Yesterday morning I let my fuzzies out, as they were playing I noticed
something strange about my panda, GusGus', ear.  It looked like he had a
huge ball of lint stuck in it.  I picked him up to remove it and noticed it
was actually his ear.  It had swelled to the point that the insides were
sticking out.  His ear canal was literally swollen shut.  It had been fine
the night before.  I looked it over looking for some kind of injury or cut,
he and his cage mate play pretty rough -- they are both about 12 weeks old.
The only thing I can think of is, that maybe his buddy grabbed his ear and
twisted it.
 
My usual vet was in surgery all day so I didn't even try to reach her (now
I feel guilty, I really should have).  I took GusGus to another animal
hospital which has a pretty good reputation (even if I don't like the head
vet, not because of skill, but because of arrogance).  They got him right
in, he had a hematoma in his ear.  They did surgery but explained that his
ear would be deformed.
 
He's home, happy, jumping around and acting 110% like a young ferret.  I
feel horrible because my beautiful little guy, who always got compliments
will now hear -- geez, what's wrong with his ear!  Now he can't play with
his buddies for a few weeks, has to stay in a little hospital cage and I
just feel so bad.  My beautiful boy is now going to have one huge Mickey
Mouse ear with all little divots where the 12+ stitches went.  At least I
don't have to worry about his hearing being effected, he's 100% deaf
already.
 
Amy
[Posted in FML issue 3174]