Wait, what? Possum incident not in house?

I know! And Trudy still managed to reach the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow!

My dog seems to have an abscess. I've only had him five days and I've already broken him. This morning I thought his face looked swollen. Since I wanted to get him checked out anyway, I went ahead and made a vet appointment for tomorrow. About 15 minutes ago, I saw he was trailing bloody fluid, and it appears an abscess has broken near his ear. I've been trying to gently press out the fluid and I'm going to wash it off. Any other suggestions?

Ginger, the vet appointment tomorrow should be fine -- keep an eye on him and keep the area as clean as you can tonight (normal soap and water is fine), especially if you suspect he's the type to rub his face in dirt or anything nastier. The gentlest pressure with a warm water washcloth may make him feel better, or may freak him out -- let him be the judge, especially since he's so new.

Emergency vet tonight is called for if he's acting wrong (sluggish, feverish, trouble breathing or not eating/drinking -- generally, he'd act sick and not just like he's got a localized owie spot.)

It's pretty common for dogs to form abscesses where they have local infections, and your guy has definitely seen his share of bumps and bruises. The vet will likely shave and open/drain/stitch the spot, and you'll end up with local and/or oral antibiotics. Make sure you follow those instructions, but he should be fine.

Yay for Liv communication!

t vent

Boo for Seattle traffic. I left work at 4:30. I got home at 6:30. Granted, I had to spend ten minutes getting AB's class pictures at daycare and then we did our weekly library run, which took about 15 minutes, but it took me almost an hour and a half from leaving the office to picking up Annabel. Total distance is something under ten miles, and I expect it to take 30-45 minutes, including time waiting for the bus. But this time the bus itself was late, so I spent 20 minutes standing in the rain, and then traffic was nightmarish.

Today was the worst, but it's been this way ever since we switched to PST. WTF? Why does the traffic get so much worse when it's dark at 5:00? I mean, this happens every year.

t /vent

He seems to be acting fine. He might be a little lethargic, but that's it. He never yelps or complains, but he's started trying to escape me, so I think the effort to gently press out some fluid is getting to him. I wasn't too worried, because I had a cat who was always getting abscesses. The abscess is right next to the scar, so I'm wondering if this is related. He was also with a lot of other dogs and cats, so there may have been a scratch. He's pretty safe from rubbing his face into anything nastier than my housekeeping, and he can't lick it.

Poor pup! Non-squeezy hugs to you and... what name did you settle on, anyway?

Mr. Peabody

It's perfect for him! Give him an extra congratulations squeeze for finding such an awesome human.

wow Susan, you took all the wind out of my grumbly commute, and mine included almost hitting a motorcycle cop.

I'm home now. Safe & sound. And I somehow managed to kick off my shoes & over-launching one deep under the bed into the land of dust bunnies. eeeew.

wow Susan, you took all the wind out of my grumbly commute, and mine included almost hitting a motorcycle cop.

I'm glad that "almost" is in there!

I just saved all my venting until my post. I patiently read my book (a bio of Marco Polo) on the bus, and didn't even swear when I had to wait through multiple cycles of a light on the way from the park & ride to daycare.