Neck Trauma - Page 1

Two days ago we discovered a mass/lump on the left side of our female's neck. We took her to the vet immediately that afternoon. Our vet said it appeared to be from some sort of trauma - similiar to a bruise. He drained the lump (blood and pus), gave us a prescription of Amoxitabs and said if it came back to bring her in and they may have to put a shunt in her neck. Yikes! Yesterday and last night the lump was substantially smaller. Then, tonight when I came home from work and saw her fur raised on the side of her neck...the lump/mass was back. It's almost like 2 separate masses with an indentation (slight) in the middle) We're going back to the vet tomorrow. I have never experienced anything like this. It just amazes me something could manifest itself to that size within that short amount of time. I do hope it's only a bruise of some sort and not anything more serious. Should there be anything else I need to be looking for or asking my vet? Thank you.

Do you have other dogs that could have caused this, with playing, fighting etc? If not, maybe have the vet check for Hemophelia/Von Willebrandt's Disease..... Theresa

What the vet was probably talking about was a drainage tube to help keep the wound open and draining. This could be very important and is not unusual, depending on the type of wound and location. Going back to the vet tomorrow is the best idea and continue on the antibiotics. If there is not significant improvement in a day or two more, then perhaps the wound should be cultured to make sure the right antibiotic is being given. You do not say anything about the age of the dog, circumstances etc., but most likely this is some sort of abcess from a wound. Is there some way an injury could have happened? Your vet could do blood work to see if there is a systemic infection, but that might not be necessary and based on his/her treatment to date, I suspect the vet also thinks it is an abcess. Good luck.

It almost sounds like it could be a sebaceous cyst also, contents sound very much the same and the indentation since they have a sort of "core".... they often start off just as a lump, kinda medium squishy, can be a little ouchy to the dog and eventually they rupture and drain..... Some vets want to remove them but I have found they usually resolve on their own... Always best to have the vet look though.. we can only guess

I do have a male GSD in the house with her. They do play and roughouse - usually it's my female tormenting my male. She's a Frisbee fanatic but the day this presented itself - we didn't get our Frisbee sessions in. I can only assume something happened during the time I left for work and came home. What happened, I have no idea. I wish I did. My male is crated during the day so only my female has free access to house. She will be 5 in March. The area is quite large from the side of her neck towards her shoulder. It encompasses basically from the tip of my fingers to my wrist. Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate them :)