Dog will lose part of his ear

[Nothing2CHere]

Hi all, looking for advice or any previous experience. Our 5 year old dog injured his ear (we think he shook his head and whacked it on the coffee table) and it swole up and ended up with a hematoma. We took him to vet to have it drained - that was last Friday. We were sent home with a stent inserted over the bank holiday weekend and on Tuesday we went back and it was discovered that it’s infected. Whipped to the vet hospital and his ear was operated on to remove the blood clot.

Fast forward to now (Saturday) after a couple more vet visits, it was found that the wound is infected with strep (a bacteria that apparently lives on skin) and it has eaten away at the surgical sites and the skin there has started to die. He has a hole now near the top of the ear and on Tuesday once the tip dies, surgery will be needed to remove that part of the ear.

we are devastated and I guess we are wondering if this is really what can happen- for such a small injury - or if the vets could have done more or differently throughout the last week.

Yes. That can absolutely happen. Dogs ears have a massive blood supply. Having part of his ear removed will not affect him in any way.

I’m sorry to hear they’ve been unwell. How long was it from injury before you took him to the vets? Was your dog on antibiotics when they came home with stent. It reads as though the vet saw you regularly which would make it more surprising that vet missed something. Have you had concerns with the practice before? Are you insured? Sometimes vets have to adapt clinical options if clients are uninsured and have financial constraints - although this doesn’t sound the case from what you describe.

What’s specifically is devastating? It sounds like your dog is expected to make a complete recovery after surgery. I don’t think they’ll notice the loss of part of their ear if it’s the outer part, which is what I’m imagining from your post. I don’t work in a veterinary practice but I have tangential experience. Sometimes people feel this way if they worry they could have/should have done more themselves.

Short answer is yes it can happen even with best care. But there are lots of possible variables in what happened within the situation you outlined. I assume the vet hospital was a different practice? If yes, you’ve had two practices involved in the care. You can ask either of them for the time to talk you through what happened. Have a think what you would do if you remain unhappy? Complain, change practice, expect not to pay? It’s worth thinking about what you want to happen before you speak to them. I don’t expect they could have done anything differently from your post but if you’re concerned a good practice would always talk it through with you.

All the best for the operation on Tuesday.

Thank you so much @WineTastingMemories for your advice. As soon as we noticed the injury the vet was phoned and a photo was sent and he was in the next day. We were given antibiotics but the wound site didn’t get better. a blood sample was taken once at surgery and the results confirming that it was strep took 3 days so it wasn’t until then that the right type of antibiotics was given.

luckily we are insured to £8000 per year in vet fees. Although we were roughly seen every 2-3 days we wondered if some of the decisions made could have contributed to the outcome (for eg, after surgery, the dog came home with a cone and bandages and by the next day the dog had somehow shook his head so much to dislodge the bandages. We went back and the vet then decided it was best to leave off the bandages and leave the ear exposed).

We just feel upset that maybe we could have advocated for him more. We fully trusted the vets at the time but now we are second guessing ourselves. Also DH does a sport from which the players can be prone to “cauliflower ears” (hematoma in the ear) and in his experience the treatment and outcomes have been minor and not serious like losing part of the ear.

the vet practice is part of a reputable chain (hence why we were easily referred to the vet hospital of the same chain nearby) so maybe we can ask them to review the treatment? It’s not compensation or anything we are after we just feel guilty that perhaps we could have shouted louder/ asked more questions /insisted on I don’t event know what!

My first dog had been a street dog and they cut a notch out of the ear to show its spayed so it’s not caught again. Didn’t cause any problems.

It sounds like you’ve most likely been very unlucky. Complications from strep infections are quite rare I think. Something has caused the strep to multiply - was your dog able to “get at” the stent at any time? The general spectrum initial antibiotics would usually work on most strains of strep I believe. You have definitely been attentive by going in every 2-3 days. You do sound like you have questions that only the people involved in your dog’s care can accurately answer - so it would be a good idea to ask someone at the practice to talk you through it.

(human ears tend to be cleaner (even in a scrum) and swell a lot less)

edited to add:
The bandages coming off shouldn’t have been much of a problem, as I think they’re not always used for the initial procedure (because they often don’t stay on). Once they came off, did you keep them off or try to put them back on? Just wondering if they got reapplied after getting dirty.

I would be grateful it's not more serious tbh. If the infection was lower down in the ear rather than the flap I think the prospects of recovery could be far worse.

Count your blessings I say.

It's a known possible outcome - your dog was just unlucky. Blood supply to cartilage in the ear is poor, so it's difficult to treat if infection sets in.

It definitely can happen as a consequence of cauliflower ear in humans, too.

Sounds like poor darling has been unlucky. Nothing you or he has done. One of those things. Just plenty of R and R and he will be fine.

Our terrier went out the back door a year ago and snapped her leg - literally wasn’t icy, or wet or a large step and she isn’t old. She’s had plates put in etc and she’s running around like a puppy and she’s 13. Occasionally she will limp and hope Daddy is soft enough to pick her up but sometimes she limps on the wrong leg just to get cuddled (knows we don’t pick up the other two as they are three times her weight!) and she smirks. Honestly an ear, eye anything removal although distressing for you, they soon rally - plenty of nice treats xx

Thank you everyone for your advice and support. Dog’s ear seems to be healing and vet has even floated the idea of skin graft !