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Ear cropping as a last resort?
My dog is facing his fourth surgery for an aural hemotoma, this time in his "good" ear. He is prone to this condition, having had three of them in one ear already. Now that ear is a solid meaty mass of scar tissue. The procedure was done by a vet I trust. I won't take my dog anywhere else so don't even try that. He is one of the best and most respected vets in our area. We have an appointment to have it drained today via needle to give him some temporary relief but I need to make a decision.
Now my dog has developed one on his good ear. I can't see putting him through the pain of multiple surgeries again. His head has to be wrapped tightly to prevent him from getting it off (he is VERY crafty at that) and even with the cone in place, he gets it off. The thing could quite possibly come back. Anyone that's had a dog with one of these knows exactly what I mean.
The surgery to correct entails having to lance the inner flap of the ear and stitch it up like a quilt, back and forth with several rows of stitches. There is absolutely no guarantee that it won't come back. Each time it comes back, he's older, and anesthesia poses more of a risk.
I'm seriously going to ask my vet about cropping his ears. In my opinion (and I've had dogs with and without cropped ears) this would be the lesser of two evils. I was a vet tech, I know what the dogs go through during both surgeries and the after care involved for each so if you want to rant on about me being a bad owner I'll just report you. All I'm asking for is a general consensus from owners whose dogs have been through this surgery several times. Some dogs are just prone to these things.
As a side note, he is a mutt, not some fancy showdog I'm looking to have conform to some breed standard. I don't believe in that these days. I just want what is best for him in the long term, whether it be to crop his ears to eliminate the possibility of it coming back or taking a wait and see approach and get the surgery done and keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't come back. Worthwhile comments are appreciated. I do plan to weigh all options with the vet today and get his honest opinion. I plan to have him explain all the pros and cons of both surgeries, taking into consideration my dogs age, health and so forth.
Hopefully, the haters won't come out in response to my question, but I'm already bracing myself.
He doesn't have fleas (on flea control year round), doesn't have an ear infection (has never had one) and he had not been shaking his head or rubbing his ears. The vet always looks for that first. He is on a high quality grain free diet already, all 5 of my pets are because I have one with food allergies so I am very familiar with that. The vet previously ruled out all those things. He just gets them. I am intrigued by the one response about getting it nicked. That will be something I bring up to the vet to get his advice.
Oh, also because my dog has had three of these horrible things, I keep his ears clean and check them just about every day visually and by gently petting him while stroking his ears (both of them) to feel for abnormalities. He thinks he's just getting some love from his favorite person! He loves it. I do this to all my pets and at any sign of something abnormal, contact my vet for his opinion. He knows I am a vet tech so we chat often and he holds no punches on the benefits or fall backs of any procedure. I am the one that diagnosed my cat with food allergies and he agreed with me completely.
8 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Iv Never Been faced with this problem.
but i see no harm in cropping the dogs ears for health reasons, he will be under anesthetic, so he will not feel the op, unlike the illegal type of ear cropping where people literaly just take scissors to the dogs ears.
i think in this case, cropping the dogs ears is the best option, if his hemotoma's have returned after three surgeries, it is very likely for them to keep returning.
and to those saying find the root to the problem, it is not that easy. yes he may be scratching them, but who knows why? he may enjoy his ears being scratched. and therefore, it is unlikely to stop him doing so.
i doubt he has a flea issue, as i see you really care for your dog, do whats best for your dog.
having his ears cropped, will most likely stop the hemotoma's returning, as there wil be no room for them (so to speak)
having the hemotoma removed, will probably return again.
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- .Lv 71 decade ago
A a vet tech I'm sure you are aware that at this point in his life cropping will not make his ears stand which virtually eliminates the risk of aural hemotoma. Because of this you would basically have to do a very sever crop that virtually removes most all of the ear flap for cropping to do any good at this point in time. The heavy amount of scar tissue he has may cause an issue also.
- ?Lv 45 years ago
Ear cropping is not going to resolve the hindrance. This is without doubt one of the largest errors misinformed humans make. They crop the ears due to the fact that they feel they'll resolve ear infections as soon as and for all. In fact the truly surgical process to be able to aid preclude ear infections has NOTHING to do with ear cropping. Just slicing off side of the pinna isn't the answer! The truly resolution is to open the ear canal alternatively than lessen the pinna consistent with AVMA. So if the underlying reason of your puppy's bleeding was once an illness to begin with, I don't feel cropping the ear might aid. I have under no circumstances heard of this earlier than, I have obvious beagles and bassets with lengthy ears do definitely satisfactory their ears lengthy like that. If your puppy is entering this hindrance it's leadership the hindrance now not the conformation. YOu need to uncover some way not to permit him to shake his hears, and so on and so on. I might go away ear cropping as a final motel, there is also higher answers corresponding to dressed in an elizabeth-collar and so on. My puppy had a paw damage for four months however no vet informed me to amputate the toe, simply to place and elizabethan collar and preserve an eye fixed on it. He is a little historical for a ear crop and recuperation would possibly take many years and if the ears bleed plenty to begin with, recuperation would possibly take lengthy as good...
- Lacey UD, RELv 71 decade ago
Cropping the ear will not help your problem. The same goes with repairing the aural hematoma a fourth time. You need to address the cause and treatment of the ear infection. Most times these are caused from a combination of food allergies, environmental allergies, and infection. Have ear swabs been analyzed? Have the ears been cultured to determine what bacteria (if any) and what will kill it?
Source(s): two of my dogs have had aural hematomas. - How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- PamelaLv 71 decade ago
If this is truly a medical or health reason, I say go for it. I have never had a dog with type of problem but in past have had dog with illness's. You will most likely get some negative responses about ear cropping. But to bring you boy some relief, you have my Blessing.
- Texas RottieLv 61 decade ago
Why don't you address the issues causing the hematoma's to start with? Usually caused by scratching at the ears, either allergy related or fleas. If you can stop the dog from scratching, you will stop the hematoma's. Cropping really should be a last resort.
- 1 decade ago
I agree with Texas. You need to find out the root cause of the itching/head shaking that's causing these and treat that.
- 1 decade ago
Hematomas are NOT a BFD!.
All require draining,often more than once.
A NICK to drain is NOT "surgery"! Does not need local anesthesia,let alone gorking down.. Does NOT need tacking. Competent adults CAN wrap correctly & do NOT need a stupid elizabethan collar.
Imagination is NOT reality.
