Strep Infection In Lower Jaw

[countrypaws]

Our nine year old male, Caesar stood next to me on the evening of Saturday, October 16th and I suddenly noticed his entire lower jaw was swollen. There was a large swelling near the center of his upper throat, as well and a lump on the left lower side of his jaw. We assumed it might be a swelling from an abcessed tooth. It was Saturday night.

 

By Sunday morning the swelling continued and he was visibly uncomfortable. We rushed him to the vet for a weekend appointment ($$).

 

The vet used a syringe to drain the abcess on his lower jaw and sent a sample of the fluid to the lab. No abcessed teeth. No visible cause for the infection. We put him on Clavamox and brought him home. The swelling was gone and Caesar's jaw was back to normal by Monday morning the 18th. Lab results came back Thursday the 21st and said it was a variety of Strep.

 

We kept him on the Clavamox for about fifteen days after his offcie visit (about Oct. 28). All was fine until last Tuesday night (Nov. 9th) when his jaw began swelling again. Back to the vet we went and this time he took xrays and gave Caesar something to make him drowsy so he could do a thorough exam of the jaw. Neither xrays nor the exam turned up any sort of foreign body or a reason for the re-activated infection. (We thought if there was an infected splinter or piece of metal in his jaw it could reprovoke infections.) Nothing was there that he could fine.

 

The Dr. drained and cleaned out the abcess, put about five or six stitches in the abcess wound to close it up, and put Caesar on Amoxicillin. The infection once again seemed to disappear overnight. He's now doing great and will have the stitches out in a few days. For a 9-1/2 year old boy his immune system still seems to respond well. But we worry about a reccurance.

 

Are these types of soft tissue strep infections common? Is there a specific vehicle for the strep to get into the tissue? We would appreciate any experiences or insights.

Larry B.

Edited November 17, 2010 by countrypaws

[Houndtime]

Sorry to read that Caesar is not feeling well. I hope he is on the road to recovery.

[tbhounds]

I assume they cultured the aspirated fluid?? Perhaps the organism was not sensitive to the clavamox hence the recurrance. I would have thought foreign body too.

[countrypaws]

I assume they cultured the aspirated fluid?? Perhaps the organism was not sensitive to the clavamox hence the recurrance. I would have thought foreign body too.

 

Yes, they cultured the aspirated fluid for a number of days and found a form of strep. (I need to get the full name from the vet.) The antibiotic knocked down the swelling and tenderness very fast, maybe 48 hours tops, and we continued for about 10 days, but after a couple weeks hiatus in treatment it came back. The Dr said the only other case like this he saw was a dog with a piece of razor blade wedged in his jaw which kept (understandably) getting reinfected. That's why we thought foreign body...

Edited November 17, 2010 by countrypaws

[Burpdog]

Mizzy had some problems with an upper jaw and the molars looked fine. One was not. After than one was removed, she didn't have a recurrance of the swelling.

[GeorgeofNE]

Could be that two weeks just wasn't long enough.

 

I hope it goes away for good this time!

[duncan41]

Did the culture come back with a sensitivity recommendation for which antibiotic would be most appropriate for this particular strep? Assuming that it did and Amoxycillin was the most appropriate treatment, perhaps it wasn't long enough or maybe a follow up with the another recommended antibiotic would be the next step? Are you giving pre/probiotics, Slippery Elm and/or Pepcid to protect his gut?

Has a CBC and chem panel been run lately to rule out a lurking underlying condition? The only experience I have with anything similar involves a cat who has had a "sinus infection" for about 8 years secondary to feline herpes viral infection. In his case, the herpes virus makes his system susceptible to opportunistic secondary infections and regardless of which antibiotics are administered, it just doesn't get them all. We have even tried using a culture to manufacture a customized antibiotic in an attempt to immunize him against his own infection. Unfortunately it didn't work due to the variety of bacteria.

Sure hope it gets resolved soon!