Bowzer got an mysterious owie.

 

My buddy and house sharer, Bowzer came in from the fenced backyard the other day limping. When he was lying down I saw he had this spot on his left side.  If he had gotten out of the yard I would have thought he was maybe scraped by a car or run into some unscrupulous person who meant him harm. 

                           I looked closer and saw there was a bare spot with a tiny puncture with no bleeding. I cleaned the area with a warm washrag and felt for anything under his skin like an insect stinger or pellet. I couldn't find anything under his skin.  He didn't react or show any flinching when I gently rubbed it. I couldn't figure out what had caused such a smooth injury with no visible pain and there was the missing hair. 

I gave him a doggie Ibuprofen and he was a little lethargic for the evening. I again felt for something in the wound, but nothing. I rubbed some Neosporin on the injury which seemed to relieve any discomfort he must have been feeling. 

The next morning I walked around the backyard looking for what could have caused this: a piece of sharp fence or a low-hanging tree branch with any hair on it.

The next day I took him to his veterinarian with an early morning, semi-emergency appointment. 

The doctor there examined him, probed and prodded, felt for any leg injury because of his limping, and didn't find anything and couldn't offer any cause for his bare spot, sore and no real soreness. 

She shaved the area and told me to just let it heal. Neosporin was good for keeping it moist and she gave me some doggie pain pills to give him twice daily. He knows there is a pill in that cheese, but he's a good sport and gobbles it up.

It's such a strange injury with the ring and crustiness around it. I looked again in the yard for anything that could have caused this with no luck. I figure he may have fallen against one of my landscaping rocks or one of the fallen tree branches from the snow-nados we had this winter. Now, a week later, it almost looks like an electrical burn, but still no sensitivity or visible discomfort other than his limping. The pain medicine and doggie Ibuprofen is helping with that. 

Thank you for your interest and for letting me share this with you. Veterinary doctors are scarce in Anchorage lately, Bowzer's doctor for years retired a while back and he recommended the folks at the Anchorage Veterinary Clinic & Urgent Care. Here is a link to their website.