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Possible abscess? How can I ease the pain?

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My dog has various lumps and bumps that come and go, none seem to bother him and he doesn't appear to be in pain. Some of them are like spots, you can squeeze them and they are gone, some are hard and stay around a while. I do have him checked now and again and there has been no cause for concern.

 

However, last night, I noticed him licking his paw obsessively so had a closer look and he has a large red swelling on the top of his paw...it looked like there was an "entry point" so I thought perhaps a grass seed or something and I gave it a bit of a squeeze. Well, he has never bitten or even snarled at a human in all his life, but he nearly had my hand off!! Simultaneously, the lump exploded in a big mess of blood and clear matter :gag:

 

He's booked in the vets today but not until tea time, is there anything I can do to ease the obvious discomfort he's in until then? :(

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A few years ago one of my dogs got a big, quite hard round lump but the vet said not to worry as the dog didn't seem bothered. I was very worried, thought about all sorts of bad things it could be. A few days (or week or so) later there was a big hole in the lump as though a large grub had been growing in the spot and had eaten its way out. The spot went away after that and the dog was fine. I wondered if a fly had laid and egg and a grub had grown in the dogs skin. The vet said there weren't such things that could do this in the UK.

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Hot flannels over the area will help draw anything out, I get these often with the guinea pigs.

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Our dog had one of these! She developed quite a hard lump on her shoulder area, it grew for some time (my doctor sis checked it out and said it wasn't likely to be a tumour or anything so we weren't too worried). Anyway one night my OH was stroking her on the sofa when it suddenly exploded! We just kept it clean and it healed up fine, there's no trace of it now. Very weird though.

 

My tom cat regularly has abscesses from fighting. I always just keep them squeezed of gunk and cleaned, and they heal up fine.

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Yes I was wondering if the vet trip was strictly necessary....he doesn't seem as bothered by it today as he was last night, but he still won't let me touch it. I have antibiotics so I was wondering if I should just try to keep it clean and see what happens. I could really do without the expense right now.

 

I just dunked it in a bowl of salt water. He didn't very much appreciate it :D

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Our dog had one of these! She developed quite a hard lump on her shoulder area, it grew for some time (my doctor sis checked it out and said it wasn't likely to be a tumour or anything so we weren't too worried). Anyway one night my OH was stroking her on the sofa when it suddenly exploded! We just kept it clean and it healed up fine, there's no trace of it now. Very weird though.QUOTE]

 

Did the lump resemble a mole in anyway only ours has a couple of these that grow, harden over and drop away, only to come back though not necessarily in the same area?

 

---------- Post added 07-06-2013 at 14:13 ----------

 

Yes I was wondering if the vet trip was strictly necessary....he doesn't seem as bothered by it today as he was last night, but he still won't let me touch it. I have antibiotics so I was wondering if I should just try to keep it clean and see what happens. I could really do without the expense right now.

 

I just dunked it in a bowl of salt water. He didn't very much appreciate it :D

 

If it's burst I would be inclined to keep it clean with a mild salt water solution and limit any walking for a few days.

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Did the lump resemble a mole in anyway only ours has a couple of these that grow, harden over and drop away, only to come back though not necessarily in the same area?

 

No this one wasn't like that, she had a lump similar to what you described on her leg when she was younger though. It was lower down so she kept chewing at it. It was like a warty thing and eventually it fell off and disappeared. I asked the vet about it when were were in for her checkup, and she said that young dogs often get these little benign skin tumours (she told me the proper name but I can't remember it now), which aren't harmful and often disappear on their own.

 

OP if it was me personally I wouldn't go to the vet, I'd keep it clean and make sure no signs of infection occur like the dog being unwell, or the area being hot or smelly.

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No this one wasn't like that, she had a lump similar to what you described on her leg when she was younger though. It was lower down so she kept chewing at it. It was like a warty thing and eventually it fell off and disappeared. I asked the vet about it when were were in for her checkup, and she said that young dogs often get these little benign skin tumours (she told me the proper name but I can't remember it now), which aren't harmful and often disappear on their own.

 

I don't want to know the big name for them thanks they just scare me, i'll stick with lump :hihi:

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If the abscess has burst then I'd just keep it clean and do either some hot compresses or get him to hold his paw in warm water for as long as possible (maybe holding his paw in a jug of warm water may work) in order to draw out whatever other gunk may be in there.

 

It's also worth trimming the fur around the area with a pair of scissors if you can, just to get a look at it to see whether it's going to need further cleaning, sorting out under anaesthetic or stitches, if he'll let you. If he won't let you then you may be best off taking a trip to the vets so that the vet can have a look at it under sedation.

 

Do you know anybody with a bottle of Metacam that you could give him some from? That would probably help him too, especially given that the cleaning of the wound is not likely to be particularly pleasant for him.

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No I thought I had some Metacam left but turns out I don't. I have dunked it in warm water a few times this afternoon and decided against the vets, at least until after the weekend and see how it is then.

 

It looks far less sore than it did last night and he's definitely not been licking it as much. It's just trying to get near to clean it, so dunking it is for now. I did try to trim a bit of the fur away and the hole doesn't look too big.

 

If no better by Monday I will rebook and get him some Metacam.

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