Labs swollen ear?????

[MIKE IN lINO III]

We were up to the lake last weekend and I noticed that one of my Labs ears was getting swollen. It feels like it is filling up with liquid. I figured that he was bit by some sort of bug but three days later it is not going down and if anything is getting worse.

I felt around and I could not feel any place where a bite my have taken place. It seems kind of tender but not to the point where he will not let me touch it.

Any ideas?

Should I bring him to the Vet to have it drained?

Hold off and see if it goes down?

Mike

[LABS4ME]

I've had that happen with a lab years ago. Seems a blood vessel was prone to breaking when she would violently shake her head after swimming. It eventually quit as her ear became 'cauliflowered'. Usually the swelling would subside after 3-5 days.

Good Luck!

Ken

[fishroger]

Mine had the same thing a couple of times. Looked some sort of infection and it bothered him quite a bit. Might want to check with the vet, he gave me some antibiotic cream to squirt in there and that did the trick.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Thanks Labs.

Fishroger, It is his ear flap that is ballooning up. Not so much IN his ear. Thx.

Mike

[CrazyLabs]

My lab had the same thing a few months ago. Turns out he had a hematoma. It's where the ear flap fills with blood. It's caused by some type of trauma to the ear. My dog was shaking off after swimming and his ear hit the boat motor. I brought him to the vet and of course the vet wanted to do surgery. He said if we leave it alone, eventually it will cauliflour. My dog's ear was so bad that he said it could deform. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, so I opted for the cheaper route which was for him to suck out the fluid with a needle and fill it with medicine. So, we did that twice and it came back with a vengance. I brought him in again and another vet looked at him and suggested a drain...so that's what we did. It was a plastic tube that was placed in his ear to allow the fluid to drain out. he had that for 3 weeks and it was gross. Finally, after the vet took the drain out, we thought all was good. A couple of days later it began to fill again, but for some reason it subsided and he's been good ever since, but he does have some cauliflour from the small bit of fluid that was left. My suggestion: bring him in and have the surgery. Turns out after all the trips to the vet, my cheaper option cost over double of what the surgery would have cost. Plus my poor dog had a cone on his head for 6 weeks.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Thanks Crazy,

It does not seem to be getting any better. I might have to take him in.

Mike