Gun Dog Forum

It's been there for over a month. Started out a little smaller and not quite as red but hasn't changed much in appearance over past 3 weeks. 2 diffeent vets have seen him in that time. 1st vet is an old school country get and said "oh heck who knows what these guys get into running in and out if brush while hunting". Second vet was treating him for an ear infection and said, "hmmm, not sure what that could be", and then gave it no more of his attention. So he's due to go back later this week to check that the ear is all cleared up but being the worrier that I am, it's starting to concern me. I figured I'd post here to see if anyone has seen anything similar. He doesn't act like it hurts if you touch it but he's a fairly hard dog so I'm not sure it would show if it bothered him.

Could be a inflamed gland, I had a GSP this year with what my vet called a oil gland in the top corner of her eye and had it removed.

did they mention the possibility of a blocked tear duct? it seems like a likely culprit.

^No mention of tear duct, as I said, neither vet offered up anything so far as possible causes.

Most of the old school vets around me are gone. I drive a county over to go to one. Several years ago I took a dog in for standard shots, and I pointed out to the vet that the dog had a little 'growth' near one of his eyes. The vet looked at it, and then grabbed it and ripped it off, and said, he should be fine now. The vet was right, it never caused a problem.

I am not a vet, but the more I look at your pictures, the more I am convinced it is a blocked tear duct. Is the eye watering/draining more than usual? if the tear duct is blocked the moisture will tend to overflow the eye and run down the cheek. moist heat might help, if he'll let you hold a warm washcloth on it. good luck.

Thanks. I'm also thinking tear duct. We go back to the vet tomorrow just so he can give him the all clear on the ears. I'll bring it up then. It was looking a little better yesterday but now back to the same. And my dogs allow me to scrape and floss their teeth so yeah, he'll let me hold the washcloth on there. I'll try that tonight. Thanks

Just got back from vet. He said it's definitely not a tear duct issue. Said he's hesitant to do anything about it bc if he cut it out, it could end up disfiguring the eye??? and closed by saying, "so yeah, it may just be one of the cards he's dealt but his ears look great"

weird. the pictures make it look like it is red, like it is inflamed, which you would usually associate with infection. is that the way it looks to you? or is it just the color of his skin?

our non-hunting dog (a 15 yo mini poodle) has dozens of little skin tag-like bumps all over him, has been like that since we adopted him 10 years ago. one has become enlarged into a fatty tumor-like growth in the last couple of years, but our vet is not worried about it. maybe that is what is going on with your dog?

Sometimes it's red, at other times it's more flesh colored. I just now looked at the pics i posted for the first time and realized how horrible they are so sorry about that. He just said that the if it were a tear duct, it would be more a part of the eyelid(he showed me where). He's always had "leaky" eyes, especially when he's been sleeping but they dont leak throughout the day. It's almost like me when i first wake up in the morning. Starting to wonder if it's not almost like seasonal allergies or something. Oh well, guess i'll just keep an eye on it.

keep us posted!

Edited original pics as I feel these better represent what it looks like most of the time.

Well things were definitely not getting better so I decided to get a 3rd opinion at a vet recommended by another forum member. That was last week and the tumor was removed today. Surgery went well. He will have a battle scar but no disfiguring of the eye opening as as feared. Biopsy results shoul be back early next week.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a battle wound after running down a wild rooster Glad he's better and won't lose the eye. Good thing you didn't just let it go.

thanks for the update. let us know about the biopsy results. it sounds like you made the right call.

Great news

nyhusker95[b] wrote:As far as I'm concerned, that's a battle wound after running down a wild rooster [/b] Glad he's better and won't lose the eye. Good thing you didn't just let it go.

I like the way you think.

Biopsy results are in and i'm glad to say benign tumor. Pretty sure he said, "hysteocytoma skin tumor" but i was just glad to hear the word benign that the rest was kind of lost on me. Now if i can just keep him from pawing at it, trying to rub his face into the carpet. He's had the ecollar off a total of maybe 3 minutes, and in that time he was able to pop the spot open requiring a return visit to vet.

glad it was good news!

On the mend.

Looking good!