Simon has a sore on his back, possible Nocardia infection
 Simon the basset had an area on his back that Chewie was sniffing at. It was obvious, as he hovers over him, and it was making Simon mad, and he'd growl at Chewie. I checked it over last Friday, but I couldn't see anything. He had a mass (tumor) removed from right over his spine several years ago, but that all looked good. I worked 12 hour nights all weekend, and Sunday I saw there was a bit of a bump off to the side on his back, but not real important looking. Monday when I woke up at noon (finally done with nights, so I just napped a few hours to get back on a normal sleep pattern), I noticed there was some bloody drainage at the new spot. It looked a little dried into his hair, so I got a warm damp wash cloth, and soaked the area, then wiped. A section of skin/hair sloughed of, leaving a large marble sized, round area of flesh exposed. It was perfectly round, and I thought he may have some sort of puncture wound. It hurt him to have me dig any more, so I called the vet - to find out he was out on a farm call. They talked to him on the radio, and he would squeeze us in after he got back. One of the techs called later afternoon, saying Troy would be back and able to see us at 5:15. So, in we went. Troy looked at it and was immediately concerned. There is something called a Nocardia infection . It's an anaerobic bacteria, inhaled is the usual route of transmission, usually found in the soil and plant material. Apparently this has become a hot topic in the hunting dog world, as it affects them most often d/t being more exposed to the right conditions. Troy says he sees 3-4 cases a year in hunting dog clients. That surprised me...his office is in Janesville MN, and it's a small town - population about 2000. He does draw from a larger area, and actually many drive the 15 miles from Mankato...good vets are popular! Nocardia is nasty. Hard to treat and recurs. Most common route is inhalation of the weed particles that carry the bacteria. Then it burrows through the body. Following the spinal cord and erupting near it is the type he sees most - so Simon's eruption, near the spine and no apparent injury to cause it were all big flags for him. Also, as I read about this, it also can burrow into the chest and causes huge health issues as it erupts into the lungs or out the chest cavity!  So he did a culture, and after sedation, really scrubbed the area and picked at it, trimmed the necrotic margins off. He started Simon aggressively on 2 oral antibiotics, as well as a topical one. The culture results are due tonight (after 5), so I hope to hear tomorrow AM. I am hoping it's just a run of the mill booboo or infection, not Nocardia.   Here are a couple pictures - beware, they are NOT pretty!! The discolored spot on the top of the shaved area is the scar from his previous tumor removal - you can just see the edge of the scar line. The area is shaved.The few dark spots below are some dried drainage I was soaking off, from during the day when we were at work.  And Chewie is still hovering...even when they were napping late last evening  |
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 Poor Simon! I hope you get some better results. Keeping fingers and legs crossed.  Nancy |
| Poor Simon! I hope he recovers fully and quickly! If it is Nocardia bacteria, could it be transmitted from dog to dog? Would you have an idea where he got it from? |
| 1) I hope to hell your vet is wrong and (2) I was going to ask about dog to dog (and human!) transmission as well. Geez, Simon - about time you caught a break, dude. Kristine |
Mad Dog wrote: 1) I hope to hell your vet is wrong and (2) I was going to ask about dog to dog (and human!) transmission as well. Geez, Simon - about time you caught a break, dude. Kristine 1) - me too! 2) one medical source (by a vet) I read says no dog/dog transmission. Incidently, there are a number of articles on it about Brittanys floating around, as a very prominent dog (National Field CH winner) had been battling it. There is some mention of dogs with wounds who pick it up from the soil/outdoors as a secondary infection of sorts - and then presents as a wound that doesn't heal or respond well to usual treatments. Nothing about transmission between affected animals and others. It is something people can pick up though - getting infected the same as the dogs. One source also says eating dirt is one way it gets in, but mostly through inhalation. Troy said specifically NOT to cover it, and he knows about all the gang here and I told him how they weren't leaving him alone. He still wants it open, with the surface kept covered with the med ointment 3-4 times/day. It does help that Simon is alone in the main part of the house with his pee band at night and when we are gone. |
