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Coco (swollen face) update

8K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  goodcallsenator 
#1 ·
The vet came out yesterday and we still aren't sure but she had a few ideas. She is leaning towards it being environmental so she gave us dexamethasone (dex) which she injected into the vein and told us to inject into the muscle once a day Tuesday (today) and Wednesday then go to doing it everyday till the vile is gone. She said there is a possibility of it being lymes but I asked shouldn't it have gone away with the two courses of deoxy but lymes has to be treated for a minimum of 30 days and she only had two 5 day courses. Lymes is a tad unlikely because she isn't lame or having mood swings, but the mood swing may be masked by the regumate. The other possibility is Strangles because Coco was vaccinated a few weeks before this all started and the vaccine is a live virus, but she has no nasal drainage so thats also a tad unlikely. She drew more blood because the vets from school did not send our clinic the results of the test or mention they had taken blood :evil: so she is going to do the basic blood work up and a lymes test and if the swelling persists with the dex and the lymes and other blood tests are clear we will scope for Strangles.
 
#5 ·
The test results came back yesterday. Everything was clean for the basic work up and negative for lymes. It's looking like it is most likely enviromental so we are going to finish the dex and depending on if the dex helped at all (which I doubt since her face was more swollen yesterday and now she only gets dex every other day) we will decide what to do next.
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#7 ·
Coco's swelling was up again yesterday when I went to ride. There was swelling around the base of her ears, down the side of her cheek, and a large ball of swelling under her throatlash. The swelling still wasn't causing any discomfort but I took some pictures to show my mom. After seeing the pictures my mum called the vet just to talk to her because we were supposed to be checking in every couple of days. At this point we have realised that no matter what the medication is it doesn't seem to affect the swelling. The vet recommended ordering cetirizine off the internet which is what zertec is made out of, but zertec is expensive since she would need such a large dose and 100 pills is 6 dollars.

Here are the pictures: (sorry they are not good quality I took them on my phone)


 
#8 · (Edited)
Hello, i havn't seen you'r original post, but my boy has allergies which result in similar swelling, though it is not as severe as in your horse. My boy often comes in (mostly in the spring/summer but occasionally in the winter) with swelling under his chin and at both sides of his head to he looks like he has hamster cheeks. It doesn't bother him in anyway they are not painful in him and after a few days they normally go away, though he has been swollen for up to a week before.

He has had numerous tests done at it has turned out to just be allergies to various pollen and plants/grass, i have some anti-inflam medication for him for when it is particularly swollen but mostly i just leave it. Its knows as grass glands/grass mumps and is quite common esp in chestnuts for some reason ( my boy is a chestnut) I dont know if that helps at all but just thought i would share a similar story.

Also on the strangles note, i doubt it is we had a large spread of strangles 2 summers ago at our yard- horrific nightmare luckily my boy managed to stay clear due to isolation and precautionary measures we all took. If it were strangles she would be snotty, lethargic and highly infectious so other horses would be showing similar symptoms.

Heres a brief explanation of what it is i found:


Grass glands

This is the classic example that will worry many people more than it does their horse. Everyone will have seen it at some time, yet it is poorly understood.


Frequently, a horse or pony will be brought in from the field after grazing for some hours with large, firm and usually painless swellings behind the jawbone at the back of the throat, beneath where the throat lash would go. Occasionally, the swelling will be accompanied by some fluid swelling under the skin.

Affected horses can look rather like hamsters and may be reluctant to work with their head down on the bit. Such lumps are commonly mistaken for a manifestation of the disease strangles, when in fact they are simply swellings of the parotid salivary glands.

Such swollen glands can vary in size from day to day. They are often linked with particular areas of grazing and are suspected to be a form of allergic reaction.

The glands enlarge after the horse has been out at grass and most return to normal size within 36hr of coming in with no treatment. It helps if such horses, when affected, are fed from a height once they are brought in, to allow any accumulation of fluid to drain down.
There is no need to do anything except have a careful feel of the area to confirm it is just swollen parotid glands.
Kay.
 
#9 ·
Thanks, I looked into Grass glands when the swelling first happened. The one thing is that it is not always in the parotid gland area. A majority of the time the swelling is across her Sublingual gland, Masseter muscle, and sometimes down her throat.
 
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