Knot on neck

[TheBullLady]

Well this is a new one for me. I have a 18 month old heifer that came up last night with a humongous "knot" on the side of her neck / jaw. It's not lumpy jaw.. I've been looking at pictures of that all morning. It's mostly hard.. doesn't feel like it's liquid inside. Can't find a bite (we've never had a cow snake bit.. but that doesn't mean it can't happen) or a hole anywhere, and it's not leaking anything. It's half the size of my head, it runs from the very back of her jaw (not on the bone) down to her throat. Anyone have a clue? She's eating fine and breathing fine, so I'm going to keep an eye on her. If it gets any worse it looks like a trip to A & M this week for me.

 

[randiliana]

We had a heifer with a similar thing last year. It turned out to be an abcess, which broke and drained on its own later on. She still has the scar tissue there, but otherwise is just fine. Not much we could do for her, but we did give her some LA200 (as much for our sake as hers) She calved this spring, so it didn't hurt her too much.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Did you check the inside of her mouth for an injury? Possibly something she ate perforated the inside of her mouth & an infection ensued. If this is something that has come about in only a day or 2 it is probably an abcess. Have had good luck draining abcesses with a hook blade scapel. Just make a vertical incision in the lowest part of the knot. Usually make the first cut about 1" long. If that does not get drainage cut upward another 1/2' or so till you hit the juice. When you get drainage, massage the knot to milk out all the pus possible then flush the abcess with hydrogen peroxide by filling a 35-60cc syringe (with no needle) with peroxide and squirting it into the incision. Treat animal with 4.5 cc/cwt of la 200. After 3-4 days repeat peroxide flushing and la 200. This treatment has always worked for me. Incision should heal up & a few months later you can only detect scar if you know where to look. Abcess will usually rupture without help but could very well leave a knot and/or scar and will probably be quite painful untill it ruptures. In the area you described it could also affect her eating if it gets too large and/or tender.

Good luck & happy trails.

Brock

 

[TheBullLady]

I just don't think it's a "normal" abcess.. mainly because of it's size! It almost makes me think it's something with her glands. It's actually on both sides of her neck, just under her jaw, but more prevelant on the left side. She's still eating / acting normal, but I dont' want to take a chance. I've got an appointment tomorrow at A & M. Should be interesting!

I knew as soon as we lost our vet I'd start getting a bunch of problems...

 

[Roadapple]

Infection in the lymph glands?