Hi,

Had to take my choc lab to the vets on sunday as an emergency. She was swollen and bleeding under her chin  , she did not look very well at all. The vet says that she could have caught her chin on a fence, or one of my other dogs could have niped at her, upon which she has scratched her self really bad. I only went out for 2 hours and found her like that when i got home. He has given her two injections one a to stop the swelling and an antibiotic. He also gave he antibiotic tablets and cream to put on. She now has a big plastic collar on to stop her from pawing at it. Has anyone else had this sort of problem. The vet did say this usually happens in the summer months.

Hi chelsea

Sounds to me like Wet Eczema.  Was it sticky to the touch?  If it is it will be quite itchy for her.  Antibiotics should clear up the infection, but what I use is a VERY watered down solution of TSP and water.  Keep bathing it and keep it clean.  I have found that this often helps with the itch.  Wet eczema can also be caused by flea bites, so have a good look at her.  Also the fur acts like a 'wick' and can cause the wetness to travel so keeping it bathed and clean stops the wetness dribbling further down her neck.  Why the skin swells I don't know, but the first time I experienced it was when my girl got it on her throat, the first thing I saw was a wet, sticky, bloody lump, I thought she had Cancer!!!!. I was devestated and panicked out of all proportion.  Don't worry, it will clear up.  The only thing is that she MAY be prone to this.  My girl sometimes gets it when she has been swimming, and I believe it thrives in a warm, damp environment (like when she is drying off).

cassy got something like this- she had an inch wide circular infected/bloody/sticky chin

in the end, we worked it out, she had infected hair follicles from pushing her chin into feed bowl whilst eating! so it just kept getting wet and food in it- we sorted this by cleaning her chin properly after eating each meal, until it healed up- but its still badly scarred and thickened...

Libby FCR was diagnosed with puppy eczema, this then developed into a small growth which was sorted with minor op, and so far so good almost 4yrs on :D