What is wrong with my german shepherd ?

hi, im new to this site and have found it while trying to find out what is wrong with my shepherd.
Last week i noticed he was favouring his back leg a bit,so i checked his leg for wounds and his pads for thorns ect. and i didnt find anything. The next day when we got up his back leg was swelled up to twice its size, we went to the vet who gave him injections of painkiller and anti inflamatary and said to bring him back the next day to be sedated so he could have the leg shaved to see if there was any injury. I asked if i could shave the leg to save him any stress ,which i did that night.There was no evidence of a wound or puncture, but there was really bad bruising on the whole of the leg and some on his stomach and other back leg. When i went back to the vet the next morning she gave him two more pain killing injections and a course of anti biotics and said to come back in five to seven days. She said that because he wasnt ill in himself (he is eating and his behaviour is normal and he isnt showing any pain)that we could leave him to see if the medication worked.He has swelled considerably at the back of his neck where he had the injections and today i noticed the loose skin at the front of his chest seems to have thickened. He is on day three of the medication and the bruising and swelling is very slightly better in his leg.
Im really worried about him,and the next step is for him to have bllodtests on wednesday next week, but has anyone any idea what could be wrong with him,he,s a brilliant dog with the best nature i have ever come across. Please help
thank you
clare

So sorry to hear this, hon. Have no advice to give, but maybe someone will be along soon with some experience.

x0x

thanks vicky, i hope someone can help....and for anyone reading this my dog is only three and a half years old and was castrated at nine months...thanks

Hi,

sorry to read this!

I also am of no help whatsoever as to what it could be, but if I were you, and it's not a lot better by monday, I would call the vet again and ask for an earlier appointment.... pretty major swelling all over is not good....

take care of your boy, and we have all fingers and paws crossed that he'll get a lot better very soon... and please keep us posted...

Claire

could it be a sting reaction of some kind a bee/wasp maybe?
hope hes better soon

Could he have possibly been bitten by a snake or as the OP said, be having an allergic reaction to a sting of some kind? I'd search for a small puncture mark.

thanks for the replies, yes ive considered it could be a sting of some sort,dont think it is a snake bite,but the swelling in his leg is definately not as bad as it was and the thickening in his chest/nect could be a reaction to the injection site. Like i said his behaviour is as usual he wants to play and is eating well.
thanks
clare

You must be so worried about your boy, but thank goodness he does not seem to be in pain or unduly distressed by whatever it is. This does seem to rule out external trauma, which would presumably cause stiffness and soreness. I could be totally wrong, but I would have thought that if it had been caused by a bite or a sting then he would have been worrying at the actual bite site, as whenever any of my dogs have been stung or bitten they have been quite distressed by it.

The bruising and swelling over such a large area, coupled with the reaction to the injection, would suggest a possible internal disorder and hopefully the blood test will sort out the cause so that it can be put right. If he doesn't improve, I wouldn't wait until Wednesday - it's easy for Vets to give these things time, but sometimes they don't realise how much we fret!!

Yikes! The bruising/swelling in the leg and the thickening/swelling at the injections site tells me for some reason his blood is not clotting appropriately and this is NOT something I would leave until next week. Could he have ingested rat poison?

That`s what I was going to say as well. It`s pretty localised. I hope he improves soon.