French bulldog ear problem

[danda]

My son’s little dog is now getting elderly (12 yrs) and has been having problems with one of his ears, the ear is thickened towards the tip which is full of blood which means it is too heavy and the end of the ear hangs down. The vet has just emptied the blood but it fills up again over the next few days. It does not seem to worry him and it does not hurt him to touch it and he does not try to rub or scratch it. They said that when he shook his head too hard it ruptured some little blood vessels.

A golden retriever I had many years ago had this problem once but it never came back, I assumed the blood was re-absorbed.

Any one had this problem and has some advice?

 

[windand rain]

I am old so vets used to stitch buttons to the ear so it could drain not sure what they do now that was a cat with a cauliflower ear and a spaniel a long time ago

 

[druid]

Draining isn't the best way to deal with aural haeamatomas in my opinion, I've drained, put indwelling drains in them, tried buttons etc - best and least invasive results I've had are a no flap ear wrap and oral steroids. Good resolution within about 14-21 days

 

[Meredith]

Our labrador cross had this last year. The ear was like a water filled balloon. The vets put a drain tap in but the dog just shook it out. Eventually they stitched the flap together, like quilting. It has been fine since.
In the late 60’s my mothers’s dog had this too. The vet did the quilting immediately.

 

[Umbongo]

Yup, draining does not sort out most haematomas unfortunately.
Most dogs will need some sort of surgery to compress the ear and prevent it from filling back up again. This can involve just regular sutures, stitching on buttons, foam etc. They may also need a head bandage for a while. Some vets may instead insert a plastic stent that acts as a drain, but this can sometimes be pulled out by the dog and the haematoma comes back.

A lot of the time the dogs will have an underlying ear infection that has caused them to scratch and shake their ears in the first place, so this will also need to be treated.