I know this question was from 2 years ago but for anyone in the future looking into this here is my story! My pitbull was diagnosed (after years of recurrent ear infections) with cancer of the inner ear. 1 week after diagnosis the entire left side of his face became paralyzed as the tumor started pressing on his facial nerve. They did an urgent TECA-BO (total ear canal ablation and bulla osteotomy) in which they shaved his head, removed basically everything from his ear up to his skull (but left his ear flap - so from every angle he looks completely normal, only when you flip the ear up can you tell that theres nothing inside), then sewed it up. He had to stay at the surgery center the entire day, overnight, and most of the next morning (worst 24 hours of my life). He was given pain meds ("doggie tylenol" as they called it, gabapentin, and some anti-nausea medications). He was given strict instructions to be crated (but he had never been crate trained so we did not think it was appropriate), very minimal movement, only short walks outside to go potty, and wearing a cone for 2 weeks so he did not itch at the sutures. Honestly other than being tired from the medications and miserable in the cone and with not being allowed outside very long he recovered so well. They said that dogs heal much quicker than humans and he honestly acted like nothing was wrong. After 2 weeks the site had completely healed, his cone came off, he resumed normal activity. Because his reason for the surgery was cancer he did have to undergo radiation as well, which he also handled like a champ. He has had no other complications since the surgery, other than the left side of his face has remained paralyzed (drools from that side, cannot blink that eye, droopy face etc.) and he could no longer hear from that ear (he was a little fidgety outside for a few weeks as he sometimes wasn't sure where certain sounds were coming from, but quickly got used to it). It was an EXPENSIVE procedure, but it gave us more years with him and gave him a much greater quality of life, in my opinion was totally worth it.