A little over 2 weeks ago, Hans had surgery to drain a hematoma on his left ear. As anyone who has dealt with this knows, they make a cut and drain the blood and also put several stitches in the ear to make the flap of skin they've created heal back flat and less likely to fill back up with blood.
He has had a plastic cone (Elizabethan collar) on for the whole two weeks, except for the couple of minutes it took to cut off the bandage a few days after surgery like they instructed. They treated both ears with medicine even though only the left one had some infection in it. When I took him back to his 2 week appointment to get the stitches out, the vet said to give it another 10 days to two weeks because it didn't appear to be healed enough. I agree that it didn't, but even with the cone on, he bashes his head purposely into stuff to relieve the itching and shakes his head all of the time. I told the vet all of this. It doesn't get an opportunity to heal because he breaks it open over and over again. He is still wearing the cone all of the time.
He was also on a short course of antibiotics. It doesn't look infected but it doesn't exactly look great either. The skin where they put the cut to drain it looks yellowish and wet. Every time it gets to looking decent like it is healing, he manages to open it up again. I guess eventually it will heal.
Anyone dealt with this and does it usually take a month or more to heal?
Thanks. I always keep Vetericyn around. I was just afraid to put anything on it that might make him shake his head even more.
It is very lightweight, so maybe a light spritz or two wouldn't make him feel like he had something on there he has to try to shake off. I could dab off any extra that might run.
The ears are one if the hardest things to get to heal. I've known numerous people that struggled with it. Just be patient and keep moving forward. Vetericyn is always good to have and works well.
Thanks for your reply. I looked at it last night after I had posted here and I think it looks the best it has looked so far. He's a bull in a China shop type of dog, lol. If he catches the cone on something he just keeps rampaging on ahead, never stopping to tilt his head or adjust so he can get loose, so that ear still takes a beating even though the cone is supposed to protect it
On of mine got nipped in the ear by another dog and it was a mess to heal. Normal ear shaking re-opened the wound multiple times. It was way over more than a month because of the re-opening problem.
Eventually, the vet made a bonnet out of medical tape--taping the ear flat against the top of the dog's head, and securing it with a whole bunch of tape to create a bonnet covering most of the head so that it could not be shaken loose. Then an elizabethan collar went on him. The poor dog looked absurd for a couple of weeks, but doing this was the only way we could get the ear to heal properly.
He had that very kind of bonnet and the Elizabethan collar when I picked him up at the vet. I had to drive straight to work which is about 2 1/2 hours from the vet's. About 45 minutes into the drive, he managed to get that ear out of the bonnet. I don't know how Houdini dog did this because he laid there moaning for a good portion of the trip. Then the head shaking began-with the blood flying. I called the vet and told them what he did and they said "oh, that's ok", so we journeyed onward, lol. It actually felt like a 5 hour trip.
When I took him back to see about getting the stitches removed I ask them about repeating the whole bonnet bandage thing they did and the vet said not to do it. I guess he figured if he got it out once, he would just do it again. I have gauze around the house as well as a roll of gauze that sticks to itself. I am tempted, especially since I just looked at it and he's managed to rip the entire scab off.
Poor little guy.
I had this happen when my Hans broke open his tail and kept re-opening it by wagging! Someone recommended EMT Gel, a thick gel that hardens like pine sap. It was the only thing that kept it closed through his silly boy helicopter tail, and let that thing finally heal. Do check with your vet first though --hope his ear gets better soon.
You know, about a month ago, we were in a Cabelas and I saw EMT gel and bought some. I'll run that past the vet and see what he says!
How is your Hans? Hope you guys have been ok!
Halo had one a few years ago - March 2013. They took off the bandage and removed the stitches after 2 weeks, and it healed well but I do remember being very frustrated because she kept taking the bandage off. I was terrified her ear would be completely ruined, but it ended up okay, it just has a jaunty tilt to it, a bit less upright than it was when the stitches first came out.
I know of another dog that keeps getting them over and over again. I think the first few times her vet just drained it, but that wasn't working. He's had surgery on it, but it still recurs, I don't even know how many times. His ear is pretty wrecked because of it. With some dogs the ear never stands erect again, so I'm happy that Halo's is up, even though it's not perfect.
Really, if you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known.
Oh, that look in the first picture. I know it well. They are pretty pitiful looking. So glad it didn't mess up her ear to the point that it couldn't stand.
I've already decided that with his rough nature that I'll just be happy with it healed and pain free. The vet's office said they gave him a pain injection, but you sure couldn't tell it when I picked him up that day. I've noticed with him and other pets that they rarely send any pain meds home with pets anymore. I guess because, with the pain pill/heroin epidemic, people will just take their pet's pain medicine. Pretty pathetic, but it happens I suppose. He was sent home with an anti-inflammatory, which he got for a week.
From the responses I'm getting, it looks like it could be a long ordeal.
I hope it heals up soon and that his ear isn't damaged too much.
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