Damaged Ear Tip, Canine Bloody Ears. The at home fix.

This  is Meiko. He is a 3 year old Boxer who lives in a household of rough play and constant  activity.

One afternoon Meiko's dad arrived home from work to find the melee had proven too much for him. The result of the days playtime was a painful, red, bleeding, sore ear. Meiko did what all pets with painful ears do, he shook his head, a lot. Head shaking causes the ear pinna (ear flaps) to hit the side of the face and top of the head and this flailing motion ruptures the blood vessels in the ear and causes the ear tips to bleed. When you come home from work, not expecting more than a happy wagging pup to greet you and instead find yourself in the midst of a CSI gunshot victim scene the amount of splatter blood can catch you by surprise, never mind flat out alarm you.

Meiko and his dad arrived at the clinic a few minutes later. Head holding and ear shaking were met with firm discouraging "No's!"

Meiko's dad wanted two things;

1. Stop the bleeding

2. Close the wound that was causing the bleeding.

Perfectly understandable when the tiny blood splatter was flying around the room, walls, floors, ceilings, it was a perfect F=ma equation. Those tiny micr-droplets can soar great distances with just the right trajectory and acceleration.

There are moments in some examinations where the few seconds of collecting data require a few paused moments to gently break bad news. 

There I stood holding Meiko's face, gazed at his dads, and broke the news. These can be frustrating. He provided me a slightly sarcastic glance and I'm pretty sure he silently said "don't tell me something I don't want to hear."

It is difficult to treat these wounds. The more they shake the quicker they bleed. 

If you can't stop the head shaking the wound can't allow a blood clot to form and therefore it continues to bleed. Every head shake dislodges the clot and there it goes again bleeding.

The ear needs a few days of rest to let the wound heal.

Suturing it almost never works. It requires anesthesia, further trauma to the pinna edge and one hard head shake and you are back to square one.

So here's what we did for Meiko;

This is a two person job.

Assistant number one holds the dog. As you can see my technician is holding him in a sit position and holding the head still.

The treatment person does the following;

• We cleaned the ear edge. Warm surgical cleaner (or warm water with a tiny bit of soap  is also fine) for a few minutes was soaked on the open bleeding wound.
• I then took a non-stick absorbent pad with triple antibiotic ointment and folded it around the ear edge.
• Next, I wrapped the ear to the top of his head with self-stick bandage (we use Vetwrap, the veterinarians favorite bandage).
• Lastly, an e-collar to keep the feet and face rubbing from removing the bandage.

Important points;

• Do not apply the bandage too tight.
• Do not cut it off and cut the ear hidden underneath.
• Treat the underlying cause of the ear bleed. For Meiko the cause was rough play, but for some dogs they shake their heads due to allergies, ear infection, or foreign bodies in the ear.

Within about 3 days the bandage should be able to be removed and the ear should finish healing over the next 10-14 days.

Related Blogs;

Living with  Bleeding on the Edge.

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I can also be found on Twitter @FreePetAdvice, or at the clinic, Jarrettsville Vet, in Jarrettsville, Maryland.