Cyst like growth on neck

[karen Parsons]

I have a 3 yr old Gelding (sort of Exmoor X) and noticed when I first had him a Gooey Pussing Spot on his lower jaw, which was examined by the Vet and since healed (Tooth problem). Now I have noticed a Cyst like Growth on his Neck (half way down), it does not feel attached to anything and appears to be growing to a head (slightly pinkish) - it causes him no suffering, or appears not to.

Any ideas?:rolleyes:

[White-Blazes]

Hiya Karen

I bought my mare Missy in October 98, and she had her anual booster jab in the December.
By June 99 I noticed a slight lump on her neck, but the blacksmith, dentist, and all my friends said as it wasn't bothering her to leave it alone.
When the vet came in December that year, hubby forgot to mention it as she was so hairy come winter that is wasn't noticeable.
Summer 2000 and again it was there, but again, people fiddled with it and said it wasn't attached so leave it alone, which I did.
I never bothered to vaccinate her after that as we don't show or anything and the other horses she was kept with (sometimes 7 or 8) weren't vaccinated.
Summer 2001 and it was very much there, and now she would be scratching her neck on the barbed wire. Flies seemed to be attracted to it too, but there was no head, and nothing seeping.
Decided we'd get the vet to look, which he did and said it wouldn't go on it's own, so to remove it, which he did 1st November when the flies had all disappeared.
He thinks it is just scar tissue. I think it is something to do with the vaccinations (different vet), possible a minute speck of dirt going into the skin with the needle.
Happy to say, it has healed really well and is now nice and flat.
Sounds like your horses lump is very similar. Missy's grew to about the size of a sprout, if that's any help.
Sorry to ramble on so much.

Heather

[ponyvet]

It's not uncommon for horses to have a cyst form at the site of a vaccination, and occasionally horses develop abscesses there. Obviously it's not ideal, and has never happened to a horse I've injected (yet!!).

If it's not bothering him you can wait and see what happens or you can get your vet to have a look, and put a needle in to see if there's any fluid building up in there, which it sounds like there might be, if it's forming a point. In fact, that probably means it'll burst out on it's own. If it does, or if the vet finds fluid, you'll need to keep it open and draining and it'll go away eventually. If it's not fluid the vet can take it out.

It's certainly not a sign of anything scary so don't worry about it. And as it's happened once the chances are it'll never happen again, as most horses are vaccinated every year and never have any problems, so don't worry about getting him vaccinated again. :D

[karen Parsons]

Thanks to Missy and Ponyvet. On inspection today, noticed it has just started weeping the same yellowy sticky goo that came on of his Jaw previously. No bother to him, so I've cleaned it up and will continue to bathe and observe. Thanks for your help, very much appreciated and settled my concern. Karen ;)

[Stephelia]

My horse has one on each side of his neck. I had the vet look at it, and said that it was probably from home injections. (My horse has a mystery past!) But he said it didn't look like anything dangerous.

The interesting thing is that they are identical on each side of his neck.

Steph