Fanny, our older dog, has a hematoma (a blood filled blister) on the flap of her left ear. She's always rubbing her head on the ground or against furniture so I don't know how or when it formed exactly. It grows and shrinks in size and didn't seem to bother her much until last night when we were eating supper and she scratched her ear.
Suddenly, there was blood everywhere as it poured out of the hole she had punched in her ear flap! Luckily, she had gone thru the outside of the flap and the hematoma is on the inside, so I applied pressure and sort of milked the hematoma trying to empty it of liquid. That took a few minutes. Blood and water were really flowing! Then while Jeff kept Fanny quiet, I quickly switched comforters on my bed. (The one that was there was less than 3 months old and I didn't want it covered in blood! Call me selfish if you want to, but, come on now!)
When the bleeding slowed down to an ooze, I put on a healthy globe of antibiotic cream. She didn't seem to mind. I hand fed her...and Zoey...some leftover hamburger and she started cleaning the blood off her legs and feet. I washed her head and back and Jeff mopped the floor. She eventually got comfortable on my bed and slept until Jeff called for the dogs to go out. When they came back in we had Act 2, started when Fanny rubbed her head on the armchair in my room and shook her head spraying blood all over my white curtains. We repeated our treatment and finally all got to sleep.
This morning the hematoma is about half the size it was last night. I'm sure if she rubs her head against something it will start to bleed again. She's eating and going outdoors as normal but Zoey must be afraid of the smell of blood because she's staying away from Fanny. I bet if Fanny knew that's all it would take to get the pup to leave her alone.... Now I'm going to take down my curtain and wash it. Hope the blood comes out.
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