Hi ~ I'm new to this board, found it through John and Cinder and Smokey. Bourbon has a problem and I'd love your insight.
I need your help. On May 4th, as I was going to pick up my kittens from being spayed, Bourbon came in from the dog run. I wiped away a tear from his left eye and he cried. I asked the vet about it and she said he probably bumped it and to keep an eye on it. It looked OK when I got home (around 6:15). Around 9:30 it was swelled up so much his eye was shut. I gave him Benedryl and got him to the vet on Saturday. Said it could be a tumor (in 3 hours?) or maybe a bee or spider bite. Went down right away. Well, on June 4th, same thing, except the swelling did not come up as quickly, probably 12 hours, so I got more medication, same results. Well, here we go again on Friday, June 22, went out about 6:15, got home at 9:30, eye is swelled up like a balloon. Went to the vet on Saturday, he was going to aspirate it but the swelling was everywhere, even on his snout, and he said he could not find anything to aspirate. I have Baytril now, twice a day, and Prednizone. He is going to keep him on the antibiotic for two weeks. I take him back to the vet on Wednesday, so he can look at him with the swelling down. He is stumped. The only swelling left is just about his eyebrow. I'm also putting warm washcloths on the swollen spot four times a day.
Next vet visit: He was pleased the swelling had gone down but felt around his eyebrow and felt holes in the bone. They took an x-ray and there are about 6 holes in the bone around his eye. They don't know what from. They aspirated above his eye and are sending samples off (Culture & Sensitivity and Cytology (Clinilab)). The vet said the samples looked very mucus (sp). They are doing a CBC to see if his white blood cells are elevated indicating he's fighting an infection. We're just on the baytril now. What could it be? He's acting just fine, like there's no problem.
The results came back; nothing really bad, but nothing good either. They don't know. CBC showed white blood cells in the high normal range. There was puss and blood along with white blood cells and other cells (medical name) which also eat away at infection. The next step is to go in and clean away the infection and see what else they find. He's been on antibiotics all this time and the swelling around his eyebrow has not gone down, but I don't think it's really swelling, more likely the puss and blood is just there. He has another appointment this Friday so I guess we'll make some decisions then. Maybe it would be best to go in and clean out everything there, but surgery scares me so.
Well, the swelling is actually kind of hard now, not mushy like before. The vet drained some of the fluid out, bloody and pussy, about half of a large syringe full. He still doesn't know what it is. The antibiotics have not taken the swelling down much. He's given prednizone again, two times a day for 10 days, then 1 a day for 10 days, etc. We have scheduled Bourbon for another checkup on August 1 and tentatively surgery. I think the vet wants to see what the pred does. Also, I told you there were holes in the bone by his eyebrow. Well, now that bone just seems to be there, not held on to anything. I really think the vet thinks it's a tumor, but I think it is a really, really nasty infection. I don't know if I want the pred to work or not. He said if it's a mast cell tumor, it will react very well to prednizone, initially. But if it doesn't react to pred, then I've kinda ruled that out, but then Bourbon has to have surgery, and that scares me to death. I did ask if the surgery was dangerous, and he said the procedure wasn't that bad, just what they might find inside and if they can do anything about it. He called it exploratory surgery.
Oh - when I asked the vet if it could be an abscess (sp), he said it could possibly be one.
HELP!
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None of us here (that I know of!!) is a vet, and we would all most strongly advise you to follow your vet's advice. Like Jackie mentioned, second opinions are always an option, though you seem to feel quite comfortable with and confident of your vet. Just remember, ASK QUESTIONS!!! Before your visits, write down anything and everything that comes to your mind that you need answers to. 
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