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My dog has developed swelling under the neck & on the right hand side of his jaw. Googled and found it to be Salivary Mucocele, where the saliva gets collected under the skin due to the damage of glands. Due to age, consumption of food has been drastically reduced & adding to it, this new issue has made things difficult. Have called a vet to visit the dog. Not sure if it could handle a surgery at this point & hope the problem is limited to where it responds to antibiotics. Keeping the fingers crossed. Anyone managed to sort this out without surgery??

It has been almost 2 weeks since the ticks have completely gone after applying "Spot on". Doc attended to the dog & said the gland formation is due to tick fever. Was injected & given antibiotics for next 10 days.

Similar symptoms for Lymn/lymphoma/Salivary Mucocele. Hopefully the dog recovers and responds to medicines in a positive way.

Yes I too have read a few things up on internet. But I see that the doctors simply do not want to take any chance in case of dog / cat bites, maybe due to the fact that once contracted, rabies is a 100% fatal disease. Also, post - prophylaxis vaccination is relatively cheap (free if you can manage it in a govt hospital)

One of the dogs I care for had similar condition quite a few times. Twice, the swelling burst on it's own on administration of oral medicine. Other times, it slowly evened out. But the vet did mention surgery as a last resort.

Agreed. There is no point in taking risk when the vaccine is so cheap.

My point was that if you get bitten by a rabid animal in a remote area where there is no immediate availability of vaccine, having a pre-prophylaxis plus yearly booster routine keeps you protected until you reach a medical facility. That anxiety and panic a un-vaccinated individual will get into,provided they know how dangerous rabies is, will be avoided.

Either way, it is an inoculation. I'm not at all sure if it is technically correct, but I find it easier to understand prophylaxis as pre-event, and not to use the word for post-bite treatment. Even though that is also to prevent the disease developing.

If one of our docs can tell me what words they use for pre and post-bite rabies inoculation I can stop worrying about it!

If the terms matter, I will explain with an example, like we do for our medical students:)

primary prevention- Before the disease occurs. Eg- Taking aspirin to prevent cardiac ischaemia even before the person has any detectable heart disease.

Secondary prevention- When the disease is already there ,to lessen its impact and prevent further damage. Eg- taking aspirin after the person has already got an ischaemic heart disease.

Tertiary prevention- After the disease has occured. To lessen the impact of the disease on his day to day life. Eg- physiotherapy after a stroke.

As for the rabies issue, I would say post bite vaccine is a prophylaxis because the person who has got the bite doesn't have rabies yet and anyway if the dog is rabid, you need more than just the vaccine. You need the immunoglobulin treatment.

Thank you for the explanation and the extra detail. I'm happy now!

Can you also share if immunoglobulin is needed even if a person has undergone a 3-shot prevention or a 5-shot post bite regime atleast once?

From what i have understood from various sources, immunoglobulin is necessary only if the bite is deep and flesh has been ripped off due to the bite. Or if the bite area is very near to spine or brain, eg, face, neck, shoulder.

My lay understanding is that this part of the reason for the pre-bite prophylactic: you don't need immunoglobulin, just a further three shots.

No, not needed. Only booster doses of the vaccine.
Regarding the second question, you are right, immunoglobulin is recommended for category 3 bites, in addition to the usual 5 dose vaccination.
But in case a suspected rabid animal bites you, then it would be advisable to treat it as a category 3 bite even though it may be a category 2 bite.

Does anyone use this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHt7pzfq2FE

Its available on Amazon and it is kinda pricey. But if it works the way it shows in the video, then its kind of worth it.

My two cats can get a little messy at times with the litter sand.

These cats are gorgeous. Like baby bobcats. What fantastic colouring they have. These tabbies are really lovely.

I was planning to order it yesterday but couldn't make up my mind due to price and non returnable policy. I need two atleast. The product looks good though. There is also a cheaper alternative with flap type door and full cover, in case you are interested.

@ast.ggn

I saw the cheaper one as well but this looked larger and stronger.

I have two cats and they are brothers who have been together since birth. So one box is enough for both of them as they don't fight or trouble each other.

The box has to be open.. preferably so that the stuff dries out, and the inside airs out well. For the overall hygiene of your cat. I just spread a good amount of newspaper below to collect the stray trash. Do make sure your litter box is large enough in the first place.