le*champ

Hi All,
So, Zeus had a pretty large bump on his leg (the fleshy part). When I started touching it, it became red under the skin. I had him tested for VW and he's not at risk, however I'm wondering if anyone's ever seen this and/or seen big bumps (not huge, just resembling a very large human pimple) on your dog. What did/would you do?

gracieface

sounds like an abcess, not uncommon, leave it, keep an eye on it, I usually try some heat to see if I can bring them to a head, they heal better if they rupture on their own, don't have it lanced. when it ruptures, if it is an abcess, keep is clean, a clean cotton sock taped to the leg is good. In my experience they usually heal up well without vet interference.

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Elizabeth
Dobermans aren't my whole life, they just make it whole.

le*champ

Yeah, that sounds right. I put heat on it, and I'm watching it over the next few days.

SonoPixie

Hard to say w/o seeing it. The heat advice sounds good. A warm water soak and then some antibiotic ointment. Is it in the picture you posted? I can't see it if it is.

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lolonurse

If it feels warm to the touch (warmer than the other leg or the area around it) then it may be an abcess. Is it hard or soft? An abcess would be fairly hard, because it is like a boil under the skin, in a sac, with the pus contained. If it is soft, it's less likely to be an abcess, and more likely to be a cyst or lipoma or a soft-tissue injury that is swollen. If it isn't firm to the touch or warmer than the surrounding tissue, then heat won't do much except make it feel warm and cozy.

When Willie was a baby, he must have smacked his head somehow, probably while playing with his brothers. He got an enormous lump on his head, that got SO huge that he started looking more like a hippopotamus! The vet said to just let it resolve by itself, that draining it wouldn't help. Well, a couple of days later, the whole thing shifted forwad, and he looked like the Elephant Man for weeks, but the fluid (most likely blood, since we later learned his clotting factor was really low) reabsorbed, and he's fine.

Rocky had "bubbles" on his elbows when he was an adolescent and young adult. It looked as if his 2 front legs had ping-pong ball sized balloons inside his elbows - soft and didn't hurt him - just fluid sacs that seemed to be related to how large he was, and fast he grew. These also resolved by the time he was 2.

It's always something... they need us to always be worried about them!!!