Help! Mystery lump on one side of yearlings throat?? Photos!

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surelynot

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Photos should be found here: http://s430.photobucket.com/user/surelynot1/library/mystery lump

16 month old filly has had an egg shaped and sized lump on 1 side of her throat, lymph node area, for just over a week. It came up Saturday night (3rd) got bigger in the morning, and has since gone down to egg sized/shaped and stayed that way since Thursday. It is NOT strangles, we blood tested to be 110% sure, she has no other symptoms, no temp, no nasal discharge etc etc she is not overly happy if you mess about with it, but equally if it were an abscess/foreign body I would have expected a more violent reaction from her. It doesnt pit, it isnt grass glands, it could be lymph or parotid or guttural pouch area. It seems solid rather than 'squishy', there is marginal heat, again not raging at all just a tad warmer, it does seem to ever so slightly fluctuate in size both ways, but is pretty set on being egg sized and shaped...it is behind the cheek, unlikely to be teeth related. I initially thought it was a bite from my gelding as he does like to grab her in this area when she is being irritating...
I feel it worth mentioning that when she was 6 months old she had 2 pea sized solid lumps (with a bit of give to them, but mainly solid) appear in each ear, total of 4, one in each ear tip and one a bit further down the ear, they came up very quickly, but havent changed since, at all...again never bothered her, just one of those things, he did get a mild case of juvenile warts the same time but the warts left and the bumps stayed. They are covered by hair but easily felt through both sides of the ear. She may have developed 1 more over the course of this year in one ear but its very small and I may have missed it before.
The reason I mention this is she is grey, I am aware of melanomas, I am also aware they can occur in lymph nodes/parotid glands etc and cause lumps...I am also aware they arent generally this fast appearing and she is not even 2 years old! But its worrying me all the same!!
So if anyone has any ideas or experience of melanomas etc I would love to hear from you. I bred this filly and know mum and dad do not have a history of melanomas. The vet saw her last week and figured as it was going down we should test for strangles to be safe but leave for now to see if it went on its own. It could of course be a yearling virus, but odd for it to only affect 1 side and her be perfectly healthy in every other way...so I think the next stage is either scoping, and looking in guttural pouch, or scanning the lump, but as it doesnt bother her yet I am reluctant to start shoving things up her nose etc just yet! Think I will give her a week and then she can be scoped with my boy, flipping mystery illnesses!
 
Encapsulated abscess? My mare recently had one on the side of her face, was sore to touch, but not overly so. No sign of cuts or nicks inside or outside of her mouth, and it came up within 6 hours. It didn't react to anti-inflammatories, but recovered with IM antibiotics.
 
Could be, it came up in a similar time frame, she was fine in the morning and then afternoon check she had the lump, it has gone down since initially coming up but only to a point and hasn't changed since (since Thursday). Did yours have a temp of any sort or any sign of illness? There was a tiny tiny tiny possible scab around the vicinity of the area probably from my gelding, so this could well be it!
 
They look like grass lumps - my youngsters used to get them in spring and autumn when the grass changed, but have never had them as adults.
 
will definitely discuss this with the vet as she is currently on no meds, and although not getting worse she isnt improving, we thought if it were an abcess it would have come out by now, one way or another...but if it has sealed itself I think the IM antib's are the way to go. Did you have yours scanned at all?
 
EQUIDAE said:
They look like grass lumps - my youngsters used to get them in spring and autumn when the grass changed, but have never had them as adults.
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thank you =) but definitely not grass lumps, my other 2 get them and they look like hamsters, very greedy and they come down when taken off the grass or fed from a haynet, but this is only on 1 side, it doesnt pit, it isnt fluidy, its pretty solid and a defined egg shape rather than general swelling in the area...I think an abscess is most likely, just odd to have them healthy otherwise and not overly fussed by poking it... =) baby horses, who'd have them!!
 
Haematoma from a bite from the gelding damaging a blood vessel? My gelding currently has an egg sized painless hard lump on the inside of his forearm from getting a rope round his leg.
 
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Gloi said:
Haematoma from a bite from the gelding damaging a blood vessel? My gelding currently has an egg sized painless hard lump on the inside of his forearm from getting a rope round his leg.
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Interesting...I did initially think it was a bite but as it has gone down to a set shape and stopped changing I thought probably not, but could well be a haematoma! My boy will be in big trouble if he has caused it!!
 
Ok, spoken to vet. He has said if the lump hasnt gotten any smaller by end of the weekend I should pick up some anti b's. He is then out on Thursday to scope my other horse (separate issue) and if she is still the same we will put the Ultrasound machine on her to look for an abcess/inflammation of the lymph/melanomas, and if we find something we can draw something out of it with a needle...if we find nothing it is likely to be a guttural pouch issue, so she will be scoped and we will look for an infection/air in the guttural pouch...we will also look in her mouth to cover all bases....pfft!! Here's hoping its gone down by Thursday!!!
 
sent the photos to the vet and he thinks the scan is the best way forward looking in lymph/parotid and possibility of melanomas...does anyone have any experience of melanomas in this area (internally) and any experience of melanomas in this age animal at all...hoping it is something much less sinister but would like to hear your experiences should it turn out to be this awful...
 
I expect the vet will be able to let you know what it is.

Presume you can't see if it is a sting from a wasp or bee and an allergic reaction?
 
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