| That's a new one.......and serious to boot! Hope the antibiotics cure this ugly thing. Poor Simone may have to be kept isolated....to keep the other dogs away. |
| Wow Poor boy, I hope it heals up fast and isn't as serious as feared... I've never heard of that one before. |
| Anxious to hear what this is from the test results and hope for the best for Simon and you. Bassets are special too. |
Poor Simon, that sore is ugly. I hope everything goes well and Simon is all better soon.  |
| Poor Simon. That looks terribly painful. And here I thought Oscar had experienced all the wonderful things that the bacterial world has to offer. Add this to the list of things I'd rather not know about. Laurie and Oscar |
| poor baby....prayers and white light being sent from all of us here on the Hill....and please , give Simon a gentle kiss from Peart ....we ALL need those special kisses now and then..... |
| oh my poor guy hope he feels better soon |
Hoping for good news from the vet and a speedy recovery for Simon. Glad you have Chewie the nursemaid to help out!  |
| Poor Simon. I sure hope there is some good news in those results. |
| Sending hugs and healing energy to Simon. |
| Yikes! Sending healing prayers your way...Is that like a MRSA virus? |
| Boy is that one UGLY wound. Hope Simon recovers quickly. |
| Good news from the vet about Simon! His culture did NOT come back Nocardia - it grew staph aureous. The sensitivity will be done tomorrow, just to make sure it's not MRSA and determine the correct drug. Yay!! So keep the good thoughts coming for those results, it's worked great so far  I can handle the long term care the healing will take to granulate and fill in...just happy it's not the nasty bug  |
| Let's get past the MSRA first! Then if staph, you can breathe a bit easier. Reserving the pompoms.......... |
Thank goodness  That would have been a tough one. Hoping this one's easily snuffed out |
| So glad to hear it's not the nasty Nocordia. Let's just hope it's not MRSA. |
CamVal1 wrote: So glad to hear it's not the nasty Nocordia. Let's just hope it's not MRSA. I'm at least quite familiar with MRSA = work with it way too often in my human clients. But it's so much better than the other, I really don't care!! (at least right now!)  |
| Poor Simon! I hope he heals up soon. |
| Awe, poor guy. Healing thoughts coming his way. Hope all turns out ok and he heals real fast!!!! |
| Poor Simon! Hope this heals fast and he can get back to being his handsome self! |
| Ziggi and I are still hoping for the best and sending healing thoughts. Get better soon Simon. |
| Still have fingers crossed for a good outcome. |
| Poor Simon!! Sending healing thoughts his way. |
| Paws crossed it's just an irritation and will clear up and Simon will be back to normal in no time! |
| Okay, you know it's scary when you are hoping for MRSA!!!! Let me know if you get a sub-species. Oscar is currently battling methicillin resistant staph aureous, sub-species schleiferi. We go back to the vet in about an hour. One lesion will not heal, so we need to figure out what to do next. (Oscar's boo-boo looks nothing like poor Simon's. Oscar's is a red patch, not wet or weeping, with almost what looks like a spider web on it. The "web" crusts up, and a new one grows underneath. Vet will swab today so we will find out whether or not the bacteria is morphing.) Has Simon been immuno-suppressed recently? As you deal with this with your human patients, it's possible that this little cootie came home with you. My vet had a GSD with MRSA on his nose. Turns out the owner's father was in the hospital with a MRSA infection, and the owner was a carrier, without an active infection.Keep us posted, and let me know if you have any questions about what we've been doing with Oscar. Laurie and Oscar, the Co-Cootie King (who now shares his crown with poor Simon) |
