Goat with huge lump under ear- possible tumor - Graphic picture added

[babsbag]

This is really just posted for education.

I have an 18 month old Apline buck. Last Wed. I noticed a big lump on what appeared to be the lymph node below his ear. He is in a closed and tested herd, and came from a closed and tested herd. I have owned him since he was 10 weeks old and he has not been off our land so my first thought of CL was "what the heck". Over the next few days this thing grew; almost doubled in size from a lemon to a softball, and it is rock hard. He acts fine, mostly. He eats a little slower and won't fight my other buck for feed.

So today he went to the vet. She tried a needle aspiration, thinking abscess. Got nothing out but a clearish liquid. So she did a field incision and all that is there is a hard mass. She is going to be looking at the fluid under a microscope today but it may have to be sent out for testing. Then the next thing is to do a biopsy.

She is starting him on a 5 days on Pen G just in case it is a migrated foreign body but her suspicion is a tumor

I will post updates as I get them.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Very interesting. That is strange I am anxious to see what you find out.

DonnaBelle

 

[babsbag]

Goat is home with a one inch incision in the lump. It is not draining at all. The slides that the vet stained showed nothing so he is on antibiotics and if that doesn't help we will do a biopsy. He is eating and drinking and being goat like. I think the lump bothers me more than it does him. I am going to call the vet tomorrow and ask about giving him some dexamethasone in case it is bite of some kind but since that drug suppresses immune system it may not be a good idea in case this is an infection. Goats are complicated.

The upside of this is that I had to find him a pen to live in so now my boer buck is alone. I can now breed my yearlings and not have to worry about who the sire is. I needed this pen, just couldn't find the time to build it until I REALLY needed it.

 

[alsea1]

Dang. Thats a big lump.
Sure hope its simple and easy cure

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Gosh, that is a large lump. I hope the meds clear it up whatever it is.

 

[babsbag]

It is a very large lump, more like the size of a grapefruit. Thank goodness it doesn't seem to bother his breathing at all, or anything else for that matter. It came on so fast that the vet is now thinking maybe not a tumor. She didn't get all the history on him until later as I was not the one that took him for the visit. It could be an infected salivary gland or ???. I am thinking that this is going to end in surgical removal and a biopsy. Good way to spend my tax refund, right?

 

[babsbag]

After 5 days on antibiotics there is to shrinking of the lump. I will get some pictures tonight, but they won't be for the queasy stomach people. Whatever is growing inside of him is trying to work its way out of the incision and it is pretty gross. I keep expecting a one eyed monster or ailen worm to pop out at me. Doesn't appear to be infected as it does not smell or look full of pus.

He is going back to the vet on Friday to do a biopsy and remove the growth if it can be removed. Unfortunately that is the soonest I can get him a ride to the vet as DH is out of town having hyperbaric oxygen treatments for a foot wound and my sick leave is all gone since I was caring for DH. *SIGH*

Life sure gets in the way of being a rancher at times.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Good luck! It will really be interesting to find out what it is... please let us know how it goes.

 

[babsbag]

So I can't get poor Zorro to the vet until Friday and in the meantime his lump is getting smaller, but only because whatever is in it is coming out. It is disgusting. When the vet made a 1" incision into what she thought was an abscess there was nothing she could drain out. Now that clean incision is a gooey mess about the size of a half dollar. It doesn't really smell bad, just weird. The consistency of the stuff reminds me of very pale scrambled eggs or chicken fat. This morning he had a huge glob of this stuff hanging out of him but I didn't have time to go into his pen and then get cleaned up for work again, and do other chores. It looked life a stuffed mushroom. When I got home he had rubbed it off somewhere and there wasn't much oozing out. That is when I took these pictures.

It doesn't seem to bother him, and no, there are not maggots in it...yet. On the lookout for that and will start treating with fly spray in the morning.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

And he personally has been tested for cl?