Mammary abscess in senior dog

[hazelrunpack]

Depending on the dose, they usually do wean them off pred (or any steroid). It's a fairly slow process, too--I guess stopping it suddenly can cause the adrenals to go off-kilter...

[Myka]

Even short-term use? Roxy only has a week of it.

EDIT: I found this...

Those high daily dose is usually tapered off over the course of a few days to avoid adrenal exhaustion and withdrawal effects. You see, when you introduce prednisone (which the body recognizes as cortisol) to the body, the adrenals stop making their own supply. The theory behind tapering off of steroids like prednisone is that by slowly removing the external steroid source, the body can adapt and begin making its own again with less stress placed on the system. The practice of tapering in short term therapy, even in higher doses is debated by many clinicians. Some doctors and clinicians claim that not only is a taper not necessary in short term therapy (14 days or less) but it is better to stop this therapy earlier, the adrenals and body adjust just fine. Using a taper just introduces more of the artificial source for a longer period of time, which is best to be avoided to minimize side effects and more quickly restore natural body hormone levels.

So maybe it's not an issue for "short burst" therapy. I will ask about it though.

[hazelrunpack]

Yep, I've seen that, too. So if it's low dose and short term, sometimes they just stop the meds cold turkey.

[MarianE]

So glad to hear that she is doing well.

[Myka]

So, I did talk to the vet about stopping the steroid quickly, and she said the dose was low and for a short period, so it wasn't a concern.

We did end up having some concerns though...also known as "complications". *sigh*

So a couple days after the surgery I noticed a small, cylindrical lump near the incision. I kept an eye on it, but wasn't too concerned thinking it was probably some inflammation or a bit of fluid. Last Thursday evening was Roxy's last day of Apo Amoxi Clav antibiotics. On Saturday the lump was a bit bigger and it was about time for Roxy's checkup appointment so I booked her in for Monday morning. On Sunday I called the vet's cell because the lump blew up to the size of a lemon over Saturday afternoon and Saturday overnight. I asked about hematoma, but she said usually fluid travels and would cause her leg or belly to swell up, and I thought ya that's usually the case, good point. Haha. The vet called in more antibiotics for me to pick up at the human pharmacy, and said to watch her for signs of distress, and call back if things got worse.

So Monday (yesterday) early morning she went in for her check up. The vet was definitely concerned about the significant size of the lump. A few things we talked about were abscess, or it could be a sign that she has inflammatory cancer. So Roxy was booked in for afternoon surgical exploration.

DH had to pick her up yesterday afternoon for me. The vet did call me to update - it was a hematoma! YAY!!!! Apparently Roxy didn't read the book on how hematomas are supposed to act. Haha! So they cleaned it all up real good and put a drain in. The incision was reopened, the edges were re-cut (for fresh incision edges, better healing), and the incision is now about 12 cm long. She was draining A LOT of fluid yesterday...gobs of coagulated blood. There was no additional charges for this. My vet doesn't charge for follow up complications - just meds.

The vet tech said she went through surgery very well again, though at home it seemed like she didn't come out of the anesthetic as smoothly (peacefully? haha) as previous. She was whining a bit and shaking. I called to make sure she got pain meds, and they said yes she should be good to go. I felt so bad for her, but she seemed ok once I pulled her bed out by the couch and sat with her. She wasn't interested in food at 8 pm, but ate a few kibble ravenously at about 10 pm.

This morning she was THIRSTY and HUNGRY. So I gave her half her breakfast, waited an hour and gave her the other half. She was moving very gingerly, and was shaking after moving around. She doesn't have any pain meds for at home, so I'm going to call and see if I can get a bit of something. She is on 300mg Baytril (Enrofloxacin) for 3 days which is a heavy duty antibiotic just in case. Now she's sleeping peacefully.

She's going to need some heavy duty probiotics after this is all done.

[hazelrunpack]

Never thought I'd be relieved to hear that there was a hematoma! *whew*

When does she get the drain out? Glad you're calling for pain meds--sounds like something that would be significantly ouchie!

[Myka]

I know, me too!! I wasn't even thinking it would be as "good" as a hematoma! It's funny how our perspectives changes relative to our options. :lol:

She gets the drain out in about a week - depends how much it's draining. Today so far it's not draining a lot even though there is still a fair amount of fluid/swelling in the area. I called for pain meds - they're going to call back for me to go pick something up. Probably Tramidol again.

I'm not sure I like that she's on the heavy duty Baytril antiobiotic "just in case" - especially that it is an animal antibiotic, not a human one. For some reason I am a bit leery about those. Baytril has been on the market for 20 years though, so I'm probably just being paranoid haha. I don't like antibiotics, although I know an infection at this point would be awfully rough on her, especially since she's been on antibiotics for the better part of the last 8 weeks. Ugh...

EDIT: Got some Tramidol.

[Myka]

Hey all! This is a super old post, but I figured I should update!

So Roxy is still alive and kicking! She's now a little over 15 years old! She has never had any type of recurrence with the breast tissue area.

[shriekcurliness]

It's so nice to know that Roxy is very much alive ang kicking! I can see that she's a fighter and ofc same with her Mommy. Lovelots with you both. <3

[Myka]

Originally Posted by shriekcurliness

It's so nice to know that Roxy is very much alive ang kicking! I can see that she's a fighter and ofc same with her Mommy. Lovelots with you both. <3

Thank you for your message!

Unfortunately, my new update is that Roxy passed away on May 9th. On the evening of May 8th Roxy injured herself, and it was determined that she fractured the neck of the hip and tore her ACL. We didn't see it happen. She was 100% non-weight bearing. Even with a hefty dose of Tramadol on board, she was unable to adjust herself on her bed, and unable to stand up or sit up from a laying position due to the pain. She has an extremely high pain tolerance, and to see that she was unable to cope, and couldn't even in lay in bed without whining, we made the difficult decision to say goodbye to her. It was the only rational option as she was not a candidate for surgery.

On the other hand, even on her last day, she had zoomies in the yard that morning, and had a great day watching us in the bobcat and laying on the deck with the sun shining. I miss her SO much, and I am SO grateful that she shared her life with us for nearly 10 years (we adopted her at 5 1/2).