The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Pigsmightfry on March 15, 2015, 07:04:03 pm

Title: Swollen Ear-to drain or not to drain?
Post by: Pigsmightfry on March 15, 2015, 07:04:03 pm

Our boar has been in with 2 bigger sows and has been pushed around a bit. He has a swollen ear (thickness of a hand) and a few cuts. The question is should we drain it? Thanks.

Title: Re: Swollen Ear-to drain or not to drain?
Post by: fsmnutter on March 15, 2015, 08:41:05 pm

As a vet, I see swollen blood blisters in ears of dogs on a regular basis.
If drained before the blood has clotted and started to heal the blood vessels, it will just fill up again.
In dogs, we sometimes drain after about a week, but sometimes they do fill up again, so the final solution is to do an operation to open it up with a scalpel, and stitch the two sides of the ear together from back to front to keep pressure on and prevent there being space to fill up again.
Sometimes people are not worried about looks, or don't want to put their dog under an anaesthetic, so they will leave the swelling. Over time, the body will heal it and cause a bit of a cauliflower ear, but will be of no detriment to the animal other than looks.
We had a litter of piglets last year that were particularly rambunctious, and a number of them had haematomas in their ears, we left them and they all healed, although some a little crinkly.
Hope that helps

Title: Re: Swollen Ear-to drain or not to drain?
Post by: Pigsmightfry on March 15, 2015, 08:47:54 pm

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate you taking the time to write. We'll spray with iodine and leave it to go down as he doesn't seem to be in pain.