Has your dog ever had a blood vessel damaged in their ear that causes a big, soft lump?

Dog no, cat yes. It is called a hematoma. It needs to be surgically lanced and drained, or it may calcify. If it blocks the internal ear canal, it causes worse issues like fungal and bacterial infections. I had a cat that I got from a rescue, and his was so bad from untreated hematomas that his ear canal was basically sealed off - and we ended up having his external ear pinnae amputated, so we had a one-eared cat, LOL! But my point is that you need to head your vet's advice or this is what *could* happen down the line. You need to figure out the cause of the scratching/head shaking that caused the hematoma in the first place, or yes, it will surely return. It's really a pretty minor surgery BTW - which may or may not involve sutures and may or may not involve insertion of a surgical drain. I'd be scheduling the surgery with my vet as soon as you can.

BTW - you will not get 'real' vets posting on here, and beware of the bored children and trolls claiming to be vets. Same thing with vet nurses, who in the US are called vet techs, or CVT (certified vet techs, the equivalent of your vet nurses).

Yes. It is a hematoma, usually caused from violent shaking of the head because of a bad ear infection. The first one I ever saw, I drained the blood out of its pocket, not knowing that there was a bleeder in there that was constantly pumping blood into the pocket.

Dog needs to be put under anesthesia so the Vet can open the pocket cauterize the bleeder & sew the back to the front back together. Has to be done under anesthesia.

Ear infection started it. Did you notice the violent shaking of the head & scratching at the ear? Dog was telling you what was wrong but not knowing anything about canine body language you missed all the clues.

Yes, it is called a hematoma; please learn & use the correct terminology. We are not children.

They are USUALLY caused by ear infections, and if you do not get to the ROOT cause, they are more likely to return. Sure it is seen as a basic infection (which can be treated) but most are due to some sort of allergic reaction often to a food ingredient (or ingredients).

Unfortunately, without a limited ingredient diet or allergy testing nobody can say what the allergy is to. Your food may have changed an ingredient or two without you being AWARE of it, or you may have started giving your dog something new (easier to pick that as a possible culprit, if so).

While many dogs have (or later develop) grain allergies, your dog could be allergic to peas, lentils, or a protein source, in a treat or in its food. Dogs can also develop an allergy to something it was not allergic to before, since owners rarely ever, change or rotate out, the food.

If you leave the ear untreated, it often "crumples up" as it heals & becomes "DEFORMED". Yes, the pie-crust surgery 7 drainage is expensive but again your vet or the vet you CHOOSE, mist be WILLING to get to the ROOT CAUSE..... because itching, and/or infected ears BOTHER THE DOG - very BADLY!

It is a hematoma and vets do not normally just leave them as they are painful to the dog. They normally drain them and staple at least although they certainly can come back.

I wouldn't leave it like that.

nope but it would be taken directly too their vet should either of my Sheepdogs develop one