Hygroma

[ofcbaum]

So the other morning I let my K9 out of his kennel and he was having difficulty walking. I have never seen this before and was very worried. I looked him over and noticed he had some swelling on his front right elbow at the joint. I took him to the vet and they diagnosed it as a possible hygroma. Having never heard of this, the vet of course explained, but I also did my own research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygromas

Has anyone had experience with this before with their dogs, police dogs or otherwise, and how did it effect them, what was the treatment and meds?

[ofcbaum]

Also, he has numerous soft beds and other soft things to lay on, however, he always chooses the hardwood floors if inside the house or the ground when he is outside. He has soft rubber stable mats in his kennel with a large orthpedic bed in it which avoids.

[fordman318]

Both of my dogs have this problem. I have found no remedy though. They chew/pull off any cover I have put on them.

[moondog]

You might want to see if your vet will prescribe some DMSO- I had good results with something similar a few years back.

[bludragon]

I put my dog in a dog crate with soft bedding at night and this helped a lot. Locking him in the crate means he has no option but to lay on the soft bedding. When he was at work, I also had a large dog blanket that I placed in the rear of the car which spanned the entire width. It wasn't very thick, but it was softer on his joints than the rubber mat. These two things seemed to help a lot.

[ofcbaum]

Since this post, he has improved quite a bit. I have also placed a soft bed in his kennel and a blanket in the back of the patrol car. In addition he has been taking meds (Beytril) for it and they have helped. Although still present, the hygroma doesn't seem to bother him anymore and he is able to work and train like normal.