My dog's right side of his face swollen..Help..

[Tdavila16]

A little background of what happened to my dog Tyson.. He's a 10 year American Bulldog that weighs 120 lbs and complete health and good shape. Out of no where this past Sunday he wasn't acting his usual self in fact he was acting lethargic, not eating (which for him is not normal), laying around. So I went up to him to check for any lumps, sores or anything that could let me know what was causing him to act abnormal. Nothing. No bite marks or anything. I did notice that he had a temperature and he was constant drooling. We gave him water and tried to take him outside and at this point it was like he couldn't even get up, he was walking like he was drunk. So we took him to the vet (Emergency visit) of course, they sedated him and thought the cause was due to an abcess. So over $500 later they extracted his tooth and gave us pain meds, antibiotics and said to monitor him. The very next day (yesterday) it seems he looked worst, his swelling was like his whole side face was huge to the point where he eye was shutting. He barely ate (we gave him soft food and rice as instructed by the vet) the drool is still going on but no vomitting or diarrhea. So we took him back to the vet (today) of course another emergency visit due to holiday and trying to find out what the real problem is. The vet advised blood work would not help so a bigger hole in our wallets, so xrays will be done. The sad thing is we just enrolled him on dog insurance but of course this is considered a pre-existing condition so no luck there. Does anyone or any animal health professional might know what this could be. We live in Northern VA and its very cold outside so I ruled out a snake bite, don't think it's a spider bite. I just don't understand how he can go from being in excellent condition to critical in hours?? Any advice or tips is welcomed. Thank you... concerned pet parent :'(

[Margot49]

Boy, I was thinking the same as Karla!  I would have told them to do blood work!  X-rays will be done? Why didn't they do them then?
Maybe he has some major infection going on now.  Did you get him to your regular Vet yet?  
Yes, please keep us updated

[Misfits4Me]

Did they really find an abcess or did they just guess? All these symptoms sound like he's being poisoned.....Have you ruled that out? I didn't understand, they did or did not do bloodwork? It would have shown poisoning and should have been the place to start......Let us know anything else you can think of......I'll be thinking about him.....Karla

[deadgamegrrl]

The only thing I can think of is a splinter or shard of something has gotten embedded into his jaw.  It definitely sounds like it's originating inside the mouth. I guess he could have eaten a spider but if it was poisonous I would think you would be getting more systemic symptoms by now, and if it wasnt I would think he would be on the road to recovery.  

Did the x-rays show anything?