my bmd had a hematoma appear on her ear flap, the vet drained it and injected it with steroid. Has anyone had experience of this? The vet said to take her back next week to check on it, there was no infection luckily, and the ear canel, but vet said it may come back and worse it may need operating on?

Yes, they're remarkably common. My own dog had them years ago, and we've treated several recently at work. As well as draining the haemotoma itself it's important to treat the cause as well, which is usually the dog shaking its head a lot or scratching its ear because of irritation.

My old lab had one last year whilst ill and we had it drained and had steroids. It came up again after a month and this time she was too ill to have steroids but we did drain the blood.
Again it came back but it is only a little bit and the bottom of the ear has curled. I was advised to drain the little blood and leave it. The ear is a little thick at the bottom now and still curled but it is not much and she is happy so have just left it. Two other vets also said just leave it. My girl is 10 and was terribly ill with other stuff at the time.

I've probably made this up, but I seem to remember an Aunties Lab x (Ziggy) many years ago suffering along these lines, and she had buttons stitched onto the edges of the ears, (Obviously removed at a later date). Did they used to do that, or have I turned into my mother and started re-writing history?

As well as draining the haemotoma itself it's important to treat the cause as well, which is usually the dog shaking its head a lot or scratching its ear because of irritation

In Holistic/Homeopathic thought...the dog shaking its head or scratching its ear is not the cause. The actual cause is likely to be buried much deeper within the immune system.

As far as the Vital Force of the animal is concerned the skin is actually its least important organ....so it tries to defend its important organs (heart liver kidneys brain etc) by throwing out the irritant factor as far away as possible...which is to the skin (extremeties like ears...paws...tail...and if it can't control it from there then often the entire skin can become involved through rashes...pustules...apparent allergies....hotspots etc)

The irritant factors are likely to be toxins within the immune system.....such as foreign DNA and all manner of nasties from booster vaccinations ...monthly flea treatments...chemical wormers...colourings..e numbers preservatives etc in commercial foods...environmental toxins....household chemicals etc..... which are all having to be processed by the animals' liver and kidneys on an ongoing basis.

There is a limit to the amount of toxins/irritants the animal can process before health problems start to occur.

The use of steroids is a quick fix but ultimately surpressive....driving the problem inwards again. The Vital Force makes a renewed attempt to eliminate the toxins/irritant and hey presto...the skin condition returns with a vengance....

>and she had buttons stitched onto the edges of the ears, (Obviously removed at a later date).

No, that used to happen, really! The buttons, being flat, kept a greater area of the two sides of the ear flap in contact, meaning there was less space for the blood to refill. Nowadays they prefer to just stitch the two sides of the ear together, sealing the gap in the middle.

>In Holistic/Homeopathic thought...the dog shaking its head or scratching its ear is not the cause.

I'm afraid you're wrong. The cause of the haemotoma is mechanical, in just the same way that a cut due to running through barbed wire is mechanical. In the case of an aural haemotoma it's due to the bursting of blood vessels due to trauma, which is caused by excessive shaking or scratching, and the blood then fills the gap between the inner and outer layers of the ear flap. This needs to be drained, but the problem will recur if the reason for the excessive scratching isn't treated.

And the reason for the excessive scratching in the first place is..................????

That's what you need to investigate; is it dietary related, is it due to ear mites, is it due to a foreign body in the ear canal, is it due to a knock on the ear ...

Thanks JG - good to know I hadn't made that one up!

My girl cost me over £400 a few weeks ago with this.  Had it drained and then it came back the week after absolutely enormous so she ended up with it operated on.  19 stitches and ear covered up for 3 weeks (with changes of dressing etc. inbetween of course). 

My mums goldie had this come up about 2 months ago, vet said unless it becomes painful to leave it alone as she is 13 and it is not worth the risk of a ga to cut and stitch it, with or with the surgery you'll prob get a crinkly ear but most go away on their own but it does take time. my mums dogs ear is now almost normal with the tiniest of swelling and leaving was definately the right choice, at 13 a crinkley ear is really not an issue :)

Her ears were checked and were fine so cause is unknown but she is happy and didnt need the stress of an op so a good outcome for sweet cassie.

that is the same, my bmd had no mites etc so cause unknown, she is coming up 7 years old so, as long as she is not in pain if it does come back, i would rather not have it operated on, she gets so stressed at the vets as it is :( i will see what happens, at the moment it is early days since being drained.i am not worried about a crinkly ear as long as it is not painful for her.

My girls ear isn't crinkly thankfully.  She was such a star after the operation.  It got so big that I did't think it would be safe to leave it.

my old collie had this happen to her,both ears,a year apart,a few years ago,although she d got no mites and hadnt been shaking,or scratching,she had them stitched with a dressing that resembled a piece of brie!As I had her sister at the time,i remember thinking,oh crikey,theres two more ears to go,yet!Luckily,it didnt happen!

My little Eve has just suffered this! She had to have a GA to have it drained, cut vertically in 3 places and stitched. At the next check, the stitches were still oozing and one had split so she had a sedation to clean it all and flush her ear. Then she had to have a sedation to have the stitches taken out!
All the 'knocking out' was because her ear was so saw and inflamed that she wouldn't let you even touch the inner side! Basically, she had a very deep ear infection. Just after we got her, she started scratching her ear and holding it at a funny angle. I asked for ear drops, the vet looked in her ear and said no infection, just hairs irritating her that were so deep they would have to be removed under GA. We felt she was far too young for that ( and because Pierre had only just died, within a year of Louis and we were scared :( ) so decided to wait til she was a little older! We booked her GA for the ear pluck when we saw her ear canal was closing but 2 days before the op, she developed the hematoma. After the op, the vet said she had a severe ear infection and gave me the very drops I had asked for in the 1st place! and there were only 3 hairs to remove!!!!!!!
All the frenchie people I spoke to before the op, said not to leave the hematoma as they always developed cauliflower ears!

She is still on ear drops but her ear is so comfortable now, she lets you put the drops in and the vet can even look inside without her fighting! She's been left with a few bumps where the stitches were and a raised line where the split was, but it has only been 3 weeks so it may go down in time....she's 8 months btw :)

My vet has used leeches to drain a haematoma - yes, honestly!!!!  Apparently it's quite a common method of treatment in the USA.

Apparently it works very well.

I know of a couple of people in Frenchies who've used leeches for a haematoma with great success.

I am pleased to hear that little eve is doing well you have had a really rough time losing both your little ones so clsoe together and so young

Thanks furriefriends :)