From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-04-05 18:02:16 UTC
Subject: Ear Flap Hematoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1470346.1081198778877.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Have you done pre-op testing to help you make your choice? With an 8 year old I'd definitely want to have a CBC with chemistry panel, a chest x-ray, maybe a chest ultrasound and maybe an ultrasound of the abdomen. At that age there is a larger chance of other problems present which would make surgery too dangerous and such testing reduces those risks because it reduces unpleasant surprises.
Is 8 years old too for surgery? No, it's not. It just means that extra caution is needed before, during, and after, and the careful pre-op testing is one of those cautions. We have at times had the preop testing make the choice for us when there were things showing up which would indicate that surgery would be too dangerous.
To: lusid25@ai5.net,
ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
From: Amy Robbin <arobbin@schange.com>
Message-ID: <OFEE4009A3.5D2C3781-ON85256E6D.00624204-85256E6D.006397D7@schange.com>
I had two young male ferrets end up with Aural Hematoma within weeks of
each other. The first, Gus, I took to an emergency clinic and they did
immediate surgery, using the "quilting" method. They also stated that it
was probably due to injury while playing. Gus's ear healed up nicely, by
looking you really don't see any difference, maybe just a little thicker
than the other ear. But to touch the ear is stiffer and the ear canal is
actually easier to access while cleaning. Granted only clean the very
surface of the ear canal but it is easy to get at.
Once Gus's stitches were removed, his cage mate Buster's ear swelled
badly. I went to my usual vet and tried several things. First we tried
draining it and keeping hot compresses on it, I think we also injected
steroids. Within days the ear swelled again. Second time she drained it
again and put in one or two stitches and another steroid injection. That
wasn't enough, so a few days later we went back. By now I was really
irate and demanded the full quilting be done. With that, his ear healed
very nicely as well. He is one of NEFFER's cross stitch patterns
"Chairman Buster", if you look up that pattern you can see very, very
little evidence of injury.
Also, I was not convinced of injury as they never messed with each others
ears, I had changed vets and went to a very experienced ferret vet who
looked at their ears and said they had an ear infection and that was most
likely the cause of the hematoma. In my opinion, save yourself the extra
money and just have the ear stitched, nothing else seemed to work.
Also I have never had any problems since, that was 4 years ago.
Amy Robbin