My cat’s ear is pretty puffy on the inside. Actually it is really puffy. The Walking Gal thinks it might be as simple as a wasp sting or a spider bite, but I’m not sure. We just noticed it tonight, so unless it goes down or away by tomorrow morning we’ll be making a trip to the vet. For now, we will go with it being an aural hematoma. I see that it isn’t especially dangerous, but what kind of treatment options can I expect from my vet? Does anyone know what price range said options may fall in? Either way, I’m going to make sure that little Salem gets whatever treatment he needs, but it is always good to go in prepared. Anybody have an cats that have had this problem? Any information will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
My Chow had this once. The treatment was pretty low-tech - the vet drained the hematoma, and then stitched a sandwich of aluminum window screen on both sides of the ear until it healed, and then removed it. I was always careful after that to make sure that other dogs didn’t bite her ears when they played.
How old is your cat? I ask because this same thing happened to our cat when she was about 15 yo. First one ear, then the other, swelled up very puffy with what was obviously blood. According to both vets we took her to, this is just one of those things that happens to older cats. We were assured that if we had him drain it, it would just swell back up. If left alone, the blood would harden and the cat’s ears would sort of crumple up. He offered us a laser surgery option that had a “pretty good” success rate. We demurred, and our cat, Minou, is now approaching 19 and it doesn’t seem to bother her at all that her ears look like Fritos (according to our daughter, at least).
Of course, at our cat’s age, almost nothing bothers her since she’s stone deaf, half blind and probably only has 3 or 4 working brain cells. But as long as she doesn’t seem to be in any pain, we’ll let her go on sleeping 30 hours a day, eating every 4 hours and shedding like a yeti after chemo.
He is only about a year old. The research I’ve done seems to indicate that, if it is a hematoma, it probably happened from him scratching the ear or shaking his head especially hard.
Also, 19?! Wow! May he continue to live happily for a long time.
Well at that young, you may want to have the ear looked at. There are a few veterinarians on the boards, perhaps one of them will wander by with a more informed opinion.
And thanks for the kind words. Minou has lived much longer than we expected, but i don’t know if she’s lived happily for awhile now, unless you count dementia :).
Identifying and treating the underlying problem (ear mites, infection, coagulopathy) is the most important first step. That is what your veterinarian should accomplish first. The hematoma happens when shearing forces causes the cartilage to separate, kind of the way two-ply papertowel can be separated.
If the hematoma is not surgically corrected, a “cauliflower ear” is likely as the final outcome. If cosmetics are not important, then just deal with the underlying process.
If I can help further, email me!
Thanks vetbridge, I appreciate it. I actually just got back from our vet’s office, and it is a hematoma. He is going to fix it, while he’s doing it he is also going to find out what the problem is. Hopefully it is something as simple as ear mites, as we already have the drops to take care of that.
^Cool. If mites are the cause and you are given a choice, Ivermectin containing products (eg Acarexx) are way easier to use and far more efficacious then the older pyrethrin based products.
I picked up little Salem today, all went well. Turns out the underlying cause was ear mites. Our other young cat also has them, so we have some medicine to give both of them. Salem has a weird hole in his ear and won’t come out from under the bed, but other than that everything looks okay. It actually cost more for the two checkups, they were also due this month for vaccinations, than the surgery. All told it was pretty expensive, but I must say that the surgery wasn’t too bad. Now I have to keep the hole from scabbing over too soon and make sure to give him his antibiotics. Everything looks good, though. Thanks again for the help Rhubarb and vetbridge, it is appreciated.