Help - Mysterious Leg Infection - Amputation Next?

deebaubles

Last may, I noticed an eraser size lump on my 3 year old huskies foot. The vet said he had a foot infection and perscribed drugs. The infection persisted, took dog to a different vet. 2nd vet biopsied the lump with inconclusive results. Perscribed cephalexin. infection persisted. vet perscribed steroids in combination with cephalexin. infection still persists.

I post here as a last ditch effort to save my dog's leg, as none of the vets he has seen can actually diagonis what is going on with him.

I wish I had pictures with me, even as gross as they are. what started as an eraser size pink lump, thru Bandit's incessant licking (even in a cone, leg wrapped in gauze and duct tape, he finds a way to his wound) the lump opened. additional lumps appeared. they get to be about the size of a quarter or 50 cent piece, they ooze bright green puss. A few of the lumps, after expanding and breaking open, dry up and heal - leaving a small pink mark on his leg. For each one that has healed, new ones develop. When completing the daily cleaning and rewraping of his wound, immediately upon unwrapping him, the wounds bleed.

The vet has concluded, thru biopsy, that this is not fungal or parasitic. They can not rule out cancer.

Don't want to amputate unless absolutely neccessary. If anyone has any thoughts on what this could be or an alternative drug to try, please post!

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

myminpins

Do you have any universities near you who teach veterinary medicine? Oftentimes, you can get extensive testing, the most up to date machines, etc., for a fraction of the price of a regular vet. It might be worth looking into or going to a specialist vet. If your regular vet cannot find out what's wrong, you'll have to go further afield. I'd definitely want to know what's causing this.

Are there specialists anywhere near where you live? If you post the state or town, I'm sure someone here can find out if there's anywhere good to go nearby.

spotted nikes

They can usually test the pus, and see what antibiotics it responds to. (provided it isn't cancer, which they can scrape some skin cells and observe under a microscope to determine.)

cadmusk

It sound's like a "lick granuloma" which is an open sore that the dog obsessivley lick's and it can become a serious infection tumor like risk to joints and bone that it will invade. I am not a vet but have had experience with lick granuloma. If you catch it early enough and use a "halo" to stop the obsessive licking you might reverse the damage,I have to periodically put a collar on my dalamation to prevent her from doing this. I have read it is sort of an obsessive/anxiety issue with the dog that causes it. good luck
Ken

Moonshadow

Are you sure it's not an interdigital furuncle? They can be a real pain to clear up and some never really do go away. Keflex (cephalexin) is usually what works to treat them but when my one boy had one he was on it for about 4 weeks. Was your dog on the antibiotic that long? With Azul's it never did get completely better with the Keflex but it improved. We wound up giving him a shot of Convenia (a newer antibiotic that is an injection) for something else and it completely cleared up the furuncle.

It's hard to say without seeing it and even then I'm not a vet so I could only tell you if it looked like the ones that I've seen but maybe you could search on line for some photos and if it looks like it's possible get him into a vet and talk to them about it. I've only seen dogs with one but I think they can spread if I remember correctly. Azul's was about the size of a lima bean at it's largest point, he was pretty good about not licking it. I think it would have been worse if he was a licker.

Amputation would be a very last resort. I wouldn't do it unless you have a positive diagnosis on what this is. If all else fails I'd have them removed and send them out for biopsy. Or is that not an option for him for some reason?


Good Luck

Here's a link with a photo. That's basically what my dog's looked like...sometimes better and sometimes worse than that.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/70800.htm

Stelladog

Well, on the good side, "puss" implies an infection rather than cancer (although could be both). I would think a few weeks of hardcode antibiotics would do the trick, but which antibiotic is hard to say. You of course have to prevent licking (there are bigger cones and even muzzles). Have xrays showns anything? Do the bones in the infected area seem intact? Is the white blood cell count high? Are other blood tests elevated?