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My dog's hock is swollen, squishy then hard. Cancer or injury?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Blue Heeler | Female | spayed | 7 years and 8 months old | 30 lbs

Not lamesudden swelling of hock. Feels like the tendon and joint are involved. Squishy and feels like grissel. Hot. Took her to vet for xray, waiting for more followup in a few days. Im so worried about cancer after losing a dog a year ago. Put her on Meloxicam to see if it reduces inflammation. Been a few days and now the swelling hasnt really gone down but the joint feels harder and less squishy, about the same size and noticeably visible. Do you think we are dealing with cancer or an injury?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 12th, 2019

I cannot give you a definitive answer to your question just by looking at the is one x-ray. I can't get a good look at the x-ray as it won't enlarge enough for me to see what I need to see. Regardless, I think I see a lucent area on the calcaneous. That could be cancer but it could be osteomyelitis (bone infection) or even a fungal infection. It does not appear to involve the joint. The calcaneous is not at typical area to get bone cancer if that is any consolation. It is not impossible, just not common.

This could be a hygroma (inflammation of the bursa) but without examining her myself it is too hard to say. I think your vet needs to aspirate the mass and look at the fluid under the microscope - usually you can see if there is bacteria in there (I would be worried about this so she really should be on some antibiotics) or cancer cells or just inflammation, etc.

( https://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=2847 )

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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