hematomas are usually not a big deal, and are easily lanced and drained. The only thing that is difficult with cats with hematomas is that you should place a pressure bandage on the ear, after it is packed with a roll of gauze, then tape the ear down on the roll, and wrap the head with bandages to keep pressure on it so it doesn't refill. On dogs, no problems, on cats... they think you are killing them and fight the bandages (plus their anatomy makes it difficult to bandage the head without limiting their ability to open their mouth). I would think you could place a small drain in the incision, and put a couple of stitches in it, if the vet uses a really small drain that is flexible and light, it shouldn't bother the cat too much. You'll have to keep an elizabeth collar on him until it's removed so he doesn't pull it out. The risk there is that the ear will tend to have a "deflated balloon" look as it heals. The pressure bandages help to hold the ear shape as it heals. It's possible you could use a piece of foam and ear glue with tape (like they use for newly cropped ears on dobermans) to try to save the ear shape as it heals... without the pressure bandages. The vet would have to put the drain in the back of the ear, and cut the foam to fit the inside of the ear, and glue it on, then try to wrap the tape around it without blocking the drain. I'd be willing to give it a shot, but not sure if you could convince your vet to try it (you could always just have him do the surgery and insert a drain in the back of the ear and then do the aftercare at home yourself). Chances are, you're going to end up with a wrinkled ear though. Hopefully this isn't a show cat.... This page shows the basic method, of course, you modify the size and shape of the foam to do this to a cat: http://www.semperfiboxers.com/semper_fi_boxers2_038.htm
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