I have a 10 month old black Labrador called Dylan. On 26th December he (suddenly) had a pretty big swelling on his back ... a few inches behind his neck, roughly in the middle of his back (slightly to the left). We took him to the emergency vet and they gave him antibiotics. It got bigger over the next few days and, on New Year's Eve they operated. After a couple of days he was home with a big dressing on his back. Within a couple of days, the swelling was back - so we took him back to the vet and they put in a drain (a piece of plastic tube hanging out of his side). For about 10 days we constantly changed his dressing over the drain, only walked him for 2 x 10 minutes a day - always on the lead - and tried to keep him settled. He has to wear a tight tee shirt which, along with the padding/bandages, he hates. The vet took the drain out on Saturday morning (two days ago) and, since then, the drain hole has healed up - but the swelling is back. It is really quite large - about 4 inches across and at least an inch above the surrounding skin. The vet sent a sample of what got taken out to a lab to be tested and the results of that are that it is a hygroma. I read that hygromas are pressure sores. Why would a dog get one in the middle of his back. When Dylan lays on his back, it is always on a carpet and he stretches right out - so there is no pressure in one place. Apparently, involved with this swelling was the microchip that was put in when he was about 12 weeks old. I can understand why a swelling might grow around a mircrochip - as it is a foreign body - but why, after removing it, would it keep swelling up. We are due back at the vet this afternoon - I'm concerned he will put another drain in and we'll have another 10 days of endless bandage and padding changes etc. Why is this thing constantly filling up? What could be causing it? He has been on antibiotics pretty much throughout and on an anti inflammatory too - although this gave him bad diarrhoea.
Hello and welcome from me and my two dogs . I`m sorry that I cant answer any of your questions , but just wanted to wish you and Dylan all the very best this afternoon , please let us know how you get on .
Like Kate I can only offer you my good wishes for all of you. You have worked so hard on his behalf with dressings etc, you should be proud of your dedication. It must be so difficult, a ten month old is a ball of energy you must be working very hard to keep him quiet and his dressings in place. Don't forget to come back and tell us how you get this afternoon, we really are interested. There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum, I expect one will drop by.
This is quite an unusual problem in this site in this age of dog. It could be associated with a foreign body like the chip, or could be an injection site reaction (has he had any recent injections?) or could be something different entirely! it sounds like your vets are on the case though, so let us know how you get on.
Odin got a big lump(7cm diameter) after an tetanus injection he got 2 years ago after being bitten. Took about 2 month before it vanished but he had no operation on it so i can't say if it would have reappeared Fingers crossed for the 2 of you!
Welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear you are having this problem. I hope things start to improve soon, do let us know how you get on.
Thanks to all for your input and good wishes. The latest is that Dylan went in to the vets again yesterday and has had a closed drain put in. To be honest, I haven't seen him yet - going to today at 4.00pm to be shown how to change the drain. If I can do it okay, I can bring him home. The vet showed us the drain bottle - it is massive - about the size of a small water bottle. This is going to be fixed to his side, somehow, and under his close fitting tee shirt (which he hates wearing - you put it on him and his head goes down to the floor and his tail is right between his legs). I'm told this drain could be in for 3 weeks. Although we have been told it is a hygroma, I am puzzled as it is not one of the usual sites for these. If it is something to do with the microchip, this was removed on New Year's Eve and, I'm told, they are only the size of a grain of rice. You'd think it would have settled down by now. One reads conflicting evidence on the web ... that swellings like this have to be compressed to stop the cavity filling up again ... but I was told just to keep the (first) drain covered with padding to collect the fluid but to make sure that the drain could do its job. As soon as the first drain was taken out (as the flow had reduced a lot), within two days the swelling was massive again.
Sorry, meant to add ... no, he hasn't had any recent injections there prior to the lump appearing ... although, having said that, he's been in a couple of times and made to be sick after eating stones. I think this involves an injection - but I wasn't present when it was done.
just want to wish you the best of luck with the drain, so you can bring Dylan home where he will be so much happier. Scooby had a lump removed from his chest, he was left with an open drain which was a nightmare.
I know that with tendon injuries in horses once they swell up with fluid they pretty much never go down. The body accustoms to the new fluid pressure level and wants to maintain it. So you can drain it and it comes right back. It can happen elsewhere on the body too in horses (dunno about dogs!!). I know this is not a tendon injury, and your dog is not a horse, but if it is now just a fluid filled sac and only cosmetic then maybe is it best to leave it be..? Anyway, just putting that out as something to ask the vet... I'm sure this is really stressful and that you just want your boy to be happy, so I really hope it gets sorted...
I did ask the vet - if this latest drain doesn't work - could we just ignore it and, hopefully, it would settle down over time ... he was a bit non-committal but I got the impression he didn't think that would work. It appears that when the swelling is drained there is still a cavity there, which tends to fill up again, so the idea, now, is to keep the drain in (which has a partial vacuum in the container to suck the stuff out, rather than it draining out) long enough so that the skin is back to where it should be for long enough for tissue to regrow and the cavity to, as it were, disappear. He's home again now ... just have the challenge of emptying the drain 3 times a day, using a syringe gadget to suck air out of the container (whilst clamping two tubes at the same time) and re-attaching it all while there is still some vacuum there - so the drain sucks okay. I understand the principle ... the practice is likely to be a right laugh.
My goodness this seems like such an ordeal! So sorry you are having to deal with it. I hope you can get it all put to rights! Would it be worth a second opinion from a different vet? It sounds like your current vets are trying to get it sorted out but maybe another opinion might set your mind at ease if they say the same thing in terms of treatment? I dunno, just a suggestion.
Is having a fluid filled cavity a problem or a health risk at this point? Leaving it alone may mean that there's always a fluid filled cavity there, but is that actually a problem?
