Swollen lymph nodes

[kashmere]

My mare came in from the field yesterday with swollen lymph nodes. They weren't huge-- nothing like I've seen in a strangles case, but definitely palpably swollen; she wasn't quite herself, either-- a bit cranky, ears back etc. Her vitals were normal: wasn't running a fever, heartrate was normal, breathing, CRR etc. checked out okay.

I asked my BO to take a look. She has tons of practical experience and has helped me out through many situations involving lameness, illness, etc. She agreed that the swelling wasn't huge, and since her vitals were okay and she was eating and drinking, gave me the opinion that a vet call wasn't necessary and to just keep an eye on it.

Today things are about the same: slightly swollen, but vitals still normal, still eating, drinking etc. BO doesn't seem very concerned, and said it was most likely something very mild brought on by being stressed. (Horses had to be kept in for 3 days straight because of absolutely torrential downpours and dangerous slippery fields. This mare is one who really needs her turnout.) However, I am starting to get concerned. If I thought it was an emergency, I'd have had the vet out tonight, but since she was still essentially fine other than the glands, I thought I'd try to avoid the Sunday vet fee.

Any ideas on what may be causing this? If they're still swollen tomorrow, I'll be calling the vet, but I'm interested to see what the wisdom of COTH might bring me. Is there any credence to the "swollen glands from stress" theory? It seemed quite out of left field for someone whose advice I generally trust implicitly. :no:

[jaimebaker]

I JUST posted about this. I'm still waiting on results from an FNA. You can see my thread here. Apparently, this has been an issue lately. This has been one of the wetter years we've had so I just have to wonder if it's not a bizarre allergy or if they are eating something mildly toxic.

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=216012

I had my gal on antibiotics for 5 days with little improvement and the vet said pull her off. I've been rubbing DMSO on her lymph nodes since last Tuesday and they finally look like they might be shrinking a little. Her bloodwork came back normal though. No infection, no allergies. So, yeah, wondering what the FNA will show.

[kashmere]

Yikes-- didn't think to do a thread search, so thank you, jaimebaker.

What a bummer though :(. My mare's also swollen by the cheeks all the way down between her jaw bones, no known allergies, 15yrs old, teeth done regularly. It's also been a wetter-than-usual summer for us here, but our climate is generally quite humid and damp in any case.

Fingers crossed for you to get some answers soon. Please share when you do!

[jaimebaker]

Yikes-- didn't think to do a thread search, so thank you, jaimebaker.

What a bummer though :(. My mare's also swollen by the cheeks all the way down between her jaw bones, no known allergies, 15yrs old, teeth done regularly. It's also been a wetter-than-usual summer for us here, but our climate is generally quite humid and damp in any case.

Fingers crossed for you to get some answers soon. Please share when you do!

Same here. I'm in Tennessee so humid we are used to. But we've been getting rain at least once a week all summer which is odd. It's normally drier.

The biopsy results should be in Wednesday but might take as long as Friday. I'm going to post an update as soon as I hear anything. It's really a head scratcher. Not a darn thing wrong with this horse EXCEPT the giant lymph nodes. Grrr.

[Ainsley688]

I'd say an allergic reaction to something. TigerLily gets REALLY swollen lymph nodes when she comes in contact with one of the plants she's allergic to. She gets a little uncomfortable (I would be too, if my lymph nodes got that big!) and she gets runny eyes and a runny nose. Take her away from the allergen, and she's perfectly fine. If it is allergies, the swelling should go down relatively soon.

[jaimebaker]

I'd say an allergic reaction to something. TigerLily gets REALLY swollen lymph nodes when she comes in contact with one of the plants she's allergic to. She gets a little uncomfortable (I would be too, if my lymph nodes got that big!) and she gets runny eyes and a runny nose. Take her away from the allergen, and she's perfectly fine. If it is allergies, the swelling should go down relatively soon.

In my case the vet said it wasn't allergies (based on bloodwork). She didn't have runny eyes or a runny nose either (the first thing I look for if I think allergies). I was hoping that would be the case though. Would have been simple to figure out.

But my mare isn't cranky or off like the OPs either so that could definitely be what's going on.

[kashmere]

An allergic reaction definitely crossed my mind. Will see what the vet thinks if indeed he has to come out.

Ainsley-- How did you go about determining what your horse is allergic to? Mare is out in the same pasture she's been in for years, no change in feed, the pasture wasn't seeded this year so there's nothing (we know of) different in there, so it seems like a difficult thing to determine.