What could cause my Schnauzer to have a swollen ear flap?
It is called a hematoma, and they are VERY painful. This needs to be treated by a vet ASAP. Hematomas develop when blood vessels in the ear have been broken, leading to the swelling of the ear (the ear is full of fluid, that is why it is blown up like a balloon). The blood vessels became broken due to excessive scratching of her ears, or shaking her head. Usually, dogs scratch at their ears because they have an ear infection that the owner hasn’t treated. Please get her to the vet. She needs her ear infection treated, and they need to drain her ear before the problem gets worse. This same thing happened to one of my parents dogs… ended up with hematomas in both ears due to untreated ear infections. If you are having financial trouble, you’ll have to put it on a credit card, get CareCredit (carecredit.com), ask for a payment plan, ask family members for money, or get an extra job. Treating the ear is not very expensive (should be around$100). For future reference, you can get an ear w
