My dog (a yellow lab) developed an inflammation in his back leg hock. The day after he had 106F and the entire leg was swollen.Now his leg and lower abdomen are swollen and red/purple.the vets dot know whats wrong.blood results are fine.what could it be?

It might be time to consider a second opinion, particularly if your Vet is trying to figure out the problem all alone...have they suggested or consulted with a specialist on this???? Vet's used to be sort of a Jack of all Ills...but in recent years they are beginning to specialize almost as much as human doctors... It occurs to me that MRSA should be something they should catch...then again....hard case. Points to consider into your figuring and brain storming...Vaccines...any recently? Flea and Tick products...they ARE poison and while many animals have no obvious reactions (aside from cancer later in years) SOME can build up toxic levels pretty fast...same with heartworm medicine and other "wormer" products. (I use Neems Oil a NON toxic product that ends the fleas and ticks.) AND...could your dog have had a tick in recent weeks???? Has he access to brush, streams...woods...?? Please let us know how he gets on...I'm sorry not to have something brilliant to offer you...Sorry you are both having to go through such a frightening time...it would scare me too!

I thought I should add pictures so Ranger can help other dogs in the same situation.The first picture was the first day he had inflammation. The second one was two days after. One important thing about this: "DO NOT GIVE ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS OR STEROIDS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.Steroids would have killed Ranger... Thanks again!

I posted a response yesterday and it doesnt seem to come up. We took him to U Penn vet hospital yesterday (4 hours away from us) and they knew right away he has an eating flesh bacteria infection. They operated his leg last night to remove the pus and necrotic tissue and he is right now in intensive care unit. The doctors dont want to keep our hopes too high but they think he is stable now, but they will need to do more operations. We are extremely luck we found out! It is a relieve to know that he is in good hands..They still dont know which bacteria it is. Thank you all soooooooo much for helping. I will let you know all know of the final outcome.

Thanks for answering!they shaved his leg and didnt see anything.If its a spider (we live in central PA)it probably would be hard to see.They did many bacterial cultures and showed nothing.do you think it could be a parasite?his white blood cells are fine. internal bleeding?lymph node problem?We are scared...