I was sitting here about an hour and a half ago and my male Gordon Nick was laying beside me on the floor, licking his himd leg; I reached down to make him stop, and felt welts on his leg. A closer inspection showed both hind legs COVERED with hard welts. Some are open from him licking them.
He was fine when I brought him inside about 6 PM. He went into the crate right after this since my bitch is in heat and I DON’T want another breeding. A friend thinks the welts COULD be stress/nerves because of the bitch in heat.
I gave him a dose of Benedryl and took his temp, which was normal, then took pictures of the welts. They are up to the hock on the hind legs, then started spreading to the front legs. He is sleeping now, and the spreading seems to have stopped. If he gets any worse I will take him to the emergency vet tonight, but if not, to our own in the morning. Do any of you have ANY idea what this could be???
That second pic looks a little like something my dog had. She got a strange welt on her toe. It was as round as a pea, hard to the touch. I took her in to see the vet, worried that she might have a broken bone or something pushing against the skin. The vet said that it was a common tumor-like growth (non-cancerous) which he treated with a short of cortiszone. He said that it probably wouldn’t come back, but if it did, we’d use the same treatment.
It could also be poison ivy, or some other allergy that causes him to chew the places.
It’s probably not something that needs a trip to the emergency vet-- just call the vet in the morning.
Those pics are pretty fuzzy but with the hair loss around the welts they don’t look like your standard allergic reaction. But here’s the standard answer, take him to the vet if you haven’t already done so.
Got him to the vet this morning, and they THINK it is a bacterial infection in the skin. There is pus in the welts, and they did a culture on it, will have the results this afternoon. Right now, he is on HIGH POWERED antibiotics and the vet’s form of benedryl, and if it is a bacterial infection, this will take care of it. BUT… there is a chance it is a FUNGAL infection, which would be worse. This is what they are looking for in the culture.
Keep your fingers crossed for bacterial.
He is sleeping soundly right now… not even paying a BIT of attention to the bitch in heat. Poor baby.
If it is fungal, it is most likely inhaled when he was out doing field work last weekend. The fungus could be living in his lungs and causing all sorts of nasty problems. So PLEASE let it be the more easily cured bacterial…
Watch out for seizures and unexplained rectal bleeding, and be ready to have him intubated 
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