Any ideas? - Odd lump/swelling

[Chico Mio]

Ari has what appears to be a swollen or enlarged 'something' behind his cheek on one side of his head/neck

It runs from below his ear down his neck and ends just below his throat level, sort of where our glands would be. It's about an inch wide and rounded - like a big tendon type thing. There is nothing on the other side. It is NOT in his throat at all.

He's eating everything as normal, showing no signs of distress, doesn't mind it being prodded and poked - shows no sign of pain. He's his normal chipper self.

Two things of recent note: We wormed the two of them with Equest on 13 January (we only noticed this swelling after, but it cold have been there before) and he did have a couple of ticks on his jaw after Christmas.

Any ideas? If it doesn't improve we will get the vet out in the week

 

[Abbeygale]

Is there any heat in it? Can you move it around? Is it a fluidy kind of thing or a glandy kind of thing?

 

[the watcher]

I think the ticks are a more likely cause than the wormer. Swollen glands can be a sign of infection, or generally being run down, but glands in this area can also sometimes come up on really sparse and poor grazing (nicknamed greedy pony syndrome by our vets) where they have had to work very hard at pulling at short grass.
If the gums and eyes appear normal and temp and resps are ok you could try stabling and feeding from a higher level (high hay net) to encourage drainage before calling the vet

 

[HannaBones]

Lymph node probably! Quite firm, but slightly moveable under the skin... Wouldn't be overly concerned if he's bright and happy, with a normal temp. etc.

 

[Chico Mio]

Thanks!

M-H They are on a real starvation paddock, but are fed hay twice a day and are never short of food, but he does like to grummage around in what sparse vegetation there is - so could be that! His fine in himself, no problem with eyes or gums - being Anglo he has the mad stary eyes, so checking his membranes is not a problem

Flo_bell - no heat, not squishy - very firm, almost tendon like. No pain, quite happy to have it rubbed and poked without any fuss.

Nearlyavet - This is what we thought, we'll keep an eye on it and speak to Javier in the week.

 

[cptrayes]

It's his thyroid gland. My vet told me not to worry when my horse had one swollen.

 

[kbsaff]

Sounds like a gland to me. Generally come up on my boy when the butter cups are out - It's the body's naturaly reaction to an allergenic. Much like our glands come up. I t does look a lot worse on horses but i guess that's the size.
Don't worry too much, if it doesn't go down i'm sure there's some kind of supplement to de-sensitise him to the allergens.