Abscess or Hemorrhoid? Not sure what's going on.

[Southdown]

*Graphic Photo*
This ewe is swollen on the left side of her vulva. It appears to be gray-blue in color, possibly pus (not really sure). It is not a well demarcated area like a typical abscess would be, rather, it's large at the

top and travels downward a ways. I don't believe I should incise and attempt to drain because I'm not sure what's going on here. It's painful to the ewe when I touch it. I've cleaned with hydrogen peroxide and tried to trim the wool as short as possible. The area is always wet and will never dry out. Whenever she urinates, it stays moist. The skin seems very raw and wet. On the lower part of it, it a crack in the skin. Could this be a hemorrhoid? I really have no idea, but I'm frustrated that I can never get it to dry up. Not to mention, she's my best ewe.

 

[hilarie]

I'll be the first to admit I've no cred in sheep hemorrhoids, because a) I have goats, but b) I'm a nurse practitioner for 20 years, so c) I've seen about 150,000 variations on hemorrhoids, and since they occur around the anus, I'm reasonably sure this ain't one. If the ewe is pretty goosy about having this one touched, I'm gonna guess there's a nasty abscess under there, and might have to go lights out to have it explored. Good luck to you both...don't it just figure, it's always your favorite?Keep us posted....

 

[norseofcourse]

Oh the poor thing.... I'm not sure what it is either. I've seen urine scald in puppies, but it was more of a reddish rash type of thing. I'd probably let my vet deal with it.

If that picture was post-trimming, I'd trim a lot more wool - as much as I could, as short as I could, for at least several inches all the way around the discolored area. If that picture was pre-trimming, please ignore the previous sentence

Hope it's nothing major and you can get her fixed up and all better soon!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I don' t think it's a hemorrhoid either. I wonder if she was scratching her butt on something and got a little splinter or other foreign body that she's trying to expel. Hope it works it's way out... good luck to you and her!

 

[Southdown]

It's post shearing. I even took a small scissors and trimmed away what I could. The wool is very wet, gummy, and matted up. I try to pull it away from the skin to trim under it, but it's so gummy. I can't shear it off either. It's as short as I can go without cutting into skin. I tried cleaning with peroxide and allowing to dry to loosen it up. No improvements.

 

[purplequeenvt]

What is keeping the skin wet in that area? Urine or seepage from the ????