Swelling

Question
Hi, my dog who is a rotty x lab had an operation to remove a growth on his back leg near his knee area, this operation was last week. The growth was not attached to the bone, it was just under the skin, vet said it was like a fatty deposit that just grew bigger. Yesterday we noticed his foot getting bigger and he was in alot of pain, he managed to tear the bandage of and then after a while his leg was quite large. We have a great Dane and his paw was the same size as his paw. The swelling ranges from just above his knee to his paw. We have re-bandaged him to stop infection, but is this normal to happen ??

Answer
Some swelling can be normal but this sounds like some excessive swelling. You need to contact your vet and let him know that he has this swelling.

My question is this: did the swelling go down any from the bandage being off? And why is it bandaged after a week? Usually the sutures are not covered that long.

A fatty tumor removal usually doesn't have any problems like this but if a nerve was affected near the tumor or the bandages were too tight he could have some major swelling issues. Also if he is over using the leg it might swell.

Call your vet in the morning and get him in if you can.