Can't seem to cure my puppy...

[Notsew]

I have a 7 month old Rat Terrier puppy and he's been sick since I got him.  First he was diagnosed with lymes disease and put on antibiotics, he finally got back to his happy playful self after about 3 weeks.  About a month after that I noticed he wasn't playing, eating or barking...again.  I though for sure it was the lymes acting up and so we put him back on the meds, but then I realized he was still moving ok and wasn't crying whenever I picked him up.  So I suspected that there was something else wrong with him.  I checked him all over and discovered that he had a bump on the left side of his throat.  It felt almost like an absess, but after researching it I think it may be a lymph node.  He progressively got worse and I finally took him to the vet.  The vet wasn't sure what was wrong either but put him on amoxicillin just in case.  After about 3 days I noticed he's playing more and he barked for the first time in 2 weeks today but immediately coughed afterwards, I have also noticed that bump on his throat isn't changing in size.  Will that come later?  I'm just wondering is this amoxicillin gonna help him?  Is he facing some other kind of sickness?  He's just a baby and we don't have allot of money for vet bills.  Can anyone offer any suggestions?

[shannon781]

Your vet should stick the lump with a needle and look at the cells under the microscope to find out what it is; that is really the only way to be sure. If it is just an abscess, the proper antibiotic should help. If it is a swollen lymph node, it is reacting to an infection somewhere in the body or a cancer (although less likely in a puppy). It could be a swollen salivary gland, thyroid gland, etc. What state do you live in? Depending on the region, things like a fungal infection (blastomyces or coccidioides) could cause a lump anywhere in the skin.

[Jerry_NJ]

My sympathy on have a dog that seems to have chronic health problems.

The young dog you have shouldn't have much trouble unless there's something in his environment or his breeding - did you get him from a breeder or a "pet shop"?  I don't know on a personal level but I have read pet shops are not a good source for healthy puppies.

Now that doesn't help, but I my reply may help stimulate others to reply.  

If the vet didn't see any connection with the lump and something serious I'd try to give it time to settle down.

One problem that crops up in pure-breeds that have a small breeding pool is allergies. These can be environmental and/or food - usually gain and/or protein.  That's my experience at least.

I could be worth a try to be feed no grain if feeding kibble and feeding a high quality (not the stuff with lots of advertising on TV) see:  "dogfoodadvisor"  you can put the string in your browser to get the whole URL.  

Wishing a healthy happy dog for you,