A bad day indeed! And a follow up question.
I finally removed the e-collar (as he was rasping and doing almost survival breathing that evening: after this, he lowered his head, went to sleep not moving for nearly 8 hours.... and then cut the bandage off in the morning...{btw this was the worst bandage I have ever seen in my time in the military or law enforcement as it was too tight, poorly wrapped, and was just excessive in the amount of tape and gauze used}...as the ear was already out and he could not see!) The vet said she had no problem with this as long as I cleaned the area around the wound and found a way to insure that he would not scratch the ear. A soft collar (looks like a clown suit neck piece) has worked brilliantly. This was a long day indeed. And I had a very sick dog for two days after this...as other things transpired which really needn't of happened. The wound appears to be healing nicely. What I need to know is how to guage open wound recovery in an OES ear after this type of surgery and what signs that healing is not occuring to the degree it should. |
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| Was the hematoma on the outside of the flap or more on the inside closer to the ear hole? I'm having a tough time visualizing it. If it was on the inside, I'd try to get the flap flipped to get more air.
The clown collar is a good idea. I saw one of those in a catalog the other day and thought it looked much more comfortable than any of the other choices for keeping a dog from licking. |
| Sassy had a hematoma on her ear flap. The vet cut an "X" incision to drain the blood and put in a couple stitches where the points of skin came together. Didn't even require bandaging so she didn't bother it. There wasn't much drainage at all. |
| Pink around the incision is good, but a bright stoplight red or even a dark red is not good.
The drainage should be decreasing over time. A sudden increase in the amount woud make me question why. Watch the site to make sure that it doesn't get swollen. That could possible be due to inflammation from scratching or the ear not draining properly. Good luck. |
| They don't usually cover it with a bandage as they want it to drain and not fill up again, usually cross stiching through the flap to keep it together and stop it filling up with blood again.
Just keep an eye on it and make sure the skin around the area remains a nice pink healthy colour and make sure no scratching by the shaggy one while healing. You should have a bit of discharge that should settle, if in excess then back to the vets. Same with if the area looks like it is bubbling up again, that means it is filling up again. Glueing it? interesting as usually they put stiches through the flap to hold it together till well and truly healed then the stiches come out. Be interesting to hear how the glue does wether any signs of the flap filling up again or if it heals well.  |
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