“My dog was in a dogfight, and the other dog ripped a chunk of his ear off,” the woman on the phone told me. “The bleeding has stopped and he seems OK, although a little shaken up.”

I began to advise her about taking care of the wound when she interrupted.

“Oh, no, doctor,” she said, “I have the piece of his ear wrapped in a moist paper towel in a Ziploc bag. I can put it on ice until we get there; I’m on my way … “

“Hold on … ” it was my turn to interrupt. “I can’t reattach the tip of his ear.”

“I’m in Vermont, but I’ll drive as fast as I can – I can be there in about 6 hours.”

” … What? NO! There’s no use – we can’t reattach the ear!”

“Why not?” she asked, panic rising in her voice.

We discussed the dubiousness of attempting such a surgery in the best of circumstances – that even minutes after the injury, reattaching an extremity of any kind requires reattachment of the blood supply, microsurgery, which not many (if any) veterinary hospitals are equipped to accomplish.

She could not be convinced. “They do it in people,” she said.

“Not an ear tip, and certainly not after six hours,” I countered.

“You don’t understand – his ear looks terrible with a chunk missing. It’s probably 3 inches off the end of his ear. He’ll be all lopsided!”

Focusing on the dog, I asked, “How is he feeling? Does he seem painful?”

“No, he seems fine – it doesn’t seem to hurt at all,” she said. “But it looks just awful cut short like that.”

“I’m sorry, but it will heal, and he’ll be fine,” I said as soothingly as I could.

“No,” she began to wail with grief, “It will look so funny. He can’t look like that – he’s a bassett hound.”

I tried to calm her by explaining that dogs really don’t care what they look like, but she wailed louder.

“You don’t understand,” she howled, “He wears hats!”

Grief starts with denial. And sometimes a bit of crazy-talk. In her defense, I discovered later that the dog was locally famous for his various exotic hats.

The next time I met her bassett, he was wearing an authentic miniature sombrero complete with little, yellow pompoms dangling from the brim.

In my defense, he looked fabulous, and the missing ear chunk was barely noticeable. As I predicted, the wound healed beautifully, and the dog didn’t care about it one little bit. Actually, he didn’t seem to care about much, sitting on my exam table with a bored expression that spoke volumes. The sombrero and hand-embroidered Mexican vest he wore that day was only one of many outfits he was made to endure.

Although we typically can’t reattach severed ear flaps, surgery of the ear in veterinary patients most certainly exists in other forms. Surgical techniques for veterinary patients range from simple wart removals to very complex surgeries involving the deeper structures of the ear canal, such as total ear canal ablations.

Probably the most common surgery performed on the dog or cat ear is the aural hematoma or auricular cyst repair. An aural hematoma is caused by a broken blood vessel between the inner cartilage and the outer skin of the ear flap of an animal.

This usually appears very suddenly after either a violent bout of head shaking or scratching (usually from an ear infection) or from rough play or fighting with another animal. A pocket of blood forms in this space, making the ear flap puffy and heavy and making the animal hold its head tilted down on the affected side.

Although the sudden appearance of a big, bloated-looking ear tends to cause most folks to (ever-so-slightly) freak out, it’s not actually considered a true emergency.

Provided no wound is introduced into the skin, the ear will not burst (no matter how balloon-like it appears) as the skin in this area is very elastic. As the area expands, the pressure that builds up will stave off further bleeding. Furthermore, aside from the nasty, itchy ear infection that may have caused the problem, an aural hematoma is usually not terribly painful to the animal, despite the ugly appearance.

The treatment for this situation is simple: drain the cyst and tack the skin to the underlying cartilage.

Why can’t the hematoma just be drained? It can. However, it is very likely to fill right back up again with blood and/or fluid.

To repair this injury most efficiently, multiple sutures and a stiff backing material are usually placed over the damaged part of the ear flap for about 10-14 days. Despite all this, some aural hematomas re-form, even after surgical repair, especially if the animal is a persistent head-shaker.

Although surgery to avoid serious deformities of the ear flap is important, the key point is to assess and treat the underlying cause of the hematoma in the first place – which is most often an ear infection.

What if an aural hematoma is not surgically repaired? In most cases, the blood inside the cyst will eventually harden into a clot, and as this clot is absorbed, it will deform the ear, often in radical ways.

Ever see a stray cat with an ear that looks and feels like a wrinkled old potato chip? Yup, that’s a healed aural hematoma that wasn’t surgically repaired. Ugly, but typically of no serious consequence to the cat. Untreated ear problems can, however, lead to more than just deformities – they can be quite serious.

Untreated ear conditions can lead to chronic infection, destruction of the ear flap itself, and even hearing loss or problems with balance and dizziness.

Need I mention the loss of all the animal’s close friends? (Ear infections usually stink big-time.)

Although I’ve seen my cats gazing into a mirror seemingly admiring their own good looks, I know that in truth they really don’t care about their appearances. I am also relatively sure they would care – and hate me very much – if I made them wear hats.

Daverio is a veterinarian at Williamsport West Veterinary Hospital. Her column is published every other Sunday in the Lifestyle section.

She can be reached at life@sungazette.com.