Good news! We know what it is now and she's going to be fine! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!
Okay...that lump under the "hot spot" was a huge abscess. Can you believe it? This was filled with so many red herrings.
So, apparently, after I brought her in, her fever was up even higher and the lump had gotten bigger under the hot spot. So after everyone was stumped as to what the hell was wrong with Fizz, a vet tech said, "Hey, I have an idea...why don't we stick a needle in this lump and see what's in there?" Viola. Tons and tons of pus, a surgery and tons of flushing later, they discovered a tiny thorn inside of her! That vet tech is getting some Christmas cookies, for sure.
So apparently, the thorn (which apparently could have been inside her for awhile), caused a small bump and discomfort that we couldn't see because of the thick fur on her ruff and its location. So Fizz, thumbless and voiceless, tried to get rid of it the only way she knew how, which was by scratching at it. Then the hot spot showed up. The infection caused the fever, which caused the seizures, and the tick had nothing to do with it other than to throw everyone off the trail!
It appeared to us that she had the hot spot first (especially since she had one at Triple Crown) and so we assumed that the swelling was an infection from her itching herself. If she had only had the lump, and take away the tick and the hot spot, it would have been obvious. It's weird how obvious it seems to me now, but so many people (including me) were thrown off by the tick and the hot spot.
It still feels to me like I should have noticed this, but this is a dog who, with a temp of 105.5, still has the zing to muster up energy to play with a ball...so she doesn't give up her illness secrets easily.
So she's going to have a stint in for a few days, some pain meds and some antibiotics. We're going to have a hell of a time keeping her still once she feels better because she is INSANE when she's not sick. And a cone collar isn't going to stop her from itching it with her foot. So we're going to have to be creative in keeping her from getting at it.
And, I've been told that they only found part of the thorn, so it's possible that if they missed a piece that it could reabscess later and require more extensive surgery. But at least then we'll know what the heck's going on.
Note to self (with headslap): A hot spot is always secondary to something.
I am SO happy that she's going to be fine! And I'm especially happy that she's not in any more pain!! And she'll be home tonight.
Yay!
A massive THANKS to all of you guys for your help and concern. Wow...I missed this place.
![;) smiley for ;)](http://leerburg.com/forums/images/graemlins/default/wink.gif)
Not the way I meant to come back to Leerburg....but I'm glad to be back anyway.
Did I say YAY yet?
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Carbon