Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 5/20/2005

Question
We are going out of town for a week and our dog has his 3rd Hematoma in a year. I am trying to find out if he will be ok while we are away at the kennel or if we need to have surgery done again before we leave. I was told that a temporary fix is to drain it with a syringe is that correct. We are trying to make sure nothing serious will happen to our dog if we wait until we get back. We don't want to have the kennel have to take care of the ear.

Answer
Draining hematomas is not a good idea.  They will only refill unless the blood inside clots.  If it clots, that  will cause deformity of the ear. It is very unusual for a dog to have another hematoma in the same place unless it was not fixed properly.