Anyone ever had/heard of this? I have a 3 week old puppy who was crying and crying last night, when I checked on him the side of his face, by his jaw under his ear was huge and swollen. It was EXTREMELY tender and he was in A LOT of pain. I took him to the ER and the vet said it could be an abscess filled with puss, but it wasn't really at a head so he couldn't draw any fluid out. (by the way the puppy wouldn't nurse that night when I got up with him, he just cried in pain)

We did blood work and his white blood cell count was 24, the vet said 16 was high-normal. So that leads us to believe that this is some kind of infection. The vet said maybe somehow the puppy got a scratch or puncture from another puppy's sharp little nail and it got infected...... Also the puppy had no fever. Weird.

He said there is a tiny, tiny chance that maybe the jaw is dislocated or broken on that one side. But the only way for that to have happened is if the mom stepped on him jumping into the box. I have not dropped him, there's really no other way that he could be injured. But mom is very very careful with her babies. He doesn't really think that's what it was because of the white blood cell count.

They gave him a shot of amoxicillian and pain killer and sent me home with oral amox and oral pain killer to be given every 12 hours. We left the vet at 3am and at 7am THE PUPPY NURSED VERY VORACIAllSLY! And after hot compresses the swelling has decreased.

I have a call in to my regular vet and I'm waiting for a call back. Puppy is sleeping without crying now and seems to be doing better.

Anyone ever had or heard of this??? Most vets know nothing about breeding and puppies so I am not sure what to think about this until I get a call back from my regular vet. I'm dying to know if Ed has ever had this in over 350 litters...

Any advice, or opinions are greatly appreciated!!!!!

I saw this once when I worked for a Lab breeder. There was a small pup (2-3 weeks) that developed swelling on one side of his neck, much like you described. The vet said it was a type of Staph infection. The vet lanced it and infection poured out. We had to flush it and hot compress it like every 2 hours. The pup was also on antibiotics (Amoxi, I think but I am not positive).
It was a lot of work, but the pup recovered in a week or so and never had any ill effects.
The vet thought it was just a toenail scratch from another pup that got infected. I might add that this breeder kept the box excessively clean, so who knows where this stuff comes from...

--Kelly

Thanks, I will bring up the possibility of staph with my vet, he's coming out tomorrow. I keep the box really clean, but you know how it is, a little poop under a nail and that's all you need. Poor guy's been crying all alone so I put another puppy in there with him and I'm just keep a close watch so he's not totally alone.

Thanks,