hematoma in ear - Page 1

I Had a hematoma operated on and i am wondering if my dogs ear will go up again, he had beautiful ears

DO NOT use the elizabethan collar. It ruins them faster than anything else. If your dog is bothering them, find one of those alternative anti-scratching devices, but NOT one that forces the ear into a forward flop as it heals. There's even a way to tape the ear back against the neck, as if it were lying back in the normal ear posture of "smiling." That reduces the tendency to flop forward too.

My girl had two ear surgeries due to hematoma, because her young daughter pierced her ear for her. Well, the first one was 95% fantastic; sadly, that guy retired. The second one was an idiot who must have never seen a GSD before, and now her ear is only 50% up. I had to give a lecture on "this is not a lab or a boxer; don't sew a GSD ear FLAT," but of course it was too late for us. If you can get them to understand the conical shape of a GSD ear, you will probably get decent results. 

nope.  one current dog had surgery twice, only thing i can say it helped was to keep ear canal open.  another current dog has not had surgery.....looks the same as the one who did.  past dog had 1 surgery and turned out the same.  god, i get tired of fighting this.  it is an ongoing battle with some dogs and others are never affected even though they live in the same house and eat the same food.  i have no answers but sure would welcome it if you find them.  molly suggested using listerine diluted for an ear wash and i must say, i am having better luck with that than i have with anything else so far.  antibiotics and steroids have ruined their immunity so i give probiotics and enzymes for that.
pjp

My vet had me using listerine for a small spot of mange, worked wonders. I have now used for all kinds of knicks.

When I had one dog with a hematomia in her ear, her doc said it would help to stand the ear back up if we used the same type of ear brace some do to get the ears to stand up.  You could ask about that option if you are very concerned about an ear not fully up.

Hematoma's can damage the cartilage if not handled carefully.  Best to have a very small drain tube inserted and drained several times a day.  Prevention is always best, keep those ears clean.  An itchy or infected ear drives the dog nuts and they will shake their head or drag on the ground until they have injured the ear.  Once cartilage is damaged it will most likely not stand correct.  Good luck!! 

Also now there is a surgical implant for GSD ears damaged by injury.  You can read about it here:
 http://www.myvnn.com/page.asp?id=39&media_type=8&story_id=95

and here:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4147164.html