[Julie R.]

10 mos. male CBR pup cut his ear Sun. morning (have no idea how). Not a big or deep cut but right on bottom of leather and OMG the blood. Now on day 3 and it still breaks open regularly and sprays blood. Today there was some ooze under the EMT gel so I'm not sure keeping it covered all the time is allowing it to heal.

What I did--when we first found it I used EMT gel and styptic powder to stop the bleeding, which seemed to take forever. Shake, splat, blood everywhere. So I made a dew rag of vetwrap to smash it to his head so he can't shake it. Seemed to help but he HATES it so I've had to keep a lampshade on him. I took it off some yesterday but it broke open again, so I left it on overnight. This morning there's some ooze under the crusted EMT gel which of course came flying off at the first shake so back to the vet wrap. The thinner kinds of liquid bandages don't stop the bleeding but the EMT gel is so sticky and crusty it seems to make a bigger mess that is more easily shaken off (with more bleeding) plus it sticks to the wrap.

Just really frustrated and tired of cleaning up blood splatters. And he is so pathetic in his lampshade, he's afraid to move (it is clear, so he can see through it).

Would welcome any tips for things that have worked for ear cuts.

 

[subroc]

I am not a vet and do not attempt to play one on the internet.

Max has cut his ear open on a thorn. It bled so bad, I thought he had been shot. He is a big head shaker. We had some bloody moments for sure during the healing process with blood on floors, walls, and ceiling. I used the EMT gel and to tell the truth just kept piling it on until it healed. If the injury was leaking, I would apply the gel and put him up in the crate for a bit until it sealed.

Total time for it to heal, 2 weeks.

BTW, it was during hunting season ;-((

 

[Pat F.]

10 mos. male CBR pup cut his ear Sun. morning (have no idea how). Not a big or deep cut but right on bottom of leather and OMG the blood. Now on day 3 and it still breaks open regularly and sprays blood. Today there was some ooze under the EMT gel so I'm not sure keeping it covered all the time is allowing it to heal.

What I did--when we first found it I used EMT gel and styptic powder to stop the bleeding, which seemed to take forever. Shake, splat, blood everywhere. So I made a dew rag of vetwrap to smash it to his head so he can't shake it. Seemed to help but he HATES it so I've had to keep a lampshade on him. I took it off some yesterday but it broke open again, so I left it on overnight. This morning there's some ooze under the crusted EMT gel which of course came flying off at the first shake so back to the vet wrap. The thinner kinds of liquid bandages don't stop the bleeding but the EMT gel is so sticky and crusty it seems to make a bigger mess that is more easily shaken off (with more bleeding) plus it sticks to the wrap.

Just really frustrated and tired of cleaning up blood splatters. And he is so pathetic in his lampshade, he's afraid to move (it is clear, so he can see through it).

Would welcome any tips for things that have worked for ear cuts.

Hi Julie:

Here's what I did when one of my dogs had a tear on the end of his ear. I taped the ear "up over his head" using some vet wrap and the tape that works on hair. Can't recall the name of it right now but if you need it I'll look for it. I put EMT gel on before I taped the ear, let it dry, then taped it. Left it like that for about 5 days and when I let the ear drop it was all dried out and had no problem after that. It would probably depend on how badly the ear is cut/torn. The dogs don't particularly like having the tape around their head but it does work.

Pat

 

[Lesa Cozens Dauphin]

My ex had an Pointer that cut his ear like that once. The vet put super glue on it and then fitted tape around the ear. We were told to leave the tape alone that it would wear off and by the time that happened the ear would be healed. That and a round of antibiotics did the trick.

lesa c

 

[Guest]

There are three blood vessels the come together at the tip of the ear... If the dog gets the tear in just the right place, JACKPOT! You have the non-stop bleeder. We usually put a couple of staples in. It's a really tough place to treat. One thing I did that worked well was gauze and tape the end, but then I took vetwrap and LIGHTLY put a "headband" around the entire head, so the dog's head was wrapped, but it worked really well in a pinch...

I'd go get a couple of staples put in it... Or do it yourself if you have some staples...

-K

 

[Rick Hall]

May sound silly, but my vet has me sold on treating ear tears with VIP Fly Repellent Ointment. Keeps the new scar tissue soft and flexible, rather hard and easily re-split by head shaking and such. Has worked more than a couple times for us...

 

[NateB]

Personally I do not like staples, for me anyway, they do not line the skin edges up as well as with suture, but I nit-pick about that stuff. Plus in the ear you can puncture the blood vessel again with the staple or the suture needle, then you have two bleeding sites. Taping it up over the head and a lampshade is probably the best, depending on the dog and the amount of tear. When using a "lampshade" instead of the E-collars most vets use, I like using a plastic bucket, cut the bottom out. Line the cut edge with pipe insulation and attach with Zip ties. Punch some holes next to the insulation to run some 1/8 inch rope or shoe laces. Place over the dogs head and ties the rope to the collar. Works great to protect the head and face and not be huge and wide.
When taping the ear up be sure to leave a hole for the ear canal to get air or you might get a yeast infection. Bleeding ears and tail tips are the worst.
Good luck.

 

[twall]

Julie,

I had a dog cut the tip of his ear on barbed wire, during hunting season of course! It took a long time to heal. Lots of blood splatters all over.

I'm just thinking here. But, have you tried wraping his ear/head with some vet wrap? At least during the day it would keep him shaking it open again, if he would leave it on.

Tom

 

[brian breuer]

My chessie cut his ear two years ago while quail hunting. Scared the living crap out of me. I had hit the mother of all covies (200 at least) and was hunting up the singles and small groups. Well they weren't flying too high and I was shooting an open choke.

We were hunting a ditch back to the truck and I kept seeing spots of blood. I was thinking maybe a bowhunter was in the area (public land). Well Boomer comes out the ditch and his neck is just dripping blood. I thought I had shot him. Second thought was I am going to get divorced. We didn't have kids at the time and I am pretty sure my wife liked the dog more than me most days.

Anyway it was an 1/8" cut on the end of his ear. I am glad I didn't get pulled over on the way home because I looked like an axe murderer. Just covered in blood.

We just bandaged it up and taped the bandage to his ear and left it on for about 5 days. He lost a little hair when the tape came off but it wasn't too bad. It was healed enough when we took it off.

 

[Julie R.]

Thanks for the tips, I had not tried folding the ear up nor had I considered what closing the ear canal might do! Yes I had made a vetwrap headband (dew rag) which he can claw off in a new york minute unless he has the lampshade on.

I did call the vet and they said the same thing Nate did, that any sutures and staples in that spot will just bleed more, further traumatize it and retard healing. It's just a tiny little cut--not clean through and no more than 3/8 in. on the inside and even less on the outside so it really doesnt need that kind of repair. When we found him I was sure he'd been badly wounded there was so much blood--crusted on his neck/shoulders, coated all over his sides/front paws. A scary 15 min. before we got it cleaned off to see there were no injuries anywhere except the ear.

My friends' kitchen where we took him in after finding it looked like a slaughter house or something you'd see on CSI after a mass murder. He's done a pretty good job of decorating my house, too.