sapphie's ear

sapphie's skin had been flaking and itching quite bad recent months. the itch doesn't seem to go off. they would come back once i finish her medication. and her skin would redden again. as per what all dogs do, when she itches, she would scratch herself. and when the itch occurs on her head and where she could not reach with her hind legs, she would shake her head vigorously. 4 weeks ago, i found a bubble sized of a 10cent coin formed on her left ear tip. i got worried and wanted to bring her to the vet. but on further researching in the internet, i learned that this was due to the bursting of her ear's blood vessels due to vigorous head shaking. and it will go away by itself. alternatively, i could sent her to the vet to have the blood clot removed but this would leave her ears disfigured. hmmm... i decided to leave it alone. and sure enough, a week later, the bubble diappeared. nonetheless, her left ear is a little crooked now. well... que sera sera... the ear healed, but not the itch. sapphie continued her scratching and head shaking... and 2 weeks ago, i felt a super big bubble the size of a 20cent coin in her right ear! i decided to just leave it alone again for i believed it would subside just as it did the right ear. but i was wrong. she continued shaking her head. and two days ago, the bubble expanded further! that was when i decided i should sent her to the vet and i did so today. the vet explained to me that her condition is called aural hepatoma or blood clot in the ear. i was told i had 3 options - (1) to give her medication and hope for the swell to subside, (2) to do a minor local pierce and squeeze out the blood, then tie her ear to her head to prevent the blood from forming again and to repeat this for 2-3 weeks till she recovers, or (3) to do a surgery to get rid of the blood and to stitch up her wound to prevent future occurence. the first option carries no guarantee that it would heal, the second option has no guarantee that it will not recur as the ear tissue had been damaged and the third option needs to be done under g.a. and carries the possibility of fatality given her age. common to all option is that her ear shape is already damaged and she had to be given lots of other medications to clear her skin. well, it looked like i had no choice... it was either option 1 or 2. 3 is definitely out for me. cosmetic op with the possibility of death! no way! in the end, after some discussion, we opted to do option 1 and to escalate it to option 2 if she did not show any sign of recovery. the doctor also advised that her condition could be due to the fact that she might have developed some allergy to her food. and suggested that i might want to consider putting her on hypoallergenic diet once her skin clears. well, that is what i intend to do....