Has this happened to your hunting dog?

[Steve Hodges]

Long story short. Cody, my Llewellen Setter and I hunted last Monday, November 4 for woodcock here in central NH. Hunted hard in some tough woodcock cover, but nothing we have not done a ton of times before. The next day, November 5th, I noticed a bit of swelling around his left lymph node on the left side of his lower jaw. By the next day, November 6th, the area had exploded to a very large swollen area, but it did not pain him and he was acting like his old self. Took him to my vet who thought he had an infected lymph node and prescribed antibiotics. A week went by and this morning the swelling was getting worse, not better. My vet said that this was beyond his ability do diagnose so he sent us to Angel Animal Hospital in downtown Boston, a two hour drive from Central NH. So we took off and arrived at noon. A vet examined him and thought that he had an infection in that area. A catscan revealed a puss pocket right by his juggler vein. A team of surgeons operated on him by 4:40 this afternoon. They called me by 5:15 to tell me that yes, it is an infection and that they externally drained lots of puss and installed a drain. He will be fine and they will culture the puss for the best antibiotics to treat it. They theories that he punctured the lower jaw area while hunting and the infection ensued. Has anyone else had this issue?
He will be able to come home either tomorrow or Friday. They are a great hospital.