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Why won't my dog's ear stop bleeding from head shaking after surgery?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | neutered | 3 years and 7 months old | 80 lbs

My dog shakes his head very hard at various times causing a wound on the tip edge of his ear that won't heal and bleeds. He has just had surgery on this area ...was kept in a crate with a headbandage for a week. When the head bandage was removed an inflatable collar was put on...to no avail. He shook and started bleeding again...what can be done to help him?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

Published on January 19th, 2018

I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this with Riley. I have a few suggestions for you. The first is to make sure you have treated any potential cause of head shaking. Some dogs will shake their head with very mild inflammation of the ear canal and do not require an ear infection. Short term, you can look into using a snood (http://www.thesnoodfactory.com/). They are most commonly used to keep long ears with fur out of food, but may be useful in this situation. Finally, I would ask your veterinarian if they have any suspicion that Riley may have ear margin vasculitis. That can cause wounds on the tips of the ears that won't heal well without a medication like Pentoxifylline (http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1585). Your veterinarian may need to do some additional testing to figure out what is going on and figure out the best way to treat it. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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    Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

    Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

    Published on July 24th, 2018

    Wounds on ear flaps can be very difficult to heal. You're right that it would be ideal to have a veterinarian examine it and prescribe medication to help it heal quickly and possibly bandage it. I don't have a great option for you, but one thing that clients have tried to prevent dogs from shaking their heads and further damaging ear flaps is a product called a snood ( https://www.etsy.com/market/dog_snood ). It's meant to keep dogs with long ears from getting them dirty, but also helps to prevent dogs from banging their ear flaps when they are healing. If Stubby is shaking his head because he has an ear infection, the snood will not help and he should see a veterinarian for treatment. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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