Lance abscess?

Dr. Marie replied:

This definitely sounds like an abscess. Definitely do not try to drain this at home.

An abscess usually does need draining, but quite often in a dog this needs to be done with an anesthetic. In cats, often a vet can very quickly rupture an abscess with a scalpel blade but we don't do this often in dogs.

I once had a case where I had a dog with an abscess on the neck. The owners had very little money and they convinced me to try lancing it without an anesthetic. I was a brand new grad at the time...now I know better. I lanced the abscess and it turned out it was right over the jugular vein. I ended up cutting into the vein and the dog began bleeding profusely. The dog ended up being ok, but I had to administer a full anesthetic and do some frantic surgery to cut down to the vein and stitch up the damage. If this had happened in someone's home the dog likely would have died.

If there is an abscess it is not going to heal without antibiotics. Your dog will definitely need to see a vet.

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