Localized Subcutaneous Acute Febrile Neutrophilic Dermatosis in a Dog

Abstract

A two-year-old spayed female mixed-breed dog was presented with a five-day history of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and fever. On physical examination, the dog was lethargic and clinically dehydrated. The skin of the entire ventral abdomen extending to both flanks was erythematous, swollen and painful on palpation. Histopathological examination of skin biopsies revealed a severe diffuse neutrophilic dermatitis and panniculitis, resembling the subcutaneous form of Sweet’s syndrome in humans. A large part of the skin lesion developed full-thickness necrosis. After intensive care, three surgical wound debridements and wound adaptations, the wound healed by secondary intention within ten weeks. In the absence of infection of the skin or neoplasia, a diagnosis of neutrophilic dermatosis and panniculitis, resembling the subcutaneous form of acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis, was made.