You Be the Vet! Brewsters Jaw Wound

Brewster, a neutered male, 2 year and 7 month old dachshund was brought to us a day after getting adopted from Animal Services.  Brewster presented to Dr. Tao as a healthy young dog.  The only concerns at this time was a slight cough, which could have been from either an upper respiratory infection or irritation of the trachea tube placed during the neuter from 2 days previous.  A small wound was noted in the chin area (below mid mandible) and the owner was recommended to keep an eye on it and if not healing we could try a course of antibiotics.

The wound on Brewster’s chin was not healing and so he was given some antibiotics.  Even with a round of antibiotics the wound had not healed.  Brewster came in for an appointment with Dr. Markoff to reassess the wound.  Dr. Markoff noted it looked similar to a foxtail tract.  A slide of the wound discharge revealed no bacteria and mostly some round cells.  The wound was probed with no foreign body found inside.  We cleaned the area after taking a culture and then sent Brewster home on a different antibiotic.  The culture revealed nothing that the antibiotics shouldn’t take care of.  The wound continued to swell up and go back down.  The next step was to bring Brewster in for anesthesia and take a dental x-ray of the area.

Brewster came in and was put under anesthesia and a dental x-ray taken.  The image clearly shows that there is some foreign object between the mandible bones.  What do you think it is?

Click this link to see what we found!