My year and a half old Great Dane had large lump on belly, took her to emergency vet where she put a needle in it and drained lump. Sent home with heavy duty antibiotics and pain meds. Now dog has diarrhea and trouble with her bowel mvmts. and has started puncture hole bleeding. Don’t really want to take her back to vet. Beginning to not trust any doctors as I read on your blog site that you don’t agree with draining and lumps should eventually absorb on its own. She doesn’t seem in distress or pain. What can I do to take care of her at home with giving her meds that will help her heal?

How long does my dog have to fast before having an abdominal ultrasound?

Ear hematoma in dog is an affliction which gets too much attention for needing surgery to repair. In fact, surgery seems to cause more damage than the hematoma itself. First, let’s look at the cause. Something has happened to rupture a feeding artery into the pinna. An underlying condition contributing to ear irritation most likely made the dog rake the ear against something or shaking the ear repeatedly. Either way, an artery is the only blood vessel strong enough to release fluid pressure to tear apart the tissues binding the skin and cartilage. These tears as well begin releasing fluids into the now ever-growing hematoma being created. Here is where different approaches to treatment occur. Should the vet address the blood pool only and aspirate once or multiple times? Should the vet incise the ear and suture the skin back to the cartilage? Should the vet install a drain or allow fluids from the bleeding vessels to exit the ear? In my opinion Yes, No and No. Aspiration alone relieves fluid buildup without harming or wounding. If coagulation has already begun, then a hypodermic needle aspiration will be non-effective. With an early onset hematoma, a hypodermic needle aspiration is pet and pet parent friendly with both relieving the pain for the animal and keeping costs down for owner. However, aspiration is not going to fix the broken blood vessel. The only way to repair the broken blood vessel feeding the hematoma is to allow the animal time to build reparative tissues to seal the break. These repairs take place while the aural hematoma condition is in suspension, meaning the hematoma is no longer filling, the fluids become still allowing for rapid coagulation to begin growing granulation against both skin and cartilage, and the once flowing broken blood vessel now has back pressure against it and the site of break begins to seal and heal. This occurs naturally in untreated aural hematoma. Consequences are that the bulbous blood clot formed is reduced in a fashion where granulation has attached all skin and cartilage to the blood clot, and as the clot is reduced towards the center, the skin and cartilage are pulled along with it causing the shrivel. Since in this scenario the amount of shrivel is proportionate to the diameter of the blood clot, then the solution would be to limit the blood clot size to as thin a layer as possible, making the skin and cartilage in as close proximity as possible at time of blood clot coagulation and granulation. This process is not foreign to veterinary medical. Splinting the auricle for a duration of time will achieve natural healing by allowing a thin layer of blood clot to form in the entirety of the hematoma region. The thin layer acts in the same fashion as a natural bulbous clot, but without the consequences of crinkling the ear after reabsorption. Keeping an open mind to aural splinting for aural hematoma can and will bring new Holistic medical treatments needed to address the current clinical duress patients and their owners are now having to endure.

My Plott Hound had a large internal lipoma removed on Monday directly above his penis in his abdominal area. Almost immediately, he developed prominent swelling directly to, proximal, and distal to his operative site. In addition, he has swelling down his leg. Took him back to the vet where a needle aspirate was done. He was diagnosed with multiple seromas. There was no WBCs seen or anything else visualized under the scope to indicate infection INSIDE. However, externally, his skin is red and angry and there is a lot of swelling. He is on 2 broad spectrum antibiotics. He is having a hard time walking on his right leg. Took him back today (day 5 post op) because swelling is even worse. He has swelling all down his leg. Vet says it made sense to her because of gravity. My dog is in a lot of pain, can’t sit down. He put his paws down and his bottom stays up in the air. No one can even palpate his operate site without him going through the roof in pain. He is on Tramadol and an NSAID. I’m extremely worried. The vet isn’t a fan of the drain because she doesn’t want to create more room for infection. Ultra Sound showed no abscess. He is drinking a lot of water (more than usual) and urinating normally. His last BM was yesterday. Eating mostly fine. Low grade temp. Does this sound all right? I hate that he is suffering. The pics I have included were yesterday, not today. But you get the idea of the areas of seromas and erythema. Today, the swelling is worse and his entire leg down to his paw is fluid filled.

Help! My dog raided my garbage bag and ate a cooked turkey bone? Is there anything I can do besides watching my dog for signs of distress?

Hello! We were hiking with our dog this morning when he got a thorn in his paw. Luckily we were able to remove it but it required two of us since he doesn’t like having his feet touched especially when he’s in pain. I have two questions. I realize now we need to carry a soft muzzle or something in case this happens when he is with only one of us, do you have a kind you prefer? Also how can we work with him, so he is more comfortable with us touching his feet?

Thank you so much,
Kristen

Hi!
For a couple weeks I have noticed my dog chewing on his back paw… he normally has pretty strong allergies this time of year and he is a licker anyway.. however tonight when I got home from work I took another close look at his paw (it was looking very pink) and noticed that he is missing a nail.. it’s completely gone ! He is in no pain as it seems.. hes walking, running, playing and eating as normal.. the only thing is he is obviously licking the area where his nail was.. it’s not bleeding and doesn’t look infected…
what advice do you have for this type of situation? I have been reading and watching videos about this but it’s half and half of I should take him to the vet or if I can take care of this at home.. Thank you

My dog is 6 months old roughly and she started her heat cycle for the first time 6/10/21 and her brother (unaltered) and her got “stuck” few days ago I know she is pregnant and she started to lightly spot blood Yesterday. What could happen from this besides the fact That puppies may not make it? Also she is pitbull/ rottweiler mix