Swollen Jaw- advice please.

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My pony seemed slightly off colour this morning- not that much just ever so slightly had eaten most of his hay though and had only drunk a bit. Did not really think that much of it. Went back down this afternoon and have noticed a hard swelling on one side of his lower jaw (Where his teeth are). Its obviously painful for me to touch and he has a little bit of discharge from his nose but hardly noticeable. Any ideas?? He is only rising 4 so wondered if it could be a tooth erupting? Or could it be something much worse? Thought I would leave it another day and see if it gets worse then get the vet Monday if there is no improvement- don't want to get the vet to be told its just an adult tooth coming through though??! Does that sound like a good plan, obviously if he goes down hill will definitley get the vet ASAP!

Thanks for reading.. any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!
 
heya sounds suspisios (sp?) to me and sounds like it could be strangles i would get a vet asap IMHO as it is highly contageous. there was an outbreak near us a year ago and a few on my yard got it poor bronte had to have her pouches flushed with penacillin which we didnt know she was allergic to at the time and we nearly lost her. does your horse have a temp????
 
i do laugh at the way folks say "i'll just wait another day to see if it gets worse" what!! in the meantime it could get very bad, call a vet -paying vet bills comes with owning horses.
 
Watch him carefully when he is eating, if he appears to be struggling then get the vet. We had a youngster with a broken jaw, from a kick, he had a hard lump on the jaw line, it took several days before he could eat anything other than mush that he could lick up and he lost quite a bit of weight. The most important thing is getting the antibiotics into him quickly if it is a break as a bone infection is incredibly serious and can be fatal.
 
Thank u everyone for the advice. will go and get him in... and get the YO to take a look and will take it from there as your right could be strangles but not like the start of strangles I have ever seen before, as the swellings on the bone and is hard I have only ever seen it on the lymph nodes and the bit in between the jaw with softer swellings?? But there is a strong possibility it could be :( Good point could be a kick or something, will go and analyse it a bit more then will take it from there.
 
It could be strangles but far more likely it could be a kick injury, tooth abscess or a thorn inside or outside his mouth.
 
I'm nursing the same thing this afternoon - had the new strangles vac on tuesday and seems like its making him feel rubbish today just. Temp 37.6 so average. Able to eat and have had my hand in around his mouth. Glands raised and feels a bit cool to touch so all rugged up.
 
as hes only four it sound like a tooth erupting, its likely he will need anti biotics and pain relief. we had a mare at work with an erupting tooth and you couldnt get anywhere near it it was so painfull for her.

eta- in the same breath, you are in hartpury area, summer house AREA in glous has strangles. (not summer house ec itself)
 
Thanks everyone. Had the vet out- took 3 hours for them to get here!! vet thinks it is an abcess as it is swollen and is definitley around his tooth area. He does have a high temp of 38.8 which is surprisingly high! She has prescribed antibiotics and bute and if it does not get better by thursday to get them back out and we will have to investigate further. Fingers crossed this will clear it!! Vet was pretty certain it wasn't strangles or anything nasty like that as it is swollen around the actual jaw bone. Will have to wait and see though.
 
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