Golf ball-sized lumps?

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McLean

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Bella is a 12 year old cob. Although she is otherwise perfectly healthy, golf ball-sized lumps have been appearing randomly over her body for the past year or so.

Pictures can be viewed at: http://www.ramtec.net/BellasBumps/index.html

The two on her face imploded, scabbed over and are now completely flat. They are not fixed and you can get your fingers right behind them. They aren't full of puss and can't be lanced. They don't seem to cause her any discomfort.

The vet has no idea what they are. A biopsy was inconclusive but it doesn't seem to be cancer related. She was on part-competition mix but is being weaned off that to grass-only. It would seem allergy / insect related.

If you have ANY idea what this might be, or have experienced it elsewhere, please contact us at: hyce@hotmail.com.
 
Sorry I don't know what they could be but would be interested in what others say as one of our ponies has got a lump come up on his dock. The vet thinks that it could be a melamona but I am not sure as this golf ball sized lump came up really quickly.

Are her lump hard or soft and squishy and how quick are they to appear and grow to that size?
 
sorry this is no help at all... but a horse i ride has one of these on his shoulder - he is completely unbothered (is that even a word?) by it... can get ur fingers behind it as u say you can, hes had it for about 4 months now and nothings changed (reached golf ball size a while back and hasnt grown anymore)

the owner is stumped by it.

sorry... like i said no help at all but i will be looking out for what people think
 
Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your horse's condition its awful to not know what these things are or how to treat them.

My horse has similar lumps but I'm not at all sure if it is the same as Bella's. Can your vet do another biospy? What is their advice?

What do the lumps feel like? Are they liquidy? or do they feel hard?

Are the lumps spreading at all? and do the existing lumps change in size?

My horse has 20+ lumps which change is size/shape and feel - they start smallish and you can move them around, then they grow and some fuse in place (so they are not moveable).
 
They feel soft-ish but not liquidy, some do join together to form longer shapes. They don't feel attached to bone or muscle mass. Their numbers don't seem to grow rapidly and once there, they stay, with the exception of the two on her face that have imploded and gone to flat scabs.

Probably not much point in another biopsy, if there was nothing to report from the first. The vet's advice is, "I don't know what it is. No one I know knows either. It's probably some kind of allergic reaction. Keep monitoring".

Did you look at the photos to see if yours are the same?
 
my mare had some type of lump things everyone put them down to protine bumps so i just lowered her food. i dont know in your case i would deffo have another biopisy tho!
 
That runs with our current thoughts, which is why we're weaning her off the competition mix to grass-only. She's been moved to pasture for three weeks now. Our guess is that it'll be 3 months or so before we can come to any real conclusions of change based on diet.

For all those people with experience of lumps, can you look at the pics and tell us if they appear to be the same? The link to the photos is in the original post.
 
I have had a look at the pictures and they do look similar to my mare's lumps, but there are some important differences from the way you describe Bella's. The only way I can describe my horse's lumps is to say that they have a hard lump inside (which I don't think yours do?) Also, my horse was diagnosed from biopsy (which I'm sure if yours had the same, biospy would have revealed this).
My horse's lumps change, they will increase or decrease in size too - some may even temporarily disappear, then reappear.

It is similar in that they are spreading (although you mention yours have stopped recently), and they do merge into each other over time.

Have you had any blood tests taken?

Are you in UK?
 
Yes, we are UK-based. Every test under the sun and, so far, vets (and their contacts) have no idea what they are. You're correct in saying that Bella's lumps don't have a hard lump inside but, for thoroughness, what diagnosis did you get?
 
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