risk of having pressure necrosis develop on the ear flap. I would also not recommend draining this yourself because this requires making a cut in the ear flap and often a mild sedative is needed for the pet to tolerate a procedure like this. Also if there is an infection then antibiotics will be needed in addition. The best advice is to let your vet drain this area at the clinic/hospital. You can place a cold compress on the ear flap, if allowed, to help reduce the blood pooling for now and then get Bear seen by your vet as soon as you can. Best wishes with Bear and his ear hematoma. I hope everything works out well for her. Take care.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This is ear hematoma, most likely self-inflicted by Moose by excessive scratching or rubbing the ear. There are no remedies that you can use at home to help, I am afraid. Moose should be seen by your local vets again to drain the ear and ideally, place some stitches on the ear to avoid recurrence.

They will examine Tank’s ear and then discuss the various options. If it is something like a hematoma, they may drain it or offer a surgical correction. The surgical correction generally works best. Draining hematoma is typically requires a few drainings as well as wearing a special sleeve to stop the ear from flapping around. Many times there is an underlying allergy, infection or a mast cell tumor so they will check him for those causes as well. If it is something like a tumor, that is a completely different treatment plan. I hope this helps.

Surgery is the "gold standard" for addressing aural hematomas. Draining it with a needle and syringe may provide a quick fix, but more often than not the ear refills with blood. Allowing it to resolve without treatment may take weeks and could lead to a deformed ear flap. Surgery can be done to clean out the clotted blood and stop the bleeding. A specific suture pattern is used to keep the ear flap from refilling and in shape. The underlying cause, usually ear infection, should be addressed as well to prevent excessive head shaking.