Yesterday morning was like any other. I let all the dogs out to potty and exercise and went about my chores and everything appeared fine. Later I went back to let the girls back inside and as Gypsy ran by out of the corner of my eye I saw red on the side of her face. What?!

At first glance, she looked like a zombie dog. I thought half her face was gone because all I saw at first glance was red on that whole side of her face. Sorry for the dramatic description but it was pretty shocking.

Thankfully at closer inspection, I realized what it was; an abscess on her face that had ruptured. And wasn’t as bad as my first “zombie” impression made it out to be.

Yep, sometime a day or two before someone bit that poor girl in the face. I have a feeling I know who it was. Of course, I didn’t even know she was injured until the infection got to the point of opening up and draining. She had been her happy, normal self and she was due for a haircut so I didn’t see any abnormalities on her fuzzy face until the nastiness opened up, which was a good thing. An abscess that doesn’t drain (sometimes the vet will have to open an abscess and put a drain tube in which needs to be flushed) is just a big, hot mess and can make an animal feel awful.

So into the bath, she went to get cleaned up. The bath gave me the opportunity to soak the affected area with warm water and exam it better. The warm soak also helped to open up the wound and let it drain more. But I knew from past experience that the next most important thing besides keeping an abscess open and draining is to put the dog on a course of antibiotics.

So today we were at the vet for an exam. We went to a different doctor since my usual one was pretty booked up and wanted me to drop her off and come back later. (When she is that far from my home, it makes for a lot of driving). So I opted to call another clinic that I have used in the past and they were able to squeeze us in.

Ouch!😰

The doctor looked her over (her temperature was normal) and agreed that I should keep up with the warm compresses to keep it draining and prescribed some antibiotics.

In the meantime, Gypsy is enjoying the extra TLC and cuddles. <3