Aural Hematoma, Unfashionable Hat, and Hardboiled Eggs

Emma in her "hat"

Emma had to go to the vet for an aural hematoma yesterday.  You can read more about what that is here, if you’re so inclined, but the very short version is that it’s kind of like a blood blister.  She had one on her left ear about seven weeks ago and we took her to have it drained, but it has reappeared. 

We took her back to the vet yesterday and he drained it again and put a small hole in as well, in hopes of allowing more drainage.  The goal is to get rid of it without surgery.  We have to drain it three times a day and put Neosporin on it.  Fortunately, my husband is going to be handling all, or at least most, of the draining (stuff like that really gets to me).  

Emma has to wear this odd little hat contraption to keep her ear pressed close to her head, so it doesn’t flop around and bleed all over the place.  She managed to take the hat off shortly after we got home yesterday and it wasn’t a pretty sight. 

Emma in the hated no-bite collar

Emma is very good at removing contraptions meant to keep her from hurting a surgical site.  We can’t use a regular E-Collar on her because she knows how to take them off.  Fortunately we held onto the no-bite collar we acquired when we first learned that E-Collars don’t work.  It has come in very handy over the years.  She managed to remove the hat about every five minutes last night, which the cats found very interesting.  So in addition to Emma being able to scratch her ear and it flopping around, the cats were trying to play with her ears.  Who knew that dog ears were fun cat toys?

So we opted to add the no-bite collar to her get up.  It keeps the new hat in place and prevents her, and the cats, from getting to her ear.  She hates the no-bite collar.  It looks pretty uncomfortable and it’s the one thing she can’t finagle her way out of.  I think it also offends her sense of style.  When I took her out this morning she seemed to be in a hurry to go back inside once she realized the neighbor’s dog was out.  Poor thing, I think she didn’t want the other dogs to see what her parents were making her wear. 

 Emma is also on antibiotics, since she has an open wound.  For most dogs this doesn’t present much of a challenge, you just put the pills in some Velveeta cheese and they scarf it down, or with some dogs you just hand them the pill.  It doesn’t work that way with Emma.  She isn’t very food motivated.  She only eats things she likes, and only when she’s hungry.  She also doesn’t trust Velveeta cheese.  Not at all.  She understands that humans are devious and like to hide things dogs don’t like in it.  She also doesn’t trust soft dog treats, peanut butter, or hot dogs.  I (the pills are my job, since my husband is doing the draining) am currently hiding the pills in hardboiled eggs.  I’m not sure why they work, maybe it’s because the smell is so strong, but they work, at least for the time being.  I think getting a hard boiled egg also offers some small consolation for her unfashionable hat. 

I think she looks cute, in a kind of pitiful can you believe my mom made me wear this sort of way, but she doesn’t seem to agree with me.  With any luck, her unfashionable hat will pay off and she won’t have to have surgery.  That is the ultimate goal of our current aural hematoma regimen of hard boiled eggs and an unfashionable hat