Tremendous Bruising

[Guest LittleGreys]

Munchie had bloodwork and xrays done on Friday morning. What is up with this bruising? I know sometimes they bruise a little from the blood draw, but I have drawn blood from her before and not experienced anything like this! I will be emailing these pics to her vet tomorrow just to double check.

 

 

 

[Sambuca]

Check her gums. Are they pale? If so she probably needs the vet. Is be worried shes having a clothing issue and the blogs is just settling in a low part of her body.

[4My2Greys]

That reminds me of what happened to Nadir when I took him to Auburn for an MRI. If I remember correctly I was told they hit and burst a blood vessel during the draw and hence the huge bruise that developed. I hope it's something as simple as that in Munchies case and not a further indication of bad things.

[Guest happygrey]

Could the bruising be from being restrained while having the work done? Was she sedated? Perhaps she struggled a bit?

 

Does she typically bruise easily?

[Guest gomiesmom]

My Big guy, Gomer ( white fur w/ bright pink skin) had bad brusiing once like that ( in his leg) from a blood draw, prior to a dental. Blood was pooling in his leg,like a hematoma & the bruising kept increasing. I ended up going to the E-vet, but to no avail. (they were convinced he had Von Wildebrands disease or a TBD & did nothing but a bunch or tests, none concluded anything wrong---).

Anyway, it turned out they just used too big a needle for his delicate high-ness, I guess. With some TLC it went down. it took about a week for it to completely go away. We now use the smallest needle possible to get the blood ( they call it a cat needle) and we wrap it tight, tight for about 15 mins afterward. It has not happened again to that extent.

[Batmom]

It can happen just from a blood draw. If it hasn't before, you do want to check the platelet count etc. but usually nothing to worry about as long as it isn't continuing to spread, swell, etc.

[snowjay]

No advice but I hope it's nothing serious for the little munchkin.

[OwnedBySummer]

I hope it's nothing serious. Summer had blood drawn from her jugular the other week and the next day, she had a palm sized bruise on her throat. The vet called me on that next day with a test result and I discussed it with her -- as long as it didn't grow or become bulgy (like blood was pooling), she wasn't concerned. And I confirmed to the vet that Summer's gums were healthy & pink and there were no behavior changes.

Edited February 26, 2012 by OwnedBySummer

[DaisyDoodle]

I'd call Dr. Jim's and ask what they think. There is someone there 24/7, and he is often there checking on one "child" or another. Do you know the location of the blood draw, was it on the neck?

[OwnedBySummer]

I "assumed" it was drawn from the neck. If not, that's one totally wild and crazy bruise. I find it strange that it's so large.

Edited February 26, 2012 by OwnedBySummer

[Jiffer]

We've had bruising from blood draws before. It usually happens if the dog jumps or jerks away when they poke them.

 

I'd keep an eye on it that it doesn't get worse; if it does continue, you need to see the vet in case the vein was blown.

 

Scritches to Munchie.

[Guest LittleGreys]

It can happen just from a blood draw. If it hasn't before, you do want to check the platelet count etc. but usually nothing to worry about as long as it isn't continuing to spread, swell, etc.

It isn't swelling, but it is spreading/getting bigger. The bright red part that is on her chest now wasn't there yesterday. I will have my regular vet check it in the morning. I would assume her platelet count is normal since they did one on Friday, but I didn't ask specifically. I usually draw blood from her leg and it will just leave a very small bruise for awhile.

[tbhounds]

I would blame the blood draw-- the handler might not have applied pressure to the site long enough or with enough pressure post draw. One of mine did that recently.

[MaryJane]

IMO, it's from the blood draw. Most vets and techs now seem to want to take it from the jugular but, I'm always worried about something going wrong when they take it from the throat (like the excessive bruising and even bleeding that yours is experiencing) so I tell them that they are ONLY to take it from the leg. They will usually tell me that that it's harder to get it from the leg but, they haven't had a problem so far on any of my big dogs.

[Trihounds]

Agree on the blood draw theory. Next guess is bruising secondary to being moved / held / restrained / etc.

 

If you are worried whether it is growing or not, mark the outline with a sharpie then you can gauge spread or contraction rate.

[JJNg]

I agree it's probably just from the blood draw. She probably developed a hematoma after the draw - sometimes from not being held off long enough, sometimes from pulling on the leash shortly after the draw which can dislodge the clot, or sometimes 'just because.' The apparent continued spreading may just be the hematoma dissipating and the SQ blood slowly getting pulled down by gravity.

 

I've had the same thing happened with one of my greys and have also seen it happen with a friend's whippet. The initial hematoma over the site of the blood draw gradually became a large bruise extending from the neck down to the chest over a period of several days before it started to go away.

 

With my girl, it wasn't even a blood draw that caused the hematoma. It was a freak occurence from her pulling very hard on leash as I tried to get her away from the lure at a straight race meet. As we were walking off the field, I noticed a knot a little bigger than a golf ball on the side of her neck. Within a couple hours, the knot had gone down and turned to a more diffuse swelling, and the bruising was spreading down her neck. I don't have any good photos, but here's one of the tail end of it. This was taken 4-5 days after it started, and the bruise on her chest was the last part to go away.

 

[duncan41]

It's probably from the blood draw, but if you want an easy indicator to rule out a bleeding disorder, do a mucosal bleed test. It's much less expensive than the blood test for von Willebrand's. If it happens again, and blood work is normal, I would go ahead and test for von Willebrand's. I have one that is positive for vW - it doesn't change anything, but it's good to know "just in case".

[greytdecals]

Our little Lena recently had a dental and with 2 failed attempts at putting a catheter in her leg she ended up looking like this

 

Her little ankle on her leg was so swollen and the bruising looked terrible. The Vet said they have never seen a dog bleed so much from a failed catheter insert...they couldn't get it to stop. Finally it let up. I told them to keep Amicar on hand because greyhounds can be bleeders! I rubbed arnica gel on her leg 3xs a day for a few days and the buising went away within 3-4 days.

[robinw]

Treasure looked like that after a fall. It was very scary and we ended up at the even. It went away pretty quickly.

[Rustyroo]

This looks so scarey. My dogs have always had blood draws from their legs.

[Guest LittleGreys]

Thanks for all the replies. I spoke to Dr Radcliffe and he said it is from the blood draw. He apologized and said in all the turmoil he didn't think to put a wrap on it. He used her neck for the blood because he thought he would need IVs in both front legs for the procedure. I figured that was all it was, but with everything going on right now, it was one more thing to worry about. We sent her films to Auburn yesterday to get their thoughts. Unfortunately, I think all I am doing is torturing myself, its going to be a matter of waiting.

[Guest greygirls2]

Because the bruising is mostly on the chest, front area I would guess it was from struggling on the table during the x-rays and repositioning him. JJ had two bruises to the inside of his back legs from just that.

[tbhounds]

Because the bruising is mostly on the chest, front area I would guess it was from struggling on the table during the x-rays and repositioning him. JJ had two bruises to the inside of his back legs from just that.

I'm sure that did not happen at Dr R's clinic. It was from the draw.