Mystery Lesion On Abdomen - Thoughts?

[Rickiesmom]

A recently adopted hound (not mine) arrived with this concave, scab-like thing on his abdomen. It's about the size of a quarter:

 

 

Has anyone seen anything like this / have any idea what it is.

 

He will be seeing a vet, but looking for thoughts in the meantime.

 

Thank you!

[DocsDoctor]

Is it on the point of his chest, i.e. where that would touch the ground if he assumed the sphinx position? Was he maybe previously kept in kennels and/or lying on concrete? Some kind of repeated, neglected trauma at that point could maybe result in a haemotoma? Add in some kind of infection as well and maybe then you would end up with the big scab?

 

I have not seen anything quite like it - but my first greyhound arrived from kennels with a big, black and pink mark at that point - a build up of dirt and inflammation under the skin. We treated it by rubbing in sudocrem (UK medicated barrier cream, used for bed sores and nappy rash) until the outer layers of skin and dirt wore off. He also had callouses on his elbows which I am sure were from the same cause - those never really disappeared.

[Rickiesmom]

That's an interesting idea. It looks higher up to me, but I will pass on the treatment suggestion, thank you.

[XTRAWLD]

I agree that it looks like it's at the spot the body makes contact with the ground when laying down, it's the first thing that I thought as well. That is really really sad if that's the case, a lot of abrasion would be the culprit and maybe laying in an unhealthy area? Poor dude!

[NeylasMom]

I have no clue, but I'm curious to hear if you figure it out.

[racindog]

Happy to say I never had to deal with a hound with that. Looking at it the first thing I thought was why is it necrotic like that? Then I thought a bug bite? That would seem to fit what it looks like. That could kill the tissue in the area around it. Please let us know once you find out.

Edited January 24, 2018 by racindog

[o_rooly]

That looks almost exactly like what Aston had on his rump years ago. I initially thought it was a hotspot/lick wound, even though Aston was never prone to them. It scabbed up heavily and then puckered up, yanking the healthy tissue in around it. It then burst, revealing necrotic tissue that had to be removed via surgery, with antibiotics afterward. The wound showed evidence of pseudomonas infection (greenish discharge around the edges).

In retrospect, the vet thought it was likely a necrotic spider bite.

Check out the second photo here:
http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/293763-astons-licking-wound-e-vet-or-wait-until-morning/
You can see that the intact scab looks almost identical to the one that you posted.

I think a vet visit is definitely in order. Hope the scab isn't painful for the sweet hound; Aston was going bonkers trying to bash his with a muzzle before we ran him to the vet.

[Rickiesmom]

That looks almost exactly like what Aston had on his rump years ago. I initially thought it was a hotspot/lick wound, even though Aston was never prone to them. It scabbed up heavily and then puckered up, yanking the healthy tissue in around it. It then burst, revealing necrotic tissue that had to be removed via surgery, with antibiotics afterward. The wound showed evidence of pseudomonas infection (greenish discharge around the edges).

 

In retrospect, the vet thought it was likely a necrotic spider bite.

 

Check out the second photo here:

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/293763-astons-licking-wound-e-vet-or-wait-until-morning/

You can see that the intact scab looks almost identical to the one that you posted.

 

I think a vet visit is definitely in order. Hope the scab isn't painful for the sweet hound; Aston was going bonkers trying to bash his with a muzzle before we ran him to the vet.

 

 

Thank you for this - I agree there is a resemblance. He's been put on Cephalexin but I don't know if they cultured, will ask.

[XTRAWLD]

Holy crow on Aston!

[o_rooly]

Any updates?

[Rickiesmom]

I was told last evening that the lesion is shrinking, which is good, and presumably in response to the antibiotics, but no further information so far.

[cleptogrey]

when i looked at it it looks like the callous that deep chested dogs get when they lie on hard surfaces. it also looks like an infected callous that violin/viola players get under their chin from practicing. if the chin rest isn't kept clean it gets pretty nasty looking especially when they practice 5+hrs a day. but i've seen lots of dogs with that strange callous on their chest.

[3greytjoys]

Any culture results? Any other symptoms? Glad it appears to be shrinking, so far.

 

Hopefully, it's an easily treatable bacterial infection, ringworm fungal infection, etc. It wouldn't hurt to have renal values tested in an off chance of it being Alabama Rot (cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy). I assume the dog's body and inside of mouth has been examined carefully for any additional lesions.

[Rickiesmom]

This has turned out to be one of those things that looked much, much worse than it was, thankfully. Latest update is that the scab has fallen off and the tissue underneath is clean and healthy.

 

Much better news than I was expecting, based on the photo and the situation o_rooly dealt with!

 

Thank you all for your suggestions and experiences, this could have been, and certainly looked, much worse than it was.

[JohnF]

It might have been a horny sebaceous cyst which opened on the area where the chest might get a pressure sore from the floor.

[DocsDoctor]

So glad to hear the good news - the photo did look nasty!

[Neighsayer]

Good news!