What is wrong with my Pup? - Page 2

 I sent you a PM

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'm very glad you didn't misunderstand my post. Maybe it was the result of your other dog pulling her by the ruff. She sounds like a dog that can take a lot of pain and not complain.

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.

It's not uncommon for an infection to flare up again after an abscess has been drained, if the drain is not left in long enough. Bacteria can migrate under the skin, too, especially in areas where the skin is rather loose (the neck would be one of them.) So, that would be my guess: a flare-up of the original abscess.

Anyway, you obviously need to get her to the vet ASAP, and get it looked after.  Something that big is NOT going to go away on its own! And if it is an abscess, the infection could spread and poison her whole system. Whatever antibiotic she was given obviously isn't working against this particular strain of bacteria.

I'm not ruling out a hematoma, but usually, the drainage from hematomas is quite bloody, and there is usually a blood clot under the skin that shows up as a bruise or dark area (may look almost black, or very, very dark red.)

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.