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Old August 7th, 2011, 09:17 PM
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Any ideas what on earth this is?

Well Marv has some mysterious swelling and I haven't been able to get any answers about it.
He basically is like a horse who is stocked up. He has a tree trunk leg
When opening up for drainage no puss came out, just blood which sort of rules out an abcess.
Here are a few pics, there is bruising around near his armpit area but I couldn't get any pictures of the bruising.



Here you can see the main swelling high on his leg then it returns to normal and then the bottom of his leg is tree trunked




And the two of his front legs, it doesn't seem bad in the pic but it is
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Old August 7th, 2011, 09:44 PM
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Oh, ouch! Could he have gotten bitten by a spider or a be reacting to some sort of insect bite?
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Old August 7th, 2011, 09:53 PM
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Thats what I thought at first, we don't have any poisionous insects or snakes or the like around here but Ifigured maybe a bee sting with allergic reaction or something. However once shaved down there is no sign of a bite or sting.
the wounds you see in the shaved part are where the vet cut to allow drainage.
It has been draining very well but only blood.
He is on Meloxicam (anti inflamatory) and 1500 mg of Novolexin 2x a day (antibiotic ) for the next 10 days.
What is bothering me is the dosages of the drugs he is on and not having any definate diagnosis of what is wrong.
It was a bad vet visit, one of the ones that you read about on here and question if the person actually went to a vet or not.
I actually was told " I have seen stuff like this in horses but never a dog so I'm not sure" or " we will treat it like an abcess and see from there"
I am waiting till tomorrow and calling the clinic back to go back in if it doesn't get any better tomorrow. No point in calling in tonight as it will be the same vet again
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Last edited by erykah1310; August 7th, 2011 at 11:02 PM.
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Old August 7th, 2011, 10:32 PM
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What would cause something like that in horses?
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Old August 7th, 2011, 10:57 PM
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Many things,
standing in a stall too long, abcesses, a minor cut, infection you name it. Tree trunk legs are quite common in horses.
Usually cold hoseing the leg down a few times a day for 10-15 minutes brings it down quickly.
I was actually told to cold hose Marv...
I get it, he's a big dog, but even though he was dosed for his drugs the same as a mini horse would be, he is a dog not a horse and I don't think the same course of treatment should be used.
I'm just worried about him, not to the point that i think he is going to perish from a mis diagnosis but more for the fact I don't think he is being prescribed appropriate dosages of the right medications.
I mean 3000 mg of Novolexin just seems really high, even for a big dog
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Old August 7th, 2011, 11:30 PM
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That is pretty high, unless he weighs 300 lbs. I agree...that would worry me, too, given the nasty side effects of cephalexin. Will your regular vet take you on an emergency basis tomorrow?
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Old August 8th, 2011, 03:30 AM
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Erykah, Silk (11kg) sheltie , is on 150mg of Cephalexin twice daily and Metacam for cystitis(or something worse maybe, time will tell), does that help you judge whether Marv would be getting too much Cephalexin? Is Marv lame, and was he x rayed? You'd know from your horses that with them any swelling higher up in the body does move down slowly, so the top of his leg is where I'd guess the problem to be. Maybe the whole area, shoulder, armpit, leg should be shaved in case the vet missed something? Don't know whether I'd dismiss the hosing so lightly either, particularly if you think you see bruising. For the pain and inflammation of arthritis my dogs have deliberately stood with the sore leg in a water bucket. How sore is he?
He couldn't have been hit by a car or kicked by a horse?
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Old August 8th, 2011, 06:08 AM
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looks to me like possibly he was bitten repeatedly by black flies? I remember the horses swelling up like that.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 10:20 AM
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I don't know anything about that insect, Melinda, so just curious , would it attack just one area like that? In Australia the bush flies usually go for the dogs' ears because that's where the hair is shortest.
Erykah, it certainly looks nasty, so hope it starts to come good soon.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 10:25 AM
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Our dogs get bit up by black flies on the forelegs, belly and the insides of the ears where the hair is shortest, GF. They're persistent little buggers, and pretty numerous this year. Never had a dog swell up like that, but Marv could be super-sensitive to them.

