You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Pressure sores often form over protruding bones (such as on the side of the elbow) in large and giant breed dogs

Repeated pressure on, or rubbing or knocking of a protruding bone leads to the formation of a pressure sore. This usually  takes the form of unsightly thickening of the skin over the bone, and the skin becomes pigmented grey or black. It most frequently occurs over the side of the elbow. Sometimes a pocket of fluid forms between the skin and the underlying tissues and this fluid consists of serum, it is not formed by a true cyst.

The sores (or "hygromas" as they are technically known) can form in quite young dogs from as early as 6-18 months of age and they are usually painless, however in severe cases open sinus tracts and infection can develop. In some cases the chronic irritation leads to hard, white plaques of calcification being deposited into the skin.

The most effective way of avoiding and treating these sores, is to prevent the dog from lying directly on hard, rough, eneven surfaces or surfaces that might irritate the skin such as new concrete.  The use of thick soft bedding is useful and applying padded bandages to cover the area may be needed in some cases to protect the skin.

If these methods are unsuccessful surgical drainage or removal of the affected skin may be attempted, but post-operative wound healing can be a problem, because of pressure on the surgical site. If the affected area of skin is large, plastic surgery may be needed to fully cover the defect in the skin when it is removed. Even if surgical treatment is successful the sores are likely to recur if the underlying problem of repeated trauma to the area is not removed.

Updated October 2013