Came home last sunday to my middle frenchie with a haematoma only small at the base of ear. 1 pound size, had it drained 4 times while dealing with the cause ear infection steroid drops and cleaner. Not severe but enough for her to shake her head. The haematoma is now huge and takes up her entire ear! She would cut her nose off to spite her face and she is so stubborn. Everytime she shakes her head it spreads further. When im not in the same room she will shake and there is not too much irritation left. Draining it is obviously not working. Does anyone have any experience of the treatment.  I dont even think leaches will work. Her father had one and his ear has crumpled. I dont show her but would prefer her ear not to droop.

It sounds as if surgery to empty the clot and stitch the surfaces of the ear flap together to stop it refilling is needed. Often the ear heals well without distorting the flap.

A customer of mine had this with their  dog recently. They had the ear flap stitched all over. The ear is fine now and not distorted. you can see the scars of lots of stitches over the ear but they are not very noticeable.

In the 50's and 60's vets often sewed buttons on the ear flap to prevent the 'crumpled' look.

Been quoted 300+ for an op to stitch the ear but no guarantee that we wont be back at sq 1. Have drained and pinned it backnwith bandage to reduce the amount of space an make it abit more difficult for it to fill back up. Going to have a cannula inserted to see if having constant drainage will allow the pocket to adhere back together. Blooming frenchies. Word of advice otoscope and keep ears immaculate!

One of our Bassets had one recently, within a short time his entire leather was full, rarely shook his head, it must have been weighty & uncomfortable. It was drained once but believe it was beginning to refill later the same day,  also tried compression bandaging but due to size & weight couldn't keep the ear up without the tension throttling him.

Although discussed the op, it still took me by surprise with the raw open incision which continued to drip for sometime,  also wasn't expecting the swelling & took him back 48 hours later to be told all was normal but given Anti biotics as a precaution. Stitches around the incision came out after three weeks , others stayed for up to 6, his vet was adamant they would stay until he was happy with the ear & often they are removed too soon. It's taken some months to recover, cost of the op - with out checking - was less than £130 with 7 free weekly visits.

I know head shaking is a major cause but do believe in his case due to our Bassets jousting & ragging various body parts including ears when playing.

Many, many years ago one of my Dobes had this. It was drained and a piece of x-ray film was cut to the shape of the ear and stitched to it. I can't remember how long it was in place but it never recurred.

My friend's Golden had surgery done before Christmas, but being the lively dog that he is it came back. Has been redone and no sign of crumpling.

My Nans frenchie had to have the op as draining just wasn't working. They stitched tubing to him at either side of the cut to hold his ear in place. Unfortunately his ear doesn't stand up all of the time, only when he gets excited it stands. However he isn't shown anymore so it doesn't matter at all to my Nan x
I think she paid about £180 for the op but our vets are very reasonable, and touch wood it has not filled back up and its been about 18 months since he had it done .