Swollen side of head, what to do

[smokingcarriageonly]

Our elderly lurcher has suddenly developed a hot, painless swelling on the side of his head. He sees a specialist vet for an eye condition and they were able to fit him in immediately but have no clue what's wrong except to say it's not likely to be his eye. Could be autoimmune, an abscess (but not painful?) or a tumour. They want to do a needle biopsy and scan next week. A surgeon was available to have a look at him and she agreed.

He seems happy, is eating fine, slightly reserved so not 100%. He's bulletproof though, nothing gets him down and I'm worried that he's suffering.

He has pain relief. Rightly or wrongly I think I expected them to throw some antibiotics at it.

Anyone have experience with something like this? Before I start googling

I should've said it's on one side of his head, generally over his eye, extending back to his ear. Because of where it is and lack of obvious pain they don't think it's his teeth.

A hot swelling means an injury imo, I’d treat it as an infection. I agree with you that he should have been given antibiotics/anti inflammatories before anything else, certainly before even considering things like biopsy’s and scans. There may be more to it than they’ve said if they’re not treating it and going straight in for a biopsy? How long has he had it?

How long did it take to appear?

If the vets are leaping straight to a biopsy then I'd be concerned about cancer. There must be a reason they're not going down the antibiotics route.

He's already on anti inflammatories for his joints so I think that's covered.
I did wonder why no antibiotics.
I need to have a chat with the vet about how we go forward and will ask more questions.

He said there might be infection as well as a tumour, he'd see if there is pus when he does the biopsy. It could also be autoimmune inflammation.

DDog is a very happy chap but mostly deaf and blind now with creaky joints, if it was cancer we wouldn't be pulling out all the stops and the vet understands that.

It came up overnight but it's quite subtle - I had to take photos before I could work out what wasn't right - so it may have been happening slowly over time and we didn't see it until yesterday.

My dog had an eye that closed like his face was swollen so much he could only open his eye a bit.
It turned out to be an emergency tooth absess which had to get operated on the next morning.
I felt terrible for not realising what was going on as he had bad breath for a while but I just kept cleaning his teeth more.

I think you just have to get him to vet asap and see what they say

Any updates? How is he?

Thanks for asking.
The swelling got weepy today, like a draining abscess, so we took him to the emergency vet who gave him antibiotics and confirmed that a biopsy is needed.
The lovely vet said it was probably cancer but worth finding out more if he's happy in himself, that it might be treatable.
He's been so well and happy up to now, nothing gets him down.

He has to wear a cone now which somehow feels like the worst part, though I know it isn't.

I'm sorry to read this and it sounds very similar to our last greyhound. It turned out to be osteosarcoma and we PTS within a week. I honestly don't think we are over it. Our vet said it was common in sighthounds, usually in limbs but very painful and there would be no good outcome. I hope it isn't cancer, all the very best for your lovely dog.

Redpriestandmozart thanks so much for that reply, it was kind of you to revisit your painful experience to comment here. I'm sorry for your loss, it's so difficult.

I fear a cascade of intervention that will distress him and still end badly so I'd rather he was a happy boy until a sudden end. I texted my mum today to say I thought we'd have to pts this week. His usual beloved vet is away until next week which is hard as I'd hoped we could discuss our options and now we really only have strangers to ask. (Of course the woman deserves a holiday, I just feel lost and sad about our bad timing.)

His deterioration has been so quick in the last 24hrs, the lump on his head is now raw and weeping and he's disoriented. He seems comfortable and is sleeping most of the day.

May I ask how your lovely greyhound was diagnosed? Hospital recommended sedation, US guided needle biopsy and CT but to see his deterioration I don't think they'll want to do that now. He's a rescue and is probably 15yrs old, has very limited vision and hearing and osteoarthritis, aggressive testing and treatment doesn't seem appropriate.

Again, I'm grateful for your reply, thank you and I'm sorry to ask questions about such a painful loss.

I've emailed vet and hospital with photos and update and we'll be taking him to one or the other tomorrow morning.

An update: this morning vet #3 said she'd like to see if the lump had any fluid inside so they sedated DDog and removed "masses and masses of pus" from it as well as a tiny bit of matter that may be a bit of grass seed.
Good result, we'll see how he heals and fingers crossed that'll be the end of it. In any case he must be more comfortable now.

@smokingcarriageonly I am so sorry you are going through this, you will know what you need to do as we did very quickly. We could never see her suffering as her demeanour changed very quickly, we could tell she wasn't happy and dogs are so stoic that she must have been in tremendous pain.

It all happened very quickly for us, she yelped on catching a biscuit on Thurs evening and I rang the vet to book a dental the next day as I thought it was a tooth abscess as she yelped again when I tried to open her mouth to look. Our vet is fantastic and had her in that morning but rang within an hour to say that under sedation there were no dental problems but she did an x-ray which showed a dramatic bone loss, the zygomatic bone was eroded entirely on that side and she suspected cancer. She shared the x-ray with a specialist over the weekend and rang us on Monday morning to advise PTS she could refer us to a cancer specialist if we wanted but we declined.

Our beautiful girl was only seven, she had raced, had two litters of pups and had found her forever sofa, we lost our previous dog 18 mths before at the start of lockdown and couldn't go into the vets with her. Losing them so close together was just awful. Our vet gave us a few days of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and strong painkillers and we gave her a couple of days of love, favourite walks and food, we PTS on Friday morning, exactly a week after going for her dental.

It is such a difficult time for you but you know the kindness that you must do, sending you and your beautiful lurcher love x

oh my goodness our posts crossed and I am so happy to read your update. What a painful mess from a grass seed, they get everywhere, your poor dog must have been so sore. I hope he makes a speedy recovery, big hugs for him tonight :)

Redpriestandmozart many thanks for that, I know it can't be easy to tell that story. Much love to you <3

This vet was much more meat and potatoes than the fancy hospital and it was all very straightforward (no US guided biopsy) so we're hoping there was nothing more to it than a stray grass seed (which are a potential menace to all dogs tbh). She didn't see anything of concern but we'll watch and wait and give the ABs time to work.

I woke in bits this morning and wept throughout the vet consult expecting the worst. His head was (and is) grotesque but even if something else is going on underneath at least he's comfortable now.

Thanks for good wishes x