Othematoma

Othematoma is an unpleasant health complication affecting the ear of an animal.

Othematoma is an unpleasant health complication affecting the ear of an animal. It arises suddenly by bursting some of the blood vessels through which the animal's ear is nourished. Blood flows between the ear cartilage and the skin of the ear lobe. The bleeding stops only when all or part of the ear is filled with blood and sufficient pressure is generated inside. The result is a hot and enormous ear, completely “rammed” with blood. And the animal will not even look at it, let alone touch.

Othematoma occurs when the animal shakes its head. If the animal encounters a hard object in the ear, one of the blood vessels in the ear may burst. Logically, therefore, are more susceptible to larger short-haired dogs with hanging ears. However, this is not a guaranteed rule; othematoma can also occur, for example, in cats. Over-shaking of the head often occurs as one of the symptoms of otitis. Therefore, it is always important to always examine the ears properly and cure any inflammation.

It is recommended to treat othematoma about 10 days after its onset. This delay is important in order to definitely stop bleeding and blood clotting, separating the liquid secretion from the solid clot in the ear.

If the ear is left untreated for a long time, after a few weeks to months, the original othematoma becomes smaller but fibrotic. This means that it irreversibly turns into a ligament. And with such a gross ear, the animal will be by the end of life.

Try to avoid home treatment. Discharging the secretion through the needle usually only results in the cavity being refilled with new secretion. The result can be slightly improved by applying corticoids to the cavity after the secretion has been released. About this, the so-called. we do not like to treat conservative therapy very much, because although slower, but often still, the ear is filled with secretion. Sometimes, however, othematoma can be cured in this way. However, the problem may reoccur at any time if the head shakes a little something.

The surest and recommended solution for othematoma is surgery. In principle, the contents of the resulting othematoma cavity are drained and subsequently the skin is attached to the ear cartilage by several stitches. It should be borne in mind that the handle may remain slightly deformed after healing. The ear cartilage is twisted a little at the place where it was stitched. Thanks to this method, however, the skin is firmly held against the cartilage and the risk of re-formation of othematoma is reduced.