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I just discovered what feels like a tumor on the underside of my horse’s jaw – left side only. It is very firm and about the size of a large egg. No fever. No nasal discharge. She is 27. When she exercises you can hear her breathing. She has megaesophagus which has been under control with careful feeding. I asked the vet about the breathing issue, and she thought it was her age, and possible narrowing of her breathing passage due to age (sagging). This was over a year ago.
This weekend I noticed that the breathing seemed louder. She hasn’t been out of our pasture in a while due to months of rain. We pony her. This was just walking uphill. She seemed off. Grumpy. – But she is not off feed, and readily takes snacks, soaked senior feed, grass hay (can’t do alfalfa), etc. She really just didn’t want us fussing with her.
Is this a common site for a tumor? Assuming it is not an abscess, what are the options for removal?
Thank you!
Laurie
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Hello Laurie,
Yes this is a common site for a tumor and it almost always is an enlarged submandibular lymph node. They do sometimes abscess. However, I notice your horse is grey so melanoma should be ruled out. A needle biopsy should answer the question of what it is and may provide helpful hints for treatment.
DrO -
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So by the time the vet showed up it had shrunk to about 2/3 of its original size. He felt to poke it might introduce something into her system and would not be helpful. We chose to leave it alone. While I can still feel it, without knowing it was there, I’m doubtful that I would have found it in its current state. I had one person suggest pigeon fever. We have pulled some ticks off lately and my horses are now 10 years out from their pigeon fever experience. So a possibility, but certainly an uneventful experience compared to the last one.
Then…..today, I noticed blood on her hind fetlock. Very fresh. I traced it to her vagina. Bright red. Not gushing, but dribbling. I flushed her out with water. I had to go look at the other mares to figure out what was normal. It appears to be coming from her left vulva, not from her vaginal canal. There is a pocket on the left side where the bleeding appears to be coming from. I can’t see any tears. The skin has a nubbly feel to it, not smooth. There is quite a bit of coagulated blood in the attached pictures so hard to see what is going on. I can’t tell if something ruptured? A cancerous growth that has broken open? Surely the vet and I would have seen the blood during his exam, even though I don’t remember her looking under her tail. I know we would have seen the red blood dripping from her.
Now that I think about it, I took her temperature a couple of times while I was trying to figure out if she had strangles or ?? Surely, I would have noticed anything unusual or bleeding.
Her current temp is 99.5. Still bright. Eating well.
Thoughts? If it is a cancerous tumor, treatment?
Thank you,
Laurie
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Update on this one. It appears that there was an abscess in her vagina. Once the bleeding subsided, you could see a large hole the size of an egg on one side of her vulva. Everyday it would look less angry, the hole slowly closed and everything looked normal after several weeks. We had pigeon fever many years ago. It is possible that her immunity is over, and she had a less severe bout with it? I would think the lump under her jaw would have been bilateral if it was a reaction to infection in her body somewhere. So maybe two abscesses at the same time? Anyway, all is well. Just closing the loop.
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Since we don’t see puss, why an abscess rather than a wound? Horses do occasionally back on to sharp objects maybe when scratching. As to the submandibular lymph node, you occasionally find one enlarged. This probably represents either a local lymph node reaction or stimulation from that side of the skull. Did the lymph node abscess, open and drain?
DrO
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