bump on elbow ... bursitis?

[pamlor]

Hi!

I have a 20 month old Rottie (about 110 lbs) who has a swelling on his left elbow. It seems to be fluid filled and is about the size of a golf ball. The area is not tender or sore and has not cause Koda to be lame. We think that he may have bumped his elbow really hard last Thurs. when he was playing with a ball. Has any one had any experience with something like this. I did call our vet and she seemed to think that it wasn't anything really urgent and that we could wait for a few days to see if the swelling would go down on its own. Well, it's still just as swollen and even though it doesn't seem to bother Koda, I hate having it on his leg. The vet did say that we could aspirate and drain the fuid off, but the swelling could possibly come back again and I don't want to increase the possibility of an infection getting started. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pam and Koda

[Judi W]

It's called a hydroma. Saints are quite prone to them, so you might want to ask a Saint person about their experience. I believe some do go down spontaneously and yes, simply draining them, they usually come back. I know of several cases where they had to be removed surgically.

[pamlor]

Thanks Judi, now I at least have a name that I can use to try and look up more info on the internet.

[poohbearsmom]

Deiter had hygromas on both elbows. My ex-vet caused infection by not sterilizing the area before aspirating the fluid.
My new vet aspirated again, and gave him shots of a glucosomine type fluid (Cannot remember the name of it, but they often use it on race horses to ease the inflamation in the area - the name starts with an "A"), but they returned again, after only a few weeks.
Another vet that I use for hip xrays aspirated them again, then injected a steroid. They have not returned in over a year now.
I'm not big into steroid use, but, it really affected his placements in the show ring, so, after much discussion, we decided to perform this last treatment.
The hygromas will not hurt the dog, they are mainly unsightly. They are a build up of fluids, and yes, it is similar to Bursitis, but never noticed any lameness or pain from Deiter.
Judi is correct that St Bernards often get them, as do Wolfhounds, and other large dogs. Wear and tear on the joint causes it - Deiter used to slam himself down on his elbows when laying down - he's gotten a lot easier on himself as he's matured.
You can, if you like, make elbow pads for him - a friend advised me to get a pair of used kids' jeans, cut off the legs, sew padding in them, then sew a strap which would lay over the dog's shoulders, keeping the contraption in place - we opted to place sleeping bags around the house, and encourage Deiter to lay on them, instead of the tile floor - we chose this option, because I am NOT a seamstress. lol.

Good luck, hope this helps a little..

Elisabeth

[pamlor]

Elisabeth,
Thanks for the info on the hygromas. I've also been trying to figure out some way to make elbow pads for Koda. Right now I'm trying to figure out if I can cut the end out of a sock and place some kind of padding in the heel area and then place that over the hygroma. Biggest problem to me besides figuring out how to kepp them in place, is how to keep Koda from chewing and trying to get them off. Although, who know, maybe he would leave them alone if I can figure out how to get them to stay in place. We've got a new bed ordered for him...one with lots of padding and I've put the egg crate type foam in his crate where he sleeps at night. He is such a chewer though and loves to rip things apart. Every bed he's had, plus blankets we've give him to lay on have ended up with big holes in them. I hope these fare better. Still don't know how long I'll let this hygroma alone...i.e. hoping it might go away on its own, before maybe trying to have some of the fluid aspirated. As you say, it doesn't hurt him, but it sure isn't pretty to look at. I hope to get him into the obed and agility rings one of these days, and I don't know that I want this big bump to be on his leg.
Thanks.

[Maddiesgirl]

My Maddie had two sizable hygromas, and after the vet saw her I read and read. I was so depressed with the thought of trying to keep knee pads on an active pup.

Draining not only didn't work, but for the high cost it remained drained for less than 12 hours. A shunt to drain opens the dog to infection.

TRY a little home remediation. I trained Maddie not to lie on hard floors, hard with how they love the cool, but doable. All carpet, and no banging helped. We had to take away her crate, the hard floor agrivated. I iced her elbows in the evenings. They eventually went down without the surgery that the vet said might not work. Get very serious about nothing harder than carpet.

Good luck!
Heather

[pamlor]

I have another qurestion as far as activity when there's a hygroma present. I've been doing some agility with Koda and am wondering if this will hurt or slow the recovery time. Also, if he were to compete in an agility trial or obed trial, is this something that AKC would frown on, or say that the dog couldn't compete with?? I'd also thought about applying cold/heat to the swelling, but wasn't sure which. My thought was the cold would work initially, but once the swelling is present, the heat would be better. It would increase circulation and hopefully help the fluid to be able to drain away faster. Any thoughts?
Thanks again to everyone who's replied. I just hate having that big bump on his elbow. :( When he runs it kind of jiggles and it makes me wonder how odd it must feel to him. I've come to the conclusion that we will leave it alone for as long as possible and hope it will go away on its own.
Pam and Koda

[Maddiesgirl]

I only know what the vet told me, which I followed by alot of searching the archives here, and on the internet.

The vet told me the hygromas form when you have a BIG dog (rotten butts) or a "Bony Breed" with "sharp edges" such as a grey hound. The fliud forms from repeated insult to the elbow (lying down hard on hard floors for example) before the dog has formed its callouses to protect the elbow and doesn't have any cushioning. The internet suggested both hot and cold packs. We used more by trial and error, Maddie would sit a LONG time for ice (it was summer) and was less tolerant of the heat packs. I scratched her legs while we did this, which has formed a lifelong habbit, scratching her legs and feet=calm dog. :)

The vet suggested, and we have followed, trying hard to avoid the big bangs that rott pups are so notorious for. We are very careful getting in and out of cars/trucks and about asking her to jump UP into/onto things. We also had to get her on a leash for awhile to go down stairs slower, on her own she basically extended her front legs and slid happily down the carpeted steps. Just reduce the insult to the elbow. I don't know anything about agility, so I can't help you there. But read up on the surguries before you do it (they are "inexpensive" so the vets may say why not, and make some home changes, see what you can do. Maddie's looked like an orange (it was horrid). Now you would never know. Plus side, she learned the command, "Out of the kitchen" to get her off the hard floors!:D