Oscar's Mom wrote: As you deal with this with your human patients, it's possible that this little cootie came home with you. My vet had a GSD with MRSA on his nose. Turns out the owner's father was in the hospital with a MRSA infection, and the owner was a carrier, without an active infection.I've read that before. I asked to be ruled out as a carrier because of Bumble's recurring staph infections since August 2009. Some people would see it as "over the top"... I just see it as trying everything possible to make my dog as healthy as possible when nothing else was working. |
| Glad to hear its not Nocardia. Sending healing prayers its also not MRSA. My dog had MRSA in his ears and he was quite ill...took almost a year to finally clear. The only med to help him was extremely strong and he had to be hospitalized for ten days...Praying its not MRSA... |
| Poor Simon! It sucks no matter what it is. I hope it ends up being easily treated. |
Just catching up on this thread. So glad it's not Nocardia but MRSA would scare the crap out of me, too.  Healing prayers being said for Simon! |
OK, time for the latest Simon update...and yes it's good news!!  It came back just regular staph, thank goodness So, now we need to switch drugs. It's NOT sensitive to the Tribrissen and IS sensitive to the amoxicillin, but Troy doesn't really like that drug for skin issues. I agree - it's just not that effective. It's never the drug of choice in humans for staph infections.  So, I'll be stopping in later today to get cephelexin. And we'll continue with the panalog ointment, as it's is appropriate. Now just need to keep treating and wait for tissue granulation and closure.   |
| Very happy for all of you. That was scary. Hugs to Simon Kristine |
| Good news for Simon! |
| Good news that it wasn't MRSA. Now for him to hurry up and heal. |
| That's great news. |
| aww poor little boo simon....antibiotics and kisses seem like the sure fire win... |
| We used that medication at one time - however you spell it - and it was a bit difficult on the tummy so we gave a pepcid ac about an hour before and it helped. Then gave med on full tummy.. Glad he is on the way to recovery! |
| Wow, just reading this thread. So happy to hear it's a staph infection. Nasty looking though! Big hugs to you and your gang. Simon is in good hands, he is so lucky to have you! |
I never thought I'd be so happy to hear dear Simon has a staph infection! Better than the alternatives for sure. Hoping the news meds will help him him quickly.  |
| So glad it's not MRSA! This is much more manageable. Hugs and healing to Simon! |
| Hip Hip Hooray for boring, old staph! My vets always pick Cephalexin over amoxicillin for skin stuff as well, as long as the resident cootie is susceptible to it. Hope Simon feels better soon! Laurie and Oscar, who is no longer sharing his Cootie King Crown with Simon |
Oscar's Mom wrote: :clappurple: Hip Hip Hooray for boring, old staph! My vets always pick Cephalexin over amoxicillin for skin stuff as well, as long as the resident cootie is susceptible to it. Hope Simon feels better soon! Laurie and Oscar, who is no longer sharing his Cootie King Crown with Simon Maybe he can have honorary court status?? His last round with an infection led to mitral valve damage, after all..... |
| OK, OK, mitral valve damage does qualify him for Co-Cootie King status. So Simon, wear your crown loud, and wear it proud!!!! (Can I get a howl???) Laurie and Oscar |
| Get well soon Simon! So sorry you have to go through this! Can't imagine how uncomfortable that must be. So glad that your Mom is a nurse and knows how to care for you so well! |
Here he is, 1 week into treatment. I see definite improvement.  It is a bit smaller and not round, kind of a "D" shape now. He also feels better, has his spunk back (Yes, even though he's an old basset, he still has plenty of spunk when he feels good ) |
| Looking better Simon! Cindy |
| Simon's boo-boo looks better already! I'm sure it feels better too. Laurie and Oscar |
| That doesn't look nearly as sore. Are the other dogs leaving it alone or trying to nurse him along by licking? |
Mady wrote: That doesn't look nearly as sore. Are the other dogs leaving it alone or trying to nurse him along by licking? Everyone is leaving it alone. All is going smoothly now! He just has really bad gas from the antibiotics, but that's tolerable.  |
| way to go Simon~~~~ (and Dawn)....The healing process is beginning~~~~ |
| Great news! It looks way better. |
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