Any ideas what on earth this is?

[erykah1310]

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

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, ouch! Could he have gotten bitten by a spider or a be reacting to some sort of insect bite?

[erykah1310]

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

[hazelrunpack]

What would cause something like that in horses?

[erykah1310]

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

[hazelrunpack]

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?