Please help!

Hi everyone! I have a beautiful white spotty female staffy named Suki. She is now 5 but has been having allergy issues since a puppy, all very treatable (no sun, limited time on grass or near plants, keep her inside, low allergen diet, wash every week with water and natural products only).
Recently she developed a large, hanging mass on her side, just behind her front leg. I called our vet who said to monitor it and bring her in the next day. The next day the mass was no longer hanging, but now a hard undefined (I.e not a movable cyst under the skin) mass in the same area, which caused her to limp (no behavioural changes). When we took her to the vet they basically said they didn't know what it was (blood tests were normal, it wasn't cancer or a bite etc, X-ray and ultrasound came came back normal). The lanced it and even though it is very hard, there was fluid and blood seeping out of it for days which seemed to flatten it out. The vet has been seeing her every few days to 'monitor' but offered no solutions. The mass has now started to swell up again, except the skin is turning black and yellow, assumingly from the incisions made with the lancing. I have no idea what to do and don't feel reassured, even though we are seeing a specialist vet.. Although she is fine temperament wise and is eating and behaving normally, I'm still worried. If anyone has experienced this please let me know, or has any suggestions as to what it could be or what more I could do. Thank you in advance.

Hi ya, welcome to the forum from Flo & me

I can fully understand your concern this must be horrible to deal with

I have no experience of the symptoms you describe but it must be some sort of infection you would think, Is she on antibiotics? The good news is that you say she is fine in herself and eating well which is a great sign. If I were in your position I would be inclined to ask the vet more questions so that you understand what's going on, it's very easy to listen but not hear when you are in the stressful situation at the vets.

Hopefully someone will be along that can offer you more help but do keep us updated with Suki's progress

Thank you for your reply! Flo is gorgeous

The vet gave her an antibiotic shot, with immunity for up to two weeks, as well as a steroid injection, and sent us home with a 7 day course of anti inflammatory tablets, which she has been taking with no problem. The reason we had both the ultrasound and X-ray was to ensure no plant matter was visible (such as a grass seed), a tick, tumour or cyst, cancer etc under the skin, so these have been ruled out, however the muscle in the area isn't inflamed to be causing the mass nor is there any injury it's been a stressful week

I will most definitely be going with a note pad and questions this time - thank you for your suggestion. We are next seeing our vet Thursday.

I have been trying to google the symptoms but it such a mix I haven't found much - bar this forum!

Here is a 'clean' image of the mass. It is from a few days ago, I say clean because the area has more blackened skin today and I wouldn't want to offend anyone by posting an overally graphic photo! The cuts and redness are from where the vet made some incisions to help with drainage (I believe there are three or four in total).

if it was and wasnt satisfied with vets opinion you could seek advice from another vet . imo you want to of course get to the root cause of the problem hope shes better soon and get some answers.

My first thoughts are a cyst of some kind. I think you're right about the yellow and black bits being a result of the surgery. I will be very interested to read what the vet thinks it is, good luck for Thursday.

How did Suki get on at the vets today ?

Hi Ian,

The vet was okay - she got a saline clean up and they've lanced the area again. She has managed to scratch the scab and lift up a thick piece of skin but they were not concerned with that. The vet said it isn't a cyst, and from what they can see under the scab there isn't anything stuck in there! We still have no real answers, we were sent home to 'monitor' and back early next week again. She is still behaving well and has a good appetite. I think I am going to seek a second opinion, I'm just not sure where to start as we are currently seeing the dermatologist specialist vet in my city. I may need to find an allergy or such specialist, incase it is allergy related!

hopefully it is nothing I hope you find the answers you need allergies are such a minefield as firstly there is food allergies then grass/ plants.

It's tough when you don't know what's causing it but at least it seems to be getting better and Suki is fine in herself. Do keep us posted with how she gets on and especially if you find out what caused it