dog hind leg swelling with bruising

[kathya818]

my 3 y/o male dog has swelling and purple/reddish bruising of his upper hind leg, this is the 2nd time it has occurred last time we took to vet and received antibiotics (cephalexin) it helped, we could not find any puncture marks from a spider or snake but we wondered if it could be from a poisonous plant in the back yard, the doctor was stumped and didn’t know what the problem was, has anyone ever heard anything like this or what it may be?

[kathya818]

thanks for information, I will check with the vet about the extent of tests done, but he hasn't had any type of bleeding just swelling and dark purplish/red bruising, blood work was done but was inconclusive, vet was unable to find problem. could poison oak, ivy or sumac cause the swelling and bruised appearance?

[Misfits4Me]

Hello & welcome to the forum.......Has your dog had a full blood panel to look for bleeding disorders? That's where you need to start.....If this has already been done & all was well, then you need to specifically ask for a "Tick Disease Panel" to be run........Everything about your post made me think of a Tick Disease......You at least need to rule this out.....

Personally, I would NOT allow an In-House snap test...They don't seem to be as reliable as they should be.....Request that the blood be sent out to a lab that specializes in Tick Diseases....Your Vet will know of one.....

There are bleeding other disorders that would show on a Standard Blood Panel at your Vet's office....The only other disease that I can think of would be "Cushing's Disease, but your dog is a little too young for this one....Special tests would be run to determine "Cushings"........Let me know what you think.....Karla