[Vinniedoggy]

[QUOTE=Cha Cha;3363281]I have seen and treated a lot of abcesses in my life (although not on a small dog) where they had to be lanced. It has always been my experience that through the healing process it looks like tissue around the abcess area dies, and that is part of the process. It should stop dying and healing tissue should take over again The thing with an abcess is it is deep tissue, and must heal from within as I am sure your vet has told you. This is part of the healing process and can seem quite slow. I have also seen some wounds where the hide is missing and muscle tissue is exposed. This always looks quite disturbing and sometimes, even though the tissue you see looks dead it can just be dry from a lack of skin covering. My point is that even though it may look really really bad, it may still be healing like it should be. [QUOTE]

Thank you so much. Yes, the vet today was more optimistic. She said that the skin all looks really healthy beneath, like it wants to heal. My parents are continuing treatment for this week at least and are going to see how things progress from here. While money wasn't initially a huge concern, at $70-$100 per day for treatment, it's obviously becoming somewhat of an issue. We are really hoping that the vet can get things to a point where we can manage the wound at home. Thankfully, I live just down the street from my parents, so I can come over and help change bandages or do whatever else needs to be done.

Right now, muscle tissue is exposed and it looks just horrible. It's just so amazing that she doesn't seem to be in any pain. And if it was painful we would know because Karmen actually has a very low threshold for pain. Usually, the small things like a routine illness or ear infection just make her act like she's dying. So it's almost hilarious to see this dog with a huge chunk of skin missing all the way down to the muscle and her acting as if nothing is wrong.