Labrador Retriever Forum
Last week I noticed that one of our dogs had a lump under her eye about the size of half of a golf ball and it had a pea size sore on it. It was weeping a bit, but did not look infected. I took her to the vet within 1/2 hour of noticing it. The vet kept her for the day, gave her a cort. shot, antibiotics and benadryl. A week later she is still on the antibiotics (cephalexine sp?) and benadryl. The swelling was reduced to about the size of a small marble when we picked her up and has stayed that way for a week now. Yesterday it was weeping with a little bit of white puss. The vet initially thought it was a bee sting, but after looking at it again today thinks it could be a spider bite. We now have some ointment with a steroid in it to put on it twice a day in addition to the other meds. I am concerned because the vet has not seen a bite like this before. I know a spider bite can take a bit to go away but the continued swelling concerns me in addition to it not getting better in the last week. The vet also said that if it continues to not improve that we may need to remove the lump and she could be disfigured as a result. Some drooping of the eye could result. I show her so this is a big concen for me. Obviously we would do what needed to be done for her, but would get a second opinion. It seems like it does itch from time to time, so we have a cone on her head. Can anyone give me some information on this subject? What else can I do to make it heal up without having to do surgery? We would get a second opinion before we did surgery and I am also needing the name of someone who is framiliar with spider bites to take her to. We live in MN, but would take her where she would need to go, even if it was out of state. Any help anyone can provide is greatly appreciated! I don't know what type of spider bit her, but she does not seem to have a hole forming or any of the skin rotting away which I know can happen if it was a brown spider.
One of my dogs got a spider bite on his leg. It too was a lump. He ended up needing surgery to remove the bump and my vet discovered that there was some tissue degeneration down to the bone. It took forever to heal and there is a scar.
Do the University of Minnesota have a vet school?
How long did you let the bump go before you had the surgery?
We do have a clinic at the U of M which I have not been impressed with and was hoping to find another place to bring her. Somewhere that someone had been before with this issue and has success with.
We initially noticed it because he kept licking it. It was probably less than a week from when we noticed it until the surgery was done. The vet did the surgery the day after I took him in to have it checked.
If you have an ACVO in your area, I would consider going to him/her. With it that close to the eye, they might have a recommendation if surgery is required and a lot of times the ACVO's will use a laser for surgery which could take a little longer to heal but leave less scarring. Just a thought.
I have a 6-year old bitch who had what is probably a spider bite since she was 2 years old. There's a lump on her side, but it's in the skin and the vet didn't think it was any big deal, so we've left it. It still seems itchy if you scratch it, but she doesn't mess with it ever (she finished after the bite, so the judges, while some have noticed it, don't seem to mind it).
I had a puppy in my last litter that developed a large swelling on the side of her face. I took her to the vet and he put her on Benedryl. We both thought it was a bee sting and it should go down in a few hours. After a few days, the swelling barely going down, I took her back and he gave her a cortizone shot. A day or so later, it began to soften, and then weep, finally a hole developed and about a quarter sized hole gapped opened! My vet ended up having to clean it out, stitch/staple it up and I had to flush the area through the drain several times a day. While we don't know for sure what it was exactly that bit her, we were both pretty sure it was some type of spider. Poor puppy was nicknamed the "Frankenpup" for some time. Fortunately it healed just fine and the scarring was minimal.
Good luck with your pup!
Dianne
If the vet had flushed it out sooner would you have have a better end result? I think it should be flushed, but the vet seems to think it would do more harm then good at this point.
I would suggest getting in touch with a local college or university or possibly the state dept of agriculture to find out what type of spiders there are in the area. If you can narrow this down you can have a better chance at treatment. Also, a regular MD might also be able to give some of this info as well as treatment options. Each venom acts differently and may require different treatment. Several years ago one of my chocolates was bitten on her eye by something (found 1 fang mark) we treated it at the time and it went away. 3 Months later it returned in the form of uveitis and she ended up losing her sight.
At first we were heartbroken but she is so comfortable with herself and self confident that we rarely remember that she can't see. She even was doing off lead obedience work and was doing a small high jump and go outs!
Many years ago, I had a 4 month old get bit under his eye by a spider which based on the symptoms was diagnosed as a brown recluse spider. A bite from that spider can cause alot of damage. We had to put the puppy not only on a topical antibiotic and topical cortisone cream, but an oral antibiotic. Drug of choice at that time was Cipro.
The tissue around the bite had to be removed also.
The area healed up, but there was some residual damage to the nerves in the facial area.
Good luck.
Good luck Jennifer, I hope all goes well. I did send you a private e-mail with an opthalmologist you might want to contact.
Could it be strangles? DO a search on puppy strangles. Just a question. I know that puppy strangles ais different that horse strangles in the effect that it is not contagious like the horse strangles. But, in horse strangles the area has to fester and open on it's own then it will need to be cleaned and be put on antibiotics. It does not so any good to put it on antibiotics before it festes open because then it will only be surpressed and reoccur after off antibiotics.
Just went through something similar with one of my girls only it was on top of her foot right above the toe. It first started as a bright red bump with a lot of warm swelling and then became oozie and she licked it all the time. I soaked it in a water/Povodine-Iodine mixture for about 10 minutes twice a day and patted it dry. Then I sprayed it with an antiboitic spray(sometimes used Sulfadene instead) and let that partially dry and then applied Gold Bond powder. I watched her for a while to be sure she wasn't immediately licking it off. It gradually cleared up after about a week and a half and never had to go to the vet. The hair is growing back and there's no swelling. It did come to a "head" and pus came out of 2 holes after soaking for a few days. The holes looked to me like spider fang marks.
