German Shepherd dog

No weird disorder.  She's had some type of trauma that caused this.  Perhaps the vet should have left the drain in longer?  Is she on an antibiotic?  It may take another try?  Keep up the diligence in making sure it resolves...she's gonna be fine with your's and your vet's good care.

Had a friend who had a working line male pup that got these on the back and neck. Never did know for sure what caused them but kept them drained. At about age 2 they went away and never came back... Wish I could tell more but never did really know the cause....good luck...

Suggest to the vet that he/she check for large blood vessels in the area that have an injury and continually are leaking. It could be related to the ears, but the trauma you suggest might have been very significant. With the right treatment, she should improve.

Good luck.

if it were my dog, i'd get it checked for hemophelia as well.

pjp

I've been hesitant to ask this - are  you sure this puppy has not been roughly shaken by the back of her neck or experienced another type of trauma to that area? Is she with you 24/7 or do others have access to her? Not implying dog abuse here, just wondering if something is happening you are not aware of? Agree with Ziegenfarm. If you can't account for trauma then I'd be thinking a bleeding disorder - VWB maybe? Or as Hodie has suggested, a leaking blood vessel from the blow to the bird feeder pole.

Blitzen,

I know that she is not abused by my husband and I and we are the only ones around her. We both work and she is crated all day(until luch when I come home to let her out) until we come home and then she is with us all night. I realize you are not suggesting abuse, just advice. What I have noticed was that our other adult female gsd does get rough with her in play. The pup is relentless when they play and our other girl tolerates a lot from the pup. I have seen on several occaisions the pup playing and on the ground and the our other dog grabs her by the scruff of the neck and pulls the pup. The pup never cries. I have since stopped this rough play and they are never together without supervision. As far as a bleeding disorder, that scares me. I wondered, though, if she had this would she not have bled alot when they put the drain in, they made 2 small incisions. She also had her baby canines extracted then because they had not fallen out and were starting to decay. I will mention this to the vet on Monday.

What puzzles me is that it was fine and now she has another hematoma above the old one. The old one is just about gone, no more swelling, just a hard, small lump. I will also check with the vet about the leaking blood vessel. Thanks to everyone.

gsdlvr2, I replied to your pm. Thanks

Pink,

I was thinking way off in left field, I don't think the vet would not have recognized what I was thinking of.

I had Sheep develop a large knot on their neck before and it kept growing until I lanced it, the culprit was a parasitic fly similar to bot fly's that lay eggs under the skin of its host.  The matter that came out was clearly fly eggs and could not be mistaken for anything else.  Clearly this is not your situation.

I guess your vet would have noticed any foreign material, bird shot, bb's, or the latest rage needles fired from blow guns.  There would be a mark at the point of penetration.    The size of this lump sounds extraordinary and I can't imagine a trama causing a lump that big, and trama would seem to also show a bruise or a red mark of some kind.   I also don't believe its  a bleeding problem.   I wish I could see it.   Look for a mark where something might have penetrated the skin.  A needle from one of these blow guns would be very small.  Stranger things have happened.  I only thought of this because of a news story about kids shooting geese at a city park with these damned things.

I'm sorry, I too am stumped.

Thanks to everyone for the taking the time to answer. An update, I took her to the vet on Monday and he said he thought he might have removed the drain too early. He did another surgery on her and put 2 drains in. He said it was def. from trauma andthe new hematoma was related to the first one. There is no infection or abcesses, just blood and fluid. He wants to leave these two drains in for a week. All her blood work came back good with no bleeding disorders. The drains look good today and the lump is gone for the most part. Still draining some light blood. Hopefully, this will do it and we will have no further problems. I guess we will just have to watch her more closely so she does not injure herself. Thanks for the support...now I am worrying about her ear, it is not standing on the side the hematoma was on, probably due to her skin being pulled to that side. Since she will be six months next week, I am thinking it is too late, which really upsets me. I have it glued to the top of her head, but I have my doubts. I guess I should just hope she heals and we have no further problems. Thanks again everyone.