For the second time this year, my dog has a swollen ear. The vet diagnosed the first one as a hematoma, and drained her ear. Needless to say it cost a bunch. Is there any reason I can’t lance and drain it myself with a sterilized needle? Note: this is not the same ear.
For extra credit, why is this happening? I never knew a dog to get one of these before, now two in six months.
Can’t speak for dogs, but my cat had one earlier this year, and the vet said he got it from shaking his head/digging at his ear due to ear mites. He had me treat both cats for ear mites in addition to repairing the hematoma.
It’s not something I would want to try treating myself. In the case of my cat, the hematoma recurred a day or two after he drained up and he ended up having to put sutures in the ear so the walls of the pocket created by the blood would heal together.
I wouldn’t do it myself.
Mine had two, one in each ear, when he was a pup. The first one had just healed when he got the second. In his case I suspected it was caused by whacking himself on the coffee table. He never got another after the first two and he’s almost 10 now.