Cat has a Hematoma

I have a question about my cat Macy! I took her to the vet about a month ago for this hematoma. It was from scratching from ear mites so they sent me home with some ear drops for the mites and said she would need to be scheduled for a $1000 surgery to fix her ear. A few days later I noticed the hematoma was starting to shrink on its own so I called the vets office and they told me we would hold off on the surgery for a little bit to see if it goes away on its own. Over the past week or so it slowly stopped shrinking and now it looks like this. She doesn’t have any signs of pain, she eats and plays normally and she let’s me touch the hematoma and it doesn’t seem to cause her any pain or discomfort at all. My question is, how long does it normally take for hematomas to reabsorb and is there any other options besides the surgery? That’s a lot of money for me and the vet seemed really rushed and wasn’t very inclined to answer my questions so any info you can give me would be very helpful! Thank you!

Hello!  Surgery is generally agreed to be the best option for aural haenatomas.  In the past I have drained them by putting a large injection needle through the skin and sucking the blood out, but this is painful and far more often than not they simply refill over the course of a few days, even when bandaged tight. The disadvantage in leaving the ear alone is that the blood within them clots and can sometimes not be fully reabsorbed, changing the shape of the ear, causing thickened or 'cauliflower' ears and often obstructing the ear canal and predisposing to other aural diseases. Vets are busier than ever and the moment but it sounds as though you'd have like a fuller chat about your cats' ear in particular and where to go from here.  We would advise calling the vets back and explaining that you need more information.  Ideally they would call you back when they have plenty time.

It is increasingly common for vets to charge for phone consultation s so always discuss this in advance.

Best of luck and we hope that you manage to decide on the best course of treatment for Macy.  She is beautiful.