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Crackling Sound In Leg After Small Injury-Emphysema


Guest missecho

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Guest missecho

Very strange--this morning Molly was slightly injured at greyhound playground. She had a small laceration to her right front leg. It bled a little, she limped a little, and then everything seemed okay. Several hours later, she approached me to let me know she wasn't doing okay--her limp had returned. When I ran my hands over her leg, I could see her entire leg was swollen, and it make a strange "crackling" sound. DH and I took her to the vet right away--she had emphysema in her leg.

Apparently some gas got into her wound and was puffing out her leg.

 

Luckily the vet took a look, cleaned it out, and we are back home on the mend.

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Guest missecho

Just found this on the web:

There are several possible causes of why your Great Dane has a bubble on her front leg joints.

 

#1---Traumatic subcutaneous emphysema. If you are certain that the bubble is filled with air then the bubble is subcutaneous emphysema. Subcutaneous emphysema can be caused when a dog jumps over a fence or incurs some other trauma to the dog's epidermis (the upper or outer layer of the two main layers of cells that make up the dog's skin). When a dog jumps over a fence or some other similar activity the dog might cut through the skin under its front legs (the area we refer to as underarm in humans). Once the skin in this area is cut, it opens a space between the legs and the chest wall. With four-legged animals, when their front legs go forward, if the skin has been cut it opens the space and fills it with air. When the legs go back as the dog is running, the space closes and the air in the space is pumped under the skin (similar to how a bellows works). As the dog runs, more and more air is pumped up under the dog's skin, resulting in the progressive air bubbles on her front leg joints. Treatment of conditions like this consists of a veterinarian flushing the space with an antiseptic solution to remove any debris that might have entered the space, suturing of the skin, and a seven day course of antibiotics to prevent any infection from any contamination forced up under the skin with the air. The air bubbles are left alone and are eventually absorbed leaving no permanent problem.

 

Read more: http://www.justanswer.com/questions/4ulq-why-does-my-greatdane-have-a-air-bubble-on-her#ixzz0i5lQEyH4

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We've had that happen once or twice in a much smaller way. Creepy, isn't it? Glad the vet got you all set up.

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We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Guest Energy11

Yes, it's Sub Q Emphysema, all right. It is rare, but it happens. We saw it a lot with human auto accidents, resulting in trauma.

 

Usually, it is pretty easily treatable. Sorry this had to happen to you!

 

Mine wanted to run outside today. NOPE! It is a weekend (*closest E-Vet one hour), and it is muddy and mushy outside. UGH!

 

Sending love, hugs and get well wishes to your puppers!

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Guest bluefawn

We had a cat here years ago, before Amy left the nest. Evan was sleeping on the bed and in the middle of the night, Sunny the cat jumped on the bed and, apparently, onto Evan as well. I jumped up and turned on the light to find Sunny with a couple of puncture wounds. Evan had bitten him. I cleaned it really well and took him to the vet 1st thing in the morning. I was afraid it was crepitus. Vet said it was the sub-q emphysema. What a relief! I am so glad that this is the case with Molly, and not a fracture.

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On a sort-of-related note, my sister had surgery to remove her gallbladder and said the wound recovery itself was no big deal, but some CO2 bubbles that had migrated up to her shoulder were awfully painful and crunchy. Her doc said that it would just take time for them to dissipate, which they did after she was otherwise healed.. :huh

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Guest GryffinSong

This happened to Gryffin after he was neutered. There I was with a brand new dog and his back around his hipbones sounded like crinkling aluminum foil whenever I touched him there. Freaked me out!!!

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Guest suzye

This happened to Jazz after she was mauled by a St. Bernard. I was really freaked out. Someone told me she might have a deadly infection so the vet had to reassure me a LOT that it would be fine (she was already on antibiotics). It wasn't easy to reassure me when the vet said that he'd heard of it before but never actually seen it! I loved that vet, though. He was great. Most of the air was gone in a few days but there was 1 little bubble that took almost a month to go away. Hers was between her 2 hip bones.

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Guest tricolorhounds

Bonkers had this happen just recently... He had a very large laceration on his side that didn't heal well after surgery. He had a 2nd surgery which was followed by the Sub-Q Emphysema nearly all over his body. It lasted nearly a month!!! He felt like a box of rice crispies.

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On a sort-of-related note, my sister had surgery to remove her gallbladder and said the wound recovery itself was no big deal, but some CO2 bubbles that had migrated up to her shoulder were awfully painful and crunchy. Her doc said that it would just take time for them to dissipate, which they did after she was otherwise healed.. :huh

 

That's actually very different. In human medicine, when a patient undergoes laparoscpic surgery, the abdomen is filled with CO2, to allow better visualization of the surgical field. The shoulder pain is often a result, believed to be because of the gas migrating. Last I heard (and this was a number of years ago now), that theory had not been confirmed.

Sarah, the human, Henley, and Armani the Borzoi boys, and Brubeck the Deerhound.
Always in our hearts, Gunnar, Naples the Greyhounds, Cooper and Manero, the Borzoi, and King-kitty, at the Rainbow Bridge.

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On a sort-of-related note, my sister had surgery to remove her gallbladder and said the wound recovery itself was no big deal, but some CO2 bubbles that had migrated up to her shoulder were awfully painful and crunchy. Her doc said that it would just take time for them to dissipate, which they did after she was otherwise healed.. :huh

 

That's actually very different. In human medicine, when a patient undergoes laparoscpic surgery, the abdomen is filled with CO2, to allow better visualization of the surgical field. The shoulder pain is often a result, believed to be because of the gas migrating. Last I heard (and this was a number of years ago now), that theory had not been confirmed.

 

Ah, okay. Still creeps me out :blink:

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On a sort-of-related note, my sister had surgery to remove her gallbladder and said the wound recovery itself was no big deal, but some CO2 bubbles that had migrated up to her shoulder were awfully painful and crunchy. Her doc said that it would just take time for them to dissipate, which they did after she was otherwise healed.. :huh

 

That's actually very different. In human medicine, when a patient undergoes laparoscpic surgery, the abdomen is filled with CO2, to allow better visualization of the surgical field. The shoulder pain is often a result, believed to be because of the gas migrating. Last I heard (and this was a number of years ago now), that theory had not been confirmed.

 

Yup. I just had this happen after surgery a month ago. The pain was so bad and I could not vocalize enough to describe it beyond generally pointing to my left arm and saying "It hurts!" that they had a cardio. tech come into the recovery room and give me an EKG. Yeah, that crap hurts!!

 

By the way, crepitus also means :fart:rofl :rofl :rofl

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"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!"
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