Just to clarify before I start, we will be visiting the vet on Monday, I am just asking whether anybody has had any similar experiences and knows what is going on.

We have an eight year old Jack Russell who is walked on a daily basis. 3 times in the last week his neck has swollen up within 10 minutes of returning from his walk - his neck gets so big that we have to remove his collar, and he yelps in pain when touched in that area. He will go to lie down quietly on his own and within half an hour his neck has returned to its normal size and the tenderness is gone. He does not appear to be having difficulties breathing during these swelling episodes - it just seems to be very uncomfortable for him.

At first we wondered whether he had developed a milk allergy (since a pup he has had a splash of milk to drink after returning from his walk) so we have stopped giving it to him, but the swelling re-occurred this morning with no milk. It is almost as if there is something in the house that causing the reaction, but he is completely unaffected during the rest of the day - it is just on the return to the house that it happens.

We have kept an eye on him while he is out and have not seen him scavenging through litter or sniffing around new plants, etc.

To be on the safe side, he is not going to be walked until he has seen the vet, but if anyone has any ideas what is going on, your advice would be much appreciated by a very puzzled owner!

It could be so many things....

It is very good that you have booked an appointment with the vet. Possibly an allergy...

Have you recently changed his collar to a different materiel? Have toy tightened it? Do you only put his collar on when it is walk time?

It is rather odd, and could really be an underlying issue.

Hopefully all will be sorted on Monday

Good luck

Ive never heard of anything like this before
Good luck for Monday and please let us know the outcome

I'd leave the collar off until after you've seen the vet. He won't miss one day's walk. Is he kicking at it? If so it could be something he's slightly allergic to either on the collar or something he comes into contact with on the walk. Very strange. Good luck at the vets. Keep us posted.

Thanks for your replies. To answer some of your questions, he always wears his collar, it has not been replaced or tightened recently, and it does not appear to have been irritating him. He's wandering around happily with his collar on now; in fact, it upsets him if we take it off for any length of time.

We did replace his lead about a fortnight ago, which is a possibility we hadn't really considered as the swelling did not occur until the second week of use, and even now it is only occurring intermittently. We may still have an old lead that we could try him with, but probably not until after he's seen the vet.

if the only thing u replaced was his lead then it will not cause a swelling .
assuming you use a collar of course.
i think i may be a bite possibly from a cat or some other creature.
has he managed to get away from you and possibly got in trouble.
anyway good to see your taking action and a visit to the vet is in order.
i wish him all the best
xdanx

When we take our dogs collar off to bath her she will sit by her collar till its put back on

I have two cats, one is not bothered about wearing his collar and will happily remove it if possible (and his brother's ) - his brother on the other hand will fret if he has no collar on and not leave my side until he has a collar again (I think that he feels vulnerable/"undressed" without it) - so lovely .

I'm glad that you already have an appointment to see your vet, neck swellings are not good.

I don't know why the swelling would be worsened/more noticeable after walking, but I do know that any such swelling needs to be seen/treated asap as it could be concerning the lymph glands.

Good luck and do let us know how you and your pooch get on .

My dogs neck swellled like this when he got a stick stuck in his throat. He had an operation to remove the stick. I don't think it is this, though, because his neck was permanently swollen.

I've just got this off a vet site;There may be diverse causes, including severe glandular disorders, swallowing a bee, insect or arachnid bite, and other possible problems. A veterinarian must examine the dog
I hope your beloved dog is fine.

Hope your little dogs fine. Let us know how he went on at the vets.

Well, the visit to the vet was inconclusive - they re just as puzzled as we are! They're doing some blood tests and asked us to monitor the situation in the meantime. I'll let you all know if/when we get a more concrete diagnosis. Thanks for all your messages of support.