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Neck swelling

Dear Dr. Marie, five days ago, my sweet dog (Maltese - 2,8 years) started to feel sick, he had fever and he was trembling and he refused to eat. We took him to the vet and as we were waiting, we noticed a hard swelling in the left side of the neck (~3,5 cm in diameter), that for sure wasn't there the day before. The vet confirmed that he had fever (39,7C). The vet suspected that it was a trauma and it developed an abscess. They gave him three shots (antibiotics and anti-inflammatory).
The next day the swelling seemed to be reduced a little, he ate and drunk water. We went to the vet again for the treatment and they gave him the three shots again and they applied on the area iodine tincture.
The third day, we went back to the vet. This time they gave him only two shots and gave us iodine tincture and a pill (Synulax - 1/4 twice a day - for two days) for us to continue the treatment at home.
The swelling continued to grow the next two days, it hardened and crossed to the othr side of the neck and on the jaw. We decided to take him to another vet for a second opinion.
Today, at the new vet, he was tranquilised and received a punction in the swelling but no fluids-puss came out. They gave him two shots and an anti-inflamatory cream. They gave us the same diagnostics, trauma - abscess. I should mention that he still had fever (39,5c). He woke up slowly from the tranquiliser and he managed to eat and drink water. He went outside normaly, but still sad and seemed not to be OK.
In this evening, we noticed that the swelling was considerably enlarged and we took him again to the vet. They tried to take out some fluids from the swelling for an in-depth analizing, but with no success. They only got a little blood. They made an abdominal eco and everything seemed to be OK. His ferev grow at 39,9c and they gave him again the shots.
Can you help us with an advice, please?
Maybe you came across something simillar.
Thank you very much.
2 Responses
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Avatar universal
Thank you very much for the answer. The dog was seen by another 2 doctors, they made an ultrasound and complete blood profile. The cause was a sting by a cat nail, that healed very quick, but the bacteria from the cat saliva infected him; i understood that this thing is called cat scratch disease.
He is much better now, he responded great at the treatment with much powerful antibiotics. Also, after the ultrasound, the doctors could localize the pus and they could extract a large part of it.
I am very glad the problem was solved now, he has no fever, he started to eat and he seems to feel a lot better. The swelling is smaller and smaller every day, it continues to eliminate a lot of pus.
Best regards!
Helpful - 0
2054217 tn?1330538434
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I am very concerned and would recommend a second (or third at this point) opinion. Generally abscesses are easily treatable, respond great to antibiotics, and removing fluid/pus is easy. The location sounds like a submandibular lymph node concern. If your dog was older I would be much more concerned with a type of cancer called lymphoma. Considering he is young I would be thinking about a foreign object(s) or even a parasite infection. Curebra parasite infections often show the same synmptoms...a hard swelling around the point of the jaw.
I would be recommending a basic blood profile to confirm the cause of the fever and a surgical biopsy versus a fine needle aspirate which is what they have done already.
Good luck and keep me posted
Helpful - 0

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