Is he any better this morning, Erykah?

Does he walk on the leg okay?
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Old August 8th, 2011, 11:42 AM
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Daisy , my last dog was sensitive when it came to black flies, she swelled up but not quite as large as Marv, but I do remember the area around it becoming swollen.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 02:57 PM
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Erykah,that looks pretty nasty,I hope Marv is better today
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Old August 8th, 2011, 03:08 PM
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Erykah, that looks awful. I hope Marv heals up quickly and it's nothing that will be persistent. Poor thing.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 04:35 PM
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Sigh and GRRRR
Ok this vet visit was NO better.
I am still not convinced his medications are the right amount, he weighs 130lbs.
Also... I don't see why he is on that much if there is no sign of infection in his blood at all.
I'm thoroughly frustrated right now and can't even type but to sum it up, there is no improvement at all today and he still isn't even acting like anything is wrong with his leg.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 05:11 PM
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The following is some information on Cephalexin which is the same as Novolexin:

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library...lex/page1.aspx

It does say that the usual dosage is 10 to 15 mg per pound every 8 to 12 hours so the 1500 mg twice a day for your 130 lb. boy would be within the usual recommended dosing range.
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Old August 8th, 2011, 06:15 PM
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Thanks, that sorta helps put my mind at ease. It just seems like so much, but again I haven't had a dog this big before.
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Old August 9th, 2011, 12:10 AM
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Does the lump feel solid or sort of squishy?

Years ago Cally had a small local swelling on his hind leg that I couldn't figure out why, it also looked like an infection but drained without "normal" solid white pus - it was mostly "watery" blood w/tiny pockets of liquidy pus. Never did find out what it was from, but figured he must've scraped it on a fence & got a splinter or something to start it all.

Speedy healing Marv
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Old August 9th, 2011, 03:46 PM
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Tonights update, the swelling in the "tree trunk" part is WAY down, its still a bit larger than the other leg but it doesn't look abnormal anymore. As for the ball of blood... its still there but also a bit smaller.

Growler, the ball was/is squishy which is why I figured right away it was an abcess but when the vet put the drainage punctures in and looked at the blood under a microscope there was nothing but blood in it. Not watery blood or anything, just straight blood.

Either way, what ever was wrong with him and regardless of what the vet had no idea about his medications are working finally and he is starting to return to normal now.
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Old August 9th, 2011, 03:48 PM
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Whew! What a relief for you! Glad he's doing so much better. It's the mysterious stuff that's often the scariest cuz you don't know what to do about it, or how to prevent it in the future. I hate stuff like that.
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Old August 9th, 2011, 04:13 PM
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Glad to hear the meds are working for Marv finally. Hope it all just goes away.
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Old August 10th, 2011, 08:01 AM
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great news that the swelling is down and the meds are working!!
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Old August 10th, 2011, 11:46 AM
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If there was bruising and only blood when he lanced it, could it have been a massive haematoma perhaps? Glad he's improving.
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Old August 10th, 2011, 05:49 PM
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The "tree trunk" bottom of his leg was what really freaked me out, it was like a sponge. We deal with so many abcesses with horses so they don't really freak me out much, I still would have gone for medications for him ( but apparently it is the same stuff pretty well that I have here for Calvin at all times since he is so prone)
however, that bizarre swelling below was what scared me.
Todays update, his leg is back to normal minus a golf ball sized ball up near his elbow still which is still draining and is MUCH softer now.
Looks like Marv gets to keep his leg!!! (he wasn't in danger of losing it but the worst always crosses my mind when it comes to the furries here)
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Old August 10th, 2011, 08:08 PM
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Wonderful news, erykah! Yay, Marv!!
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Old August 11th, 2011, 03:56 PM
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Erykah,that's great news for Marv and you
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