swollen hock joint

[Shamu]

there is always something with this dog...
2 days ago I noticed that her hock joint is swollen. It doesn't hurt her; she is as crazy as usual, and walks and runs just fine, so I didn't take her to the vet right away and hoped that it will resolve on it's own.

But it's been 2 days and the swelling is not getting any smaller. When I'm trying to touch/push on it a bit, she moves her leg and tries to get away from me. But she is a 'cry baby' and has almost the same reaction when I'm doing this with her other leg, which isn't swollen.

any thoughts what it can be? I'm going to take her to the vet tomorrow (if I can make an appt for tomorrow), or Monday, but any suggestions what I should ask the vet to do/test? (see how much I trust the vets)

[Carolyn]

First off, you need to teach her obedience training.

She needs to learn the command words: stand........stay. And you need to enforce her to do just that. If you cant do it yourself, then you need to find a very sturdy/sound pole or fence to tie her on a 1" lead so she doesnt have any other option then to stand. Once you do this, you give her a little lead as a time till you can work on your girl when ever you need to see something on her.
This kind of behavior is unacceptable (not letting you check out any part of her) at home and at the vets office.

Once you find a fence to tether her too, you need to examine the area on her hock. Is it soft/squishy? Hard? Tender to touch?
Then I would put a cold compress on it for 15 minutes. I would also give a couple doses of Benedryl (thru out the day) just in case it is a bug/bee sting.

This training become invaluable when there really is something serious going on with your Dane and you need her to settle in order to look at it.

Good luck,

[Shamu]

it is soft/squishy, and it bothers her when I'm touching/pressing on it, but doesn't hurt her otherwise , but not as much. From her reaction, I think it's uncomfortable but does not hurt;
She runs/moves/puts weight on it just fine.

she still has staph skin infection (caused by allergy/constant licking); I'm nervous that the swelling on the joint is caused by this staph infection..

[stenogrl]

I actually have the same problem with my Dane. I was going to ask anyone if they've had this. The only difference is it doesn't bother her when I'm touching/pressing on it. We took her to the vet and the vet didn't know, maybe bee sting or bite. Put her on Deramax. Swelling started to go down. Took her off Dermax and swelling stayed. So we took her back in and had a biopsy done on it. 2 biopsies. She also had something on her toe, same foot, taken off. Got the lab results and the thing on her toe was a histiocytoma. The biopsies on her hock was fat with no weird cells. Our vet has never seen anything like this and says if it swells anymore then we'll try something else.

Shamu - What did you vet say was causing the swelling? Anything?

Anybody else have any suggestions or has had this happen to know what this is?

[kmoore24]

it is soft/squishy, and it bothers her when I'm touching/pressing on it, but doesn't hurt her otherwise , but not as much. From her reaction, I think it's uncomfortable but does not hurt;
She runs/moves/puts weight on it just fine.

she still has staph skin infection (caused by allergy/constant licking); I'm nervous that the swelling on the joint is caused by this staph infection..

Might be me just being paranoid - but with a staph infection and swollen joint - I would have your vet check for MRSA...

[Carolyn]

Assuming that you do blood work, and are sure there is no infection, the next time the joint swells up I would try Prednisone.
Starting out high and going to decreasing doses, spread out over approx 10 to 12 days.

Edit to add: only under the guidance/direction of a vet

[Shamu]

@stenogrl - is the swelling on the joint itself, or maybe it's skin behind/around it? how often your dog sits or lays down on a hard surface?

with Shamu, Vet suspected either skin infection, or hygroma(SP?) The swelling wasn't the joint itself but the skin around/behind it, mostly behind. Those are 'pressure points' where skin gets irritated when she sits/lays down, and with her, it happened right after we were doing a lot of 'sits'/'downs' on concrete so it could be the cause.

We did the skin test and it showed the bacteria. She was put on antibiotics but that didn't help any, so I guess it's hygroma.

If the swelling is on actual joint, it can be bursitis.

[DextersMomma]

histiocytomas are benign tumors that will go away in 1-3 months and aren't a big deal (other than looking ugly when they ulcerate). They can get multiples of these.

The swelling around the joint could be actual swelling within the joint, could be lympedema, or could be trauma induced. Hard to say without seeing it. Did they run cytology on the fluid from inside the swelling?

[stenogrl]

It is swelling around and behind the joint. And, no, she doesn't lay on hard surfaces. When they took the biopsy the vet said it was fat tissue and it was hard to get a biopsy because the fat/stuff kept moving around. No fluid, just tissue.
We did get a cytology and the description is - skin, dermatitis and panniculitis, mild with lymphangiectasia and hemorrhage. She's been off Deramax for a week now and the swelling hasn't increased any. But it also hasn't gone down to normal size. I can take a picture of it if anybody's curious and wants to see it.
So what do you think?

[Shamu]

It is swelling around and behind the joint. And, no, she doesn't lay on hard surfaces. When they took the biopsy the vet said it was fat tissue and it was hard to get a biopsy because the fat/stuff kept moving around. No fluid, just tissue.
We did get a cytology and the description is - skin, dermatitis and panniculitis, mild with lymphangiectasia and hemorrhage. She's been off Deramax for a week now and the swelling hasn't increased any. But it also hasn't gone down to normal size. I can take a picture of it if anybody's curious and wants to see it.
So what do you think?

wow, that sounds scary... All I was told by our vet -skin infection, and swelling is caused by constant irritation of the skin (sitting/laying down on hard surface). Vet suggested antibiotics but since she was on antibiotics for pretty long time already, I decided to wait it out. It doesn't bother her, and isn't getting bigger, but it's not to the normal size yet.

No idea if that's the same your dog has, or different. From your description, it sounds similar - swelling around and behind the joint; no fluids as far as vet can tell without doing anymore tests

[stenogrl]

Swollen Hock

Lucy is still having swelling. All through the night when she's not on it the swelling reduces, though not to normal. During the day with activity - running, playing, etc., it swells up again. She is not acting anything but normal except the swelling. I thought I would post a few pictures to see if anybody has any thoughts or has experienced this before.

Shamu - does this look anything like what you're experiencing?

Any help is appreciated.