What is this?

Amy567

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My mini shetland mare has a growth between her hind legs. It's firm, not too hard, not squishy, doesn't seem like it hurts to touch or in general. She seems healthy in herself, but it's very odd.

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May be an abscess or a result of an infection higher up - I'd be inclined to have the vet in - not an emergency visit but definitely on Monday.

Have you found anything leaking out of it - I notice it looks a little damp on the left side of the photo.

You could bathe it with salt water, feel the texture and for any hard lumpy bits or breaks in the skin. You can then relay this information to the vet.
 
It's damp because she was sweating, or so I assumed. I'll look at it in more detail tomorrow when she's tied up, it was all a bit of a rush today and only found this because we were thinking she was pregnant! But her teats haven't grown :(

I was thinking of getting the vet out to see it anyway, just wanted an idea of what it could be :)
 
Update.

I checked this morning and it's reduced in size, I'll check again later to see if the heat makes it sweel.more or something. She isn't in pain and it isn't hot, however, it feels as if there's tubular scar tissue in the centre, as if it is a blockage in a tube of some sort, but she isn't in pain. We're monitoring it for the next couple of days and going to call out the vet :-)
 
One of my mares had something which looked similar, but was more extensive, a couple of years ago.

It appeared about 3 months after colic surgery and 2 months after laminitis, so with both those things she was not moving round particularly active (although she was walking around the yard rather than cooped up in a stable).

On the second day, her temperature was 38.5 (and she is reliably 37.5 at that time of the morning).

The vet said it was oedema (ie gathering of fluid), and it was most obvious around her teats, but it also spread up towards her vulva. She had an antibiotic injection and then a few days of neopen antibiotic by mouth, and a few bute.

The recommendation to me was to encourage her to move more of the time, within the constraints of what she could manage, and even with leading her around the arena for half an hour twice a day, it took about a fortnight to completely go.

We never really found out why it had happened, but thankfully it cleared up fully.

Sarah
 
Just checked again and it's completely gone. We think she rubbed it as she has sweet itch and irritated the skin
 
Good to hear it's gone.

Interestingly, the mare I mentioned also has sweet itch. Maybe it was an over reaction to an insect bite - who knows, but glad it's cleared up.

Sarah
 
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