Changing the Cartesian coordinates to cylindrical coordinates is a boring task. Nevertheless, after simplifications, the EDO obtained is very simple (attachment).
This leads to the solution on a parametric form which might suggest other change of variable, in order to find a simpler method.
$\displaystyle\left(x\dfrac{\mathrm dy}{\mathrm dx}-y\right)^2=a\left(1+\left(\dfrac{\mathrm dy}{\mathrm dx}\right)^2\right)(x^2+y^2)^{3/2}$
$\displaystyle \begin{cases}x=\rho \cos(\theta) \\ y=\rho \sin(\theta)\end{cases}\,\to\,\begin{cases}\mathrm dx=\mathrm d\rho\cos(\theta)-\rho\sin(\theta)\mathrm d\theta \\
\mathrm dy=\mathrm d\rho\sin(\theta)+\rho\cos(\theta)\mathrm d\theta\end{cases}$
$\displaystyle\dfrac{\mathrm dy}{\mathrm dx}=\dfrac{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\sin(\theta)+\rho\cos(\theta)}{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\cos(\theta)-\rho\sin(\theta)}$
$\displaystyle\left(
\rho \cos(\theta) \dfrac{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\sin(\theta)+\rho\cos(\theta)}{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\cos(\theta)-\rho\sin(\theta)}-\rho\sin(\theta)
\right)^2=a\left[1+\left(\dfrac{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\sin(\theta)+\rho\cos(\theta)}{\dfrac{\mathrm d\rho}{\mathrm d\theta}\cos(\theta)-\rho\sin(\theta)}\right)^2\right]\rho^3$

Clairaut
. $ $ $\endgroup$ – Did Jun 28 '14 at 22:35