help huge bump with head on my dog!

[missmandi83]

Today my boyfriend and I took our dogs to the local creek and when we got home he checked them for ticks. While inspecting out 12 yr old short hair husky cross he noticed a huge swollen bump on her inner thigh. It had a white head on it. He grabbed gauze and popped it, but you can still feel stuff in there and around it is very swollen. she doesn't seem to be in pain. she is rolling around in the grass right now..and she is walking and was swimming just fine. what could this be? we're taking her to the vet if it gets another head or gets any wrose

[ginger899]

Without seeing a picture of the wound all I can say is it sounds like it's an abscess. And they can look pretty nasty when they're opened up and draining! They can leave what looks like a huge hole. And it can look bad in there.
If you have any doubts at all, take her to be seen by the vet.
IF it is an abscess....then it won't be "catching", but definitely wash your hands with warm water and soap after touching it! Transmission of germs from an abscess can cause stomach bugs if you were to touch your mouth afterwards, or prepare food, etc.

[missmandi83]

I hope this isn't something that we can get or that my other dog can get.

[missmandi83]

thank you for your help. I've never seen anything like this on a dog and i thought maybe it was a spider bite. We cleaned it was some saline solution the vet gave us a few months back and were able to get a little more out of it. We will have to watch it to make sure it doesn't get worse

[ginger899]

Well this does rather sound like an abscess. The important thing is to bathe it frequently with warm water and antiseptic, and try to keep the wound open, so that it will keep draining out all the gunk and pus. Gently squeeze it each time, to see if any more needs to come out. But don't let it heal over until you are 100% sure the abscess is clear.
It might be wise to take her in to be checked by the vet. For all you know she may need an antibiotic to help clear this, and you wouldn't want any infection to get to her bloodstream.
I'd keep her out of the creek -just while this clears up, so that she doesn't get extra infection maybe from the creek water in there...and afterwards, when it's healing up she can get back in that water again!