hi
Can you help My cousin has a golden retreiver now aged 1 year for the last week he has had what seems to be a swelling on his snout above his nose going towards his face.  At first they thought it was a sting as he spends most of his time in plant beds or jumping there 6 foot back wall to the common.  They went to the vet yesterday who checked his nose and drew the mix of blood and water from the snout  and proclaimed it was not an infected bite or sting but a broken nose he then accused them of beating the dog and of breaking his nose,  they were flabbergasted.  The vet called in the receptionist for a second opinion after making the accusation who backed him up.  They were told to take the dog back in a fortnight for Xrays and that it might never get better and that they would now be on the vets watchlist!

Now i know this dog and he has ben known when excited his friends come to play or in the park to play chase and he invariably misjudges items round corners and has been known to go head first into trees and walls.  We have wondered before about his eyesight but vet says its fine and hes to young to tell. 

My question is do you khow of anything that might make the swelling go down it does not hurt him but he obviously does not like it as he keeps tryingto scratch it.  Do you think it would be worth getting a second opinion?  his nose now looks like  _----_/.

First thing get another opinion, and speak to the CAB about making a complaint to the Vets about their jumping to conclusions and not treating the dog properly, you can't tell if something is broken without an x-ray unless the bone is movable or poking through the skin. If the second vet makes another diagnosis I would complain to the RVS too, about malpractice and false accusations. Since when have receptionists been qualified to make diagnoses.

Without wandering into the dangerous territory of guessing what has actually happened here it does occur to me that questions of whether mistreatment have occured are usually decided on a vets opinion aren't they? The receptionist may have been called to witness what was said rather than to confirm the vets opinion. 

It is possible to diagnose a broken bone by its mobility and malformation at the break the follow up x-ray would probably to accertain that it is managing to heal as obviously this is not a break that can be immobilsed with a cast and I suppose surgery would need to be considered if it is not setting naturally.

Glad you agree with me Isabel, I have been thinking about this and wonder why if the vet really thought the dog had be injured by someone hitting it enough to break the nose they did not report it to the police or the RSPCA. Strange.

I didn't agree with complaining about the vet and I didn't agree that a bone fracture could not be diagnosed without an Xray, so I am not sure which part we have left to agree on :D
As regards the vet reporting it to the police or RSPCA we don't know that they haven't!

Did not say that, I said >> without an x-ray unless the bone is movable or poking through the skin << was trying to suggest that the vet should investigate further before accusing someone of hitting a dog. You said >> diagnose a broken bone by its mobility and malformation at the break the follow up x-ray << I took that as an agreement. And no, we do not know that the vet did not take it further but from the post it would appear that they did not. None of this is any help, I would be very upset if someone, decided that I had ill treated my dog without any real evidence, or do you think it can be ascertained by looking at a dog and removing serum that the dog has been ill treated. IMO anything could have happened, if the dog was ill treated it needs looking into if not it needs treating, if he did it himself he could well do it again, this dogs owners need help whatever the cause of the damage. Do dogs usually scratch at a broken bone, never happened to me and it would be nice to know.

Would you not suggest a second oppinion if it happened to you.

Sorry, just homed in on the no need for an x-ray part :)  Still think the vet is right to question the owners if he thinks he should.  We were not there so we don't know if any other marks were on the dog, nor do I know how common an occurence a broken nose is in dogs, perhaps it rarely occurs accidentally, perhaps only a blow from above would do it and the owners reported a crash from the front.  It just seems a little unfair to call the vet for looking into it when we very often see posts on here from people suspecting abuse by their neighbours etc and expressing outrage that no-one is investigating it.  If there is nothing untoward then I'm sure nothing more will come of it.

That is why I suggested a second oppinion.

Could be a bit of a gamble if the second vet agreed with the first better to let it lie and see if he takes it further I would have said.

Hi
An update on the Goldie my cousin noticed over Easter that the lump was getting bigger and moving up the snout towards the eyes,  this being the case they do not think it is a break and are going to take him to my vets for a second opinion.  I must say having seen it myself after not seeing him for a week it reminds me of a cyst or a boil that is getting ready to break.  Can dogs get cysts?
Thanks
Jane

Hmmm i would not be happy if my vet was accusing me of being cruel to my dog, all of my dogs have at one time or another jumped into the pattio door or gotten over excited and run int something which could have easily injured them and would have been very difficult to stop happening.
I'm not 100% sure whether dogs can get cysts, i dont see why they can't but they can get boils because one of my dogs had one on their head.

Hi
They have just been to a different vet whose diagnosed either a abcess? or a tumour so now waitnig for results.

Yes dogs can gets cyst, I used to have an Old English sheepdog who was quite prone to them, vet used to drain them with a syring. the are very painful.

Kay

OMG what a horrible vet :(  if my vet said i mistreated my dog i would report them and never return there, hope the dog gets better soon :)

Heidi

Weird how one vet the accuser said it was broken and the other says a cyst or a tumore. If it is a tumore or cyst like second vet says I would definately do something about the first vet since they never took the time to properly check the nose.

I watched a show about a horse (I know not a dog) anyhow the horse was kicked in the face by another horse and the nose was broken or fractured which was causing breathing problems. When the opened it up the nose was broken in more then one place, cleaned it all up and put in some steel (I believe) to hold the nose together and the horse was fine.....Sorry totally off topiv but it reminded me of the vet surgeons show I watched.

I do hope the dogs gets better and everything is fine, good luck :)