Meet Daisy. She is a sweet, 3 year-old Mastiff that had a run-in with the TV on Wednesday.
One of her family members pulled a sharp object out of her neck that evening and everything seemed to be just fine. They cleaned the area with some hydrogen peroxide just to be safe. The next day, her guardians noticed that there was swelling on the left side of her neck, and Daisy just wasn’t acting like herself. She seemed agitated and her energy was off. She wasn’t painful when the site was touched, but they were concerned and brought her in for an examination.
To get a closer look, the area was shaved, revealing a small (1/4 inch) puncture wound, and some bruising. While Daisy was being distracted, Dr. Fein aspirated the area with a needle, and got pinkish, milky fluid. This pus is characteristic of an abscess. The skin appeared to be healed, but underneath the skin, bacteria had begun to grow, forming an abscess. Left untreated, abscesses can cause a fever, making our pets feel under the weather.
Daisy was treated with pain medication and antibiotics. An incision was made to drain the infected material from the abscess. The area was flushed with a sterilizing solution until it flushed clear instead of milky pink. Daisy had a drain placed, to allow the wound to heal from the inside-out, and to prevent the skin from closing over again. If the skin is allowed to close, another abscess can form.
Here is a picture of the drain that was placed:
It took her a couple of days for her energy and appetite to return to normal, and we were able to removed the drain 5 days later. Here is what the area looked like when the drain was removed:
The most important thing was that there was no more infected discharge.
Just 2-3 days later, this is what the area looked like:
Daisy made a full and speedy recovery.
Written by: Karyn Fein, DVM
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