Strange Hard lumps under chin

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NeddyUp

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One of our horses has these strange lumps under her chin/throat area, i have felt them and they seem hard, they dont feel like bites of any sort. also her cheeks seem swollen and she is coughing a little and finding it hard to chew. The vet is due round on tuesday but i would really like to know if any one else has had anything simular, as my worst fear is some sort of foreign body *i.e. tumor* - any advice would be a god send as i am worryign myself silly......
 
From what you say, it could be a couple of things. Firstly, grass glands which are nothing to worry about.

Can you tell us, along with the cough, is their any nasal discharge, unwillingness to eat/drink, depression, temperature?
 
well she is definatly having trouble eating as it took her about 2 miniutes to eat a polo. which isnt normal for her, i didnt notice any nasal discharge, and she was a little more friendly and cuddly then normal, but not sure if thats cause she just wanted a good scratch.....
 
Are you on a livery yard? If so get the YO/YM to have a look. If grass glands are ruled out then I would watch her carefully for a couple of days and if there is any sign of a deterioration, call the vet immediately in case it is viral.
 
Firstly, do you mean these lumps are in the chin area OR the throat area OR both areas? Obviously the chin is nowhere near the throat so trying to make a diagnosis on this info wouldn't be easy.

As a stab in the dark; are the lumps bony lumps which appear to be on the actual jaw bone? Could it be new teeth coming through? Swollen cheeks and difficulty chewing are often symptoms of this .. the coughing could be down to her not being able to chew the food properly. How old is the mare?
 
Great minds!
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she is about 12 years old so isnt teething, when googling it is comin up with "malignant melanomas" which is saying some sort of cancerious cell, it dosnt look like grass glands as iv had a horse who suffered with that - there about 3 large lumps all different sizes all under the head running along the tongue area, the are under the skin as there is no sign of bites etc... and feel hard like hard tissues have formed. does any one know anything more about "malignant melanomas"???
 
Ah, no then it's not teething. I think you should stop Googling and wait till the vet comes on Tuesday. Sometimes Google is a wonderful tool but sometimes it can throw up lots of very scary things which may not be what your horse has. I'd just wait till the vet comes before worrying yourself too much.
 
tell me about it, i had a mare once that got really bad colic and the vet said it was due to compaction and my partner looked it up and all the cases stated the horse died! i thought i was going to have a nervous break down -lucky within a couple of days she gave me a present of a lovely small but firm poop
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- does any one know of a help line you can call? kinda like nhs direct but equine version!?
 
No I don't know of one I'm afraid. Have you looked at this page http://www.gvequine.com/Pages/articles1

Says she who told you to stop researching
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. The page above does give good descriptions of the different lumps and bumps though, so perhaps you can strike some of them off your worry list.

I have to go out now but look forward to hearing what your vet thinks it might be on Tuesday. Do keep us updated.

Oh and welcome.
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Wow thats for the help i think they are melanomas lumps which should be left alone it says - i will double check tomorrow to see if they are purple on the skin - she is due to go back in to work so going to get the vet to have a look to see what he says.
 
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