ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic Helps Dog with Traumatic Ear Injury

On December 12, 2025, Nyla, a pit bull-mix, was brought to the ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic in Brooklyn, New York, by her owner after an incident occurred between Nyla and their other resident dog. When Nyla came to us, she had a puncture wound on the left side of her neck and half her ear was torn off, with the overlying skin on the back portion sheared below where the cartilage remained.

Nyla had been to the Community Veterinary Clinic in Brooklyn before for vaccine and spay appointments, but this time, she was in a lot of pain, and her owner was very concerned.

Our staff at the Clinic jumped in to help, bringing Nyla to an exam room where a veterinarian checked her out. Due to the immense amount of pain she was in, Nyla wouldn’t let the veterinarian touch her or get close to her ear, so he performed a hands-off visual exam and then called Dr. Adam Powers, the Clinic’s veterinary staff manager in to see what we could do to help her.

“As soon as I saw the extent of the damage I knew we would have to do a pinnectomy to remove the portion of ear where there was no skin and then close it over,” explained Dr. Powers. “This is similar to an ear cropping in the way it looks but is a medically necessary procedure due to injury.”

Adam explained this to Nyla’s owner who was grateful we would be able to help.

Providing Care

With a plan in place, Dr. Powers admitted Nyla to surgery where he performed a pinnectomy and removed the part of the ear that skin would not be able to cover.

“I then closed the skin over from the back to meet the skin on the front side of it so it would heal over the edge,” said Dr. Powers. “I also cleaned up the puncture wound on her neck by debriding the edge (cutting it away so it was smooth and would close well) and placing a Penrose drain to allow it to heal properly and not fill with pus or fluid.”

When the surgery was done, Dr. Powers sent Nyla home with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication and anti-anxiety medication which would help with her anxiety for her follow-up appointment a few days later.

When Nyla returned just a few days later for her appointment to remove the drain, Dr. Powers noticed the wound had reopened, so he re-anesthetized her and debrided and closed the wound again. This time, it thankfully healed properly.

A week later, Nyla returned for a final appointment to have all her sutures removed while under light sedation.

“We used a sedation that is short acting and can be reversed so that we could wake her back up quickly,” Dr. Powers told us. “I think she is now very wary of her ear after the trauma because we are able to examine her until we touch her ears. But everything healed really well and she was able to go home with dad without any issue, aside from being slightly lopsided in the head now with 1.5 ears.”

Nyla’s owner was very grateful for the care we were able to provide her with. He listened to all of the discharge instructions and never missed an appointment.

Helping the Community

The Brooklyn Community Veterinary Clinic is one of three veterinary clinics in New York City, with the others in the Bronx and Queens. These clinics provide basic veterinary services and are designed to make veterinary care more accessible and affordable to those who need it.

Knowing that he is able to help more animals like Nyla and extend his skills to support the community in this way fills Dr. Powers with pride.

“It feels great that we can help people and animals in need,” he said. “That's the whole point of working at the ASPCA where we can provide access to care for those who would otherwise not have the resources to do so.”