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Post by Lam9 on Mar 12, 2008 14:47:22 GMT -5
Hi all,
Mimi has had a lump under her chin since November. We first noticed it when the dentist came out, though it wasn't by the jaw bone/teeth itself. It was open and bleeding. I called out the vet, it didn't drain when a needle was put in. So I was told to wash it out, put on some ointment, and see if it heals. It seemed to slowly heal, and then the holidays came and I was out of town.
Got back in January, and it was oozing again. So I called the vet again, and we decided to try antibiotics. It seemed to close up and get a bit smaller, and the vet said that there may just always be a lump there. A month and a half went by, and now it is opened and bleeding/oozing again. I'm waiting to hear back from the vet, but I was given 2 suggestions last time if the drugs didn't work. We could cut it open and see what's up, or do an ultrasound. Does anyone have experience with something like this? What would you do? I'm leaning towards having it opened up, I think maybe there is a wire or splinter in there?
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Post by TeachU2Ride on Mar 12, 2008 15:21:38 GMT -5
I think you're probably right that there's a foreign body involved. You could take an xray to see if it's anything metal... or have the vet probe around to see if it's a splinter of wood (Hootie once stepped on a branch and had a 3" piece in his foot for a month before we found it, poor thing). You could also do a biopsy. Since it doesn't seem to be bothering her, I'd start with whichever option is cheaper!
What I wouldn't do is put her back on antibiotics. They can lead to a walled-off abcess without fixing the basic problem.
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Post by fancyhorse on Mar 12, 2008 16:50:21 GMT -5
It almost sounds like Strangles, but if you vet didn't mention it then I guess it isn't.
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Post by Lam9 on Mar 12, 2008 19:51:34 GMT -5
fancy - I thought about strangles too, but that hasn't been brought up by the vets I think because it isn't near the lymph nodes and it doesn't drain when you skewer it.
teach - it is bothering her some now when I put the lunging caveson strap over it, and I think she's getting worried undersaddle now too. For some reason I'm thinking that cutting it open is the right move. argggh, vet comes tomorrow morning.
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Post by Lis on Mar 12, 2008 19:53:38 GMT -5
Fatty tumor maybe? My App had a few once around his girth. They ended up having to cut one off because there wasn't any fluid in it to test. It was completely benign, just a fatty tumor.
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Post by Lam9 on Mar 12, 2008 19:59:53 GMT -5
Lis - my dog has a couple fatty tumors too, but I don't think that could be it since it is sensitive and oozes? I'm not sure though, did your app's lumps ooze?
I guess cutting it open is a good idea in either case.
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Post by jenarby on Mar 12, 2008 21:19:15 GMT -5
I second what teach says. Either you have something up in there or it could just be a cyst that keeps getting infected. I'd have the vet lance it.
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Post by Lam9 on Mar 13, 2008 14:45:44 GMT -5
Well we opened it up today. Some pus came out initially, but we really didn't find any smoking gun. It looked like the swelling did go back to the lymph node, so maybe there was a small absess there, or maybe there is a splinter we didn't find. I'm supposed to keep flusing out the hole and the vet will come check again next week. Mimi was a good girl about it, there was a lot of proding around involved  |
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Post by abowls on Mar 13, 2008 15:32:57 GMT -5
Did your vet take some pus for culture? That would give you a better idea of how to make sure that the abscess is gone. Then you'd know what the bacteria is sensitive to. The private practice vet that I used to work with used to say that the bacteria that causes strangles, streptococcus equi, can form abscesses anywhere in the body. It is just more common in that one location and causes more of a problem b/c it can "strangle" them.
Also, when I was a teenager we had a horse at my boarding barn that developed an abscess that wasn't quite in the "normal" place for strangles. The vet said it couldn't be strangles b/c it wasn't in the right place. We had him in a stall and we were just hotpacking it and giving him PPG. He died overnight one night and after he died we had another vet aspirate some of the pus from the abscess to culture it and it turns out that it WAS strangles. If I were you I would definately get a culture just to be sure.
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Post by Lam9 on Mar 13, 2008 17:03:25 GMT -5
hmmm, I asked the vet specifically about strangles, but she said it wasn't since it's been there since Nov - that it would have either gotten worse or better but not lingered the same size for so long. I can ask again and ask for a culture when she comes out next week, but we didn't save a sample |
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