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My dog's jaw or neck abscess won't shrink on antibiotics. What to do?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Akita | Male | unneutered | 10 years and 8 months old | 134 lbs

Kash has been diagnosed with an abcess under his jaw/ neck. Its been seeping pus but has not really reduced in size. I would say it's about 3 inches across and swollen. Kash is currently taking antibiotics, he seems to look better but wanted to know how long it will take to reduce in size. He doesn't let us near it and the vet do not want to risk sedation/ GA. He's been taking antibiotics for 3 days, and is on metacam and pirotin. should the size reduce itself or does it have to be drained?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on May 28th, 2017

Poor Kashmir! That does look like quite a nasty abscess. Unfortunately, in some cases if there is a large amount of pus collected in the abscess itself, drainage is required in order to resolve the infection - antibiotics only may not be enough. If he has been on medication for three days now without any significant improvement, I would recommend taking him back to your vet tomorrow morning for a recheck exam. At this point, it may be best to consider sedation so that the abscess can be flushed and drained.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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