Spider Bite?

[ivon]

Spud is my klutz, he tends to run into things, twigs, branches, and who knows what else. There is almost always a little puncture wound on him, and most are no big deal, heal on their own. Sunday he was acting a bit slower than normal, and walked down the ramp into the yard kind of wonky. Since I figured he wants to run up and down the fence barking at neighbors dogs, I called him back. Too late, he had already wiped out, but came right back in, however, dripping blood from a small hole on the inside of his leg, that's when I noticed another one, same leg, on the outside. That was not bleeding though, and may have been a few days old. Suddenly his leg starts swelling, about twice the normal size.....and blood is drip, drip, dripping. Nothing big enough to need stitches, and no gusher, just a slow drip. I decided to keep an eye on that, by the next morning he could barely walk, and I called the vet to get pain meds. An hour later, he looked so much worse, I call them back to say we are coming in, and if I have to carry him. I did have to help him a lot, carried him in his Webmaster harness more than he walked. The vet cleaned it up, decided no stitches are needed, we did x-rays just in case, and they sent us home with Rimadyl, Tramadol and anti-biotics. This morning he walked better but the holes looked worse, still oozing and bleeding....The vet wanted to let it heal out in the air, and normally I subscribe to that school of thought, but this morning I wrapped a Kotex and vetwrap around his leg. After a few hours at work I got nervous that he may still be bleeding, so I told my boss I'm going home to check on my dog. At first he seemed better, a bit more mobile, but than I removed the bandage from this morning.....It looked like his skin is a panty hose with a run, the holes had gotten even bigger, I could see muscle, back to the vet. They cleaned it all out real good and bandaged him. Vet thinks it may have been a spider bite, this will get worse before it gets better. He is to come in daily for bandage changes and check-ups. Poor Spud, he is 11, he doesn't need this, and I am scared, how much more skin can he lose? They can't stitch it together, the skin just disappeared.....

[Saharasmom]

Poor Spud! I hope he feels better soon. Does the vet think both holes are from the spider bite? They can be very nasty.

[ivon]

She does, but I don't, does a spider bite start bleeding right away? I think he ran into a twig, at least with the one that I noticed was bleeding to begin with. Now, both are bleeding and oozing fluids, nasty stuff, and scary, when will it stop eating his skin? Nobody can tell me....I'm kind of glad the vet wants to see him daily, I am afraid to take the bandage off now, no telling how much bigger the holes will be tomorrow. Plus, they offered to keep him there for the day, makes me feel better somebody is around to watch him.

[TINMANPDX]

Poor Spud! Sounds almost like MRSA, but I have no idea if animals get it. Whatever it is, I hope it improves quickly.

Edited December 4, 2012 by TINMANPDX

[ivon]

OMG! Just googled MRSA, and dogs can get it, that is so much more likely than him getting not one, but two spider bites.....OTOH, where would he have caught that? He hasn't been anywhere but the backyard....and the groomers for a nail trim 2 weeks ago.

[macoduck]

Ivon, I took a series of pictures when Harold had an odd leg injury. We had only had only just adopted him a few weeks prior to this happening.

This started as a swelling.

July 12

July 14

Then it burst an hour before we had a vet appt scheduled.

Vet started him on antibiotics. Because of how it burst she guessed it was a brown recluse spider bite.

July 17

When it was nearly heeled and the 3rd or 4th vet check was done, the vet thought she saw some puncture marks. Harold did not need stitches. Some hair grew back but mostly he has a black scar since he's a speckly boy. He is now 13.5 years old with no further problems with that leg.

[Batmom]

Sending prayers for Spud!

[Guest mld]

Sending healing thoughts Spud's way, I hope it wasn't a brown recluse bite.

[Guest dmt]

Sending prayers and hugs for Spud.

[racindog]

Praying for Spud. Could you possibly get some MANUKA honey and put on him. It is the only known medicine that is effective against MRSA from what I have heard and if its not MRSA it certainly wouldn't hurt, and would probably help. Poor old guy. How scarey. From what I read it can be contacted virtually anywhere-even a backyard. Are you sure its not a snake bite?

[cometdust1]

Manuka honey is an excellent wound healer.

[ivon]

Vet doesn't think it's MRSA but added a second anti-biotic, she is also packing the wound with anti-biotics at each bandage change. I suppose it could be a snake bite...it has been really warm here last weekend. Today the holes looked the same as yesterday, but the swelling is down and he seems to feel so much better.

Maco, the wound looks something like in your picture, but larger and deeper (shudder), since it is right at the hock. Back to the vet again tomorrow....

[TINMANPDX]

Checking in to see how Spud is doing. Glad to hear he is more comfortable. Sending healing thoughts.

[jamngrey]

Sending healing prayers

[Guest tricolorhounds]

Bonkers got bitten by most likely a spider last year. He started out at noon with a limp, by 4pm he could barely walk. By the next morning, there was a bump on the side of his front leg a little bit bigger than a silver dollar... and he was soooo disoriented he couldn't figure out that he needed to go potty when I carried him outside. We rushed him to the vet down the street. He took a fluid sample and then sent us home with antibiotics.

 

A friend of mine, her hound was bitten last year also... the skin on his back hock was just eaten away to the bone... after many bandage changes and rounds of antibiotics, our vet recommended that it be slathered daily with manuka honey. It healed really well and being brindle, you could barely see his scar.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Could be a brown recluse spider bite. They can be very very nasty (ask me how I know). The spider bite poison degrades all the tissues within the vicinity of the bite site. If the spider injects a good volume of poison, then huge areas of tissue just die off. Wound needs to be cleaned very well even a couple times a day. As others have mentioned, manuka honey will help but for this you have to use medical grade manuka honey. The best medical grade manuka honey is imported from New Zealand. It will be expensive, but it will be worth it. You will impregnate the dressings with honey, and then change the dressing as needed depending on his wound. I hope he gets better soon.

[ivon]

He is feeling pretty good this morning, thankfully he easy to pill, just put the lot of them on top of his food, and he doesn't bother the bandage. I'll drop him off at the vets on my way to work and pick him up on the way home. Manuka honey is on order, thanks all for the tips!

[ivon]

The original holes in his legs are holding their own, and may be sutured next week. But, a new hole appeared this morning on his face, has two staples now, and there is lots of bruising on his leg, and a new bruise on his belly.....not sure what to make of that.

[Guest mld]

Poor spud, this is so weird!

[ivon]

Vet hinted at canine immune mediated thrombocytopenia, all the while not trying to scare me, or give me something to Google..good news is, it's treatable. She offered to meet me to change Spud's bandage on the weekend, to save me from having to spend $$$ on e-vet. I think I can change bandages myself, but she hinted that he does not like it...and totally giggled at my "kotex and vetwrap" method. Love this vet....

[Batmom]

Does he have low platelets? That would be the thrombocytopenia part. It doesn't cause random weeping ulcers.

 

This is sounding more like Alabama rot or similar ......... Might want to PM onrushpam and ask her to have a look at this thread.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Batmom

[tbhounds]

Have any of these wounds been cultured yet??

[Guest kkaiser104]

Hoping Spud is feeling better--I've been worried about him!

[jamngrey]

Prayers

[racindog]

Hope you feel better today Spuds! Prayers for your quick recovery going up now.