old dog with swollen lymph nodes

[SGC]

I have an old dog with swollen lymph nodes under her jaw. Not huge but not normal size either.

I did some reading on line and will do more reading but maybe someone here is familiar with this, especially in old dogs? She is 14 now.

She had bloodwork done in Sept to check her liver numbers which were elevated and that vet thought she might have a low grade infection and thought maybe she should have a run of antibiotics.

I did not do this as I do not like overuse of antibiotics. I'm not sure how long those lymph nodes have been swollen, not too long or I would have noticed it, she eats well and acts fine, as much as a lazy 14 yr old dog would.

I am not keen to take her back to that vet as I have had too many disagreements with them about raw feeding and I refuse to feed kibble to this old dog. I think raw has helped her live this long. She does have a liver problem and is on the liver supplement SAMe (Denosyl) daily for that, and a joint supplement for arthritis as she is very stiff and sore in her legs. She cannot take rimadyl and a few other things.

Reading about swollen lymph nodes, one of the things they recommend is antibiotics for a possible infection.

I really do not want go back to the vet and do not have another one yet. I am pretty sure I have Fish Flex and Fish Mox here. So I can look up the dosage and give her a course of antibiotics to see if this helps.

Any thoughts? Should I give her the antibiotics and which one would be recommended for this?

Of course she could have cancer too or something else. It seems to be only the lymph nodes by her jaw on each side that was swollen.

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

[S_B]

Has she been bitten by a tick, or come under stress (heat cycle, lots of visitors) lately?

Could she have been exposed to Babesia or Ehrlichia when she was younger?

[scratchin dog]

Are you sure it's her lymph nodes and not her salivary glands? Do you have a pic you can post?

[SGC]

Has she been bitten by a tick, or come under stress (heat cycle, lots of visitors) lately?

Could she have been exposed to Babesia or Ehrlichia when she was younger?

Humm… She tested positive to Lyme disease in summer 2012 and was treated with 2 weeks of antibiotics. I am pretty sure she was checked for Lyme this summer and did not have it. I did pull a tick off her about 10 days ago that was dug in, there was a lot of deer ticks here and she is brindle color so it is a bit harder to find them on her.

No exposure to Babesia or Ehrlichia that I know of, and no heat cycle (spayed house dog). She did hurt her spine and neck mid October to the point where she would not walk and I was going to put her down but she recovered from that with pain pills and rest. That was right before I left the cabin up north and it has been pretty quiet here since I got back at the beginning of Nov.

But she did have that damn tick on her neck about 10 days ago…

Are you sure it's her lymph nodes and not her salivary glands? Do you have a pic you can post?

That is a good question. I don't have a photo and I am on a new computer that is not fully set up yet. But looking at her neck you really don't see much and that brindle color does not help. One side might look a bit more swollen than the other.

I will have to look on line and dig out some books to see more about the salivary glands. They could be swollen too. I can feel several hard lumps on each side under her jaw and neck area. Maybe both are swollen?

I had forgotten about that tick but it could be the cause of this. Thanks for the input.

[S_B]

I'm willing to bet the tick is your cause. If it were me, Doxy for 21 days would be my goto.
Unless you want to make a trip to the vet to have them run a tick panel.

Word of caution: If you choose the tick panel and they prescribe Doxy + Prednisone REFUSE THE PREDNISONE!! That will be a death sentence for your girl, trust me been there done that.

You could also give a 2 separate shots of Imizol 2 weeks apart with the Doxy.

Doxy and Imizol may be hard on the liver?....something you'll have to weigh out.

Good luck!

p.s. If she is stiffer (being an old lady) than normal that would be another sign pointing to that darn tick along with the swollen lymph nodes!

[SGC]

Thanks S_B, I was off reading and came back to find your post. I agree and I know about the Pred, she can't take it. I'll look into the Doxy/liver reaction and will probably go that route… I am off for the night now tho.

Yep, I bet it is from that tick bite 10 days ago…

Looks like both lymph and salivary glands are swollen. Not anywhere near as bad as those photos but they show the location, and it is swollen.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dog+...DQQsAQ&dpr=0.9

https://www.google.com/search?q=dog+...CYQsAQ&dpr=0.9

http://www.wbha.us.com/articles/dogs...-into-illness/

interesting about ticks being carried by rodents… I killed off about 25 squirrels and 30 chipmunks here last summer and I did notice many less ticks.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/report...rne-infections

So it looks like Doxycycline is the one to use, for what, 3 to 4 weeks?

Thanks for the pointers. I'll read more tomorrow but it's late now.

[Officially Retired]

Not really sure I would do anything without a diagnosis. She's 14. She's gotta die of something.

I would let her be for a few days and see if the problem goes away on its own.

How are her teeth? Many times old, nasty teeth yield swollen lymph nodes ...

Tick suggestion is interesting also. Kill squirrels every chance I get ...

[S_B]

Jack I thought about the teeth to, but kinda dismissed it because of the dog eating raw.

I don't know much about feeding raw but all of the dogs I've seen on a raw diet have spotlessly clean teeth. That is one thing I noticed 2nd to the physical condition of the dog.

So that leads me to an off topic question...

Wouldn't feeding raw lend to a lot better dental hygiene of a dog? Provided the diet was balanced of course.

[Officially Retired]

Totally agree on the dental hygene of raw-fed dogs being superior to kibble-fed dogs.

Kibble-fed dogs get nasty teeth because the carb-based kibble turns to sugar in their mouths, which ruins their teeth ... which is a phenomenon raw-fed dogs don't face.

Still, raw-fed dogs can get meats, etc., get caught between their teeth which can cause problems.

All ideas mentioned are possibilities, which is why I prolly wouldn't be slinging antibiotics without first coming to grips with which, in fact, is the cause.

[SGC]

Jack, you have a good point about her teeth… and yes I do realize this is a 14 yr old dog that is not going to live forever. She's doing pretty well for her age, good hearing and eyesight and she's alert, just has bad arthritis and a liver problem, and now this.

Her teeth look fine for an old dog, not too bad since she eats raw, some chipped teeth from all those raw bones over the years but no redness or swelling of the gums or anything indicating an infection there. I do check the teeth as I know they can get infected.

It was a nice day here today and I had her out in the front yard in the sun which she likes while I worked on the cars. She seems better and her jaw/neck area is less swollen.

So I am pretty sure this is from that tick bite. I will wait and see how she does in the next few days as I would rather not give her antibiotics if she does not need them. And she is pretty healthy so her body should be able to fight off this infection.

I hate ticks but they are hard to get rid of. I do spray the yard, and getting rid of so many rodents helped a lot. I saw one the other day and will have to get the trap out again. I wish I could shot them but that's tough in the city… I've often thought of trying a crossbow on the many deer here as well.

Yes I do think raw makes a difference in a dog's teeth. The dogs I have known that were raw fed had good clean teeth compared to the ones eating kibble which makes the teeth brown and scummy. Those raw bones do a good job cleaning teeth when the dog chews them, especially the big knuckle bones.

Thanks again for the help!

I should have remembered that tick bite, but it's been a bit busy...