Got back from the vet. Basically, they don’t know what’s wrong, but they eliminated a few things.
It’s not a tooth issue, which is good. Doesn’t seem to be an ear infection, or anything of that nature.
The swollen lump is much bigger than I realized, and most of it is further back on the side of her head. They stuck a needle into it, and it’s apparently a solid mass, not filled with fluid. Didn’t appear to be infected. She’s not running a fever.
There was a little bit of talk of it being a snake bite or something, but she was in my back yard all day yesterday, here in semi-suburban Houston, and it’s hard to see how she could have gotten into contact with a snake. I suppose she could have picked a fight with a spider.
So, now we’re doing “supportive care”. Which means they gave her a shot a Benadryl-like drug in case it was an allergic reaction, and a shot of an anti-inflammatory drug, to reduce swelling. Then they send me home with some antibiotic pills and some steroid pills to give her. Now, we observe. They said to bring her back if she doesn’t show improvement by Wednesday.
She did seem to have perked up a bit by the end of the office visit. That’s before any drugs were administered. Hard to say whether that’s her feeling a little better, or just her responding to all the attention.
Part of me is a little annoyed, because every time I take her to this vet with a non-routine problem, the answer is some antibiotic pills or steroids and watch her for a few days. I kind of wonder if this is a dog-owner placebo. Look like you’re doing something, hope the dog heals on her own. On the flip side, that’s probably the right answer. They ruled out a couple of big things that would need to be handled, like a tooth issue. After that, you either wait and see if it heals, or you roll out the doggie MRI machine.
It would just be nice if everybody had all the answers on tap instantly. I bet being a vet, or a medical doctor, is frustrating. If a computer has a problem, I can take it apart and fix it, but computers are simple. It’s not really practical to take a dog apart and put it back together again.