Bump/lump on neck after vaccinations (month later...picture added to post #7)

[RhythmNCruise]

I know there are threads about vaccination reactions and such, but those usually talk about heat and pain and swelling. My horse has no pain, there is no heat, and it’s just about a golfball (or slightly larger) sized lump that is definitely in his muscle (when he moves, the skin moves over the lump and it stays with the muscle).

The first time this thing showed up was last fall I THINK. It wasn’t there right after shots, but showed up maybe a week or two later? At the time, I was also giving Adequan shots, and I thought maybe it was my incompetence at giving shots. But, again, horse didn’t seem bothered and by the spring, the lump/bump was gone. I’m trying to remember if he got the lump/bump again when he got spring shots, and for some reason I’m totally blanking on that. I don’t THINK he did. And I was glad the lump was gone. I almost thought it had subsided because I took him off of anything with soy. But he’s still not on soy and the lump has returned.

He got fall shots in September. A week or so later, the lump/bump had returned. It’s still there. Just as described above. I push on it, massage it, rub it, scratch it…no reaction (except enjoying the scratching, but he likes that regardless). He rubs his neck on the upright posts of the run-in shelter, both sides equally when it’s warm and his fall hair is making him itch. In short…there is no pain associated with it. He bends his neck easily both ways with no issues.

Is this likely just from the vaccinations? I’ve started him on TC Gold Balancer about a month ago, around the same time as he got the vaccinations. I also started adding chopped alfalfa to his diet. Could either one of those be causing him to…grow a lump/bump? He was on soy when the lump first showed up a year ago. Took him off of all soy and alfalfa and the lump subsided, but I’m not sure the diet change had anything to do with it. He’s still not getting soy, but the alfalfa is there.

Could it be a seasonal thing? Something about fall that makes him get a lump/bump?

I’m not too concerned, but…it’s ugly! LOL. I mean, it’s not noticeable until you get close enough or pet his neck and then it’s very noticeable. And when I’m riding him, my god! I look down and it’s like he’s growing another body part out of the side of his neck (okay…perhaps I’m overreacting, lol).

Just thought I’d see if anyone has dealt with anything like this. I keep meaning to contact the vet about it, but it’s literally such a non-issue that I forget. Until I touch it or look down and see it from his back again…eeek!

No hair loss, nothing like that. I’d appreciate any and all thoughts.

[Knubbsy]

Could it be a reaction to the silicone lubrication on the needle? My mare is allergic to silicone and needs special non-lubricated needles (not the ‘hypo-allergenic’, those are latex-free), otherwise, she gets quite sizable lumps and it can take quite some time to subside. Some horses have a low enough sensitivity that you only need to wipe the needle with an alcohol wipe.

[RhythmNCruise]

It’s definitely a possibility. He’s sensitive to bug bites and…life in general (red-headed Appaloosa), so it wouldn’t surprise me.

I should add that he got one shot in his neck and the other in his pectoral. His “boobie” had some swelling afterward but subsided like normal. At least to my eye it did. I need to feel around and make sure. It’s harder to detect there.

Maybe I’ll ask that his shots go in each side of his chest from now on.

[JB]

My vet only vaccinates in the pecs now, at least when she’s doing just the basic core vaccines - rabies in the right pec, the others in the left

And yes, try a silicon-free needle next time and see if things change.

[Knubbsy]

@RhythmNCruise

It’s definitely a possibility. He’s sensitive to bug bites and…life in general (red-headed Appaloosa), so it wouldn’t surprise me.

That describes my paint mare. She is a “delicate flower” and gets dressed up like a beekeeper later March to October, has to have a hay box instead of a net or else her eyes puff up, etc. She still gets a small lump from vaccines but it’s significantly less dramatic with a silicone-free needle.

[BrookdaleBay]

something similar happened to my horse this year, too. it was after his fall flu/rhino vaccine, but rather then a lump, it was a soft swelling about the size of my hand on the lower part of his neck muscle. it wasn’t super noticable, and he didn’t care about me poking and proding at it, though he did love me rubbing on it. He had a similar reaction on the other side of his neck a couple weeks later after getting a pentosin injection. Both swellings were gone after a couple days.

[RhythmNCruise]

Okay, so, it’s been over a month and the dang lump is still there and still large and firm. It doesn’t bother him at all. No heat. But it’s unsightly and large enough that everyone is like “Whoa!” when they walk up to him and pet his neck. I keep saying when the vet happens to be at the barn again I’ll get her to look at it, but she hasn’t been back. I don’t think it’s hurting anything, I just wonder if/when the vet sees it what she’d even be able to do? Lance it? I’m so curious as to what it is and why it’s there (and if it will go away?). What’s in there??? An alien? LOL.

Here’s a pic from when I was riding the other day. It may not look as huge in the pic as it seems in real life. It’s about palm-sized. Smaller than a baseball but bigger than a golf ball.

[2tempe]

I have a retired mare, 21. Bought her at 9 yrs old and she came with a lump about the size and shape of a peanut in shell. Was told it was vaccine reaction. Never has bothered her, but in the last couple years it has started getting bigger…Vet biopsied it and it came back as scar tissue. We dont know why its getting bigger, (by maybe 20% or so) though she was diagnosed just over a year ago with Cushings. Though we joke about removing it, that’s not going to happen.
I suspect lancing won’t accomplish anything unless there is fluid. My vet was thinking surgically removing the whole thing, stitching neck back together. In my mind this is a recipe for infection, which would end up costing me $$$$$$ for various meds, vet attention, etc. No. When the mare gets called for her calendar modeling pics, we will just show the other side, lol
Yours sounds similar but a lot bigger.

[IPEsq]

I think you could ultrasound it to see if it’s fluid or something else in there.

[2DogsFarm]

IIWM, I’d want the vet to needle biopsy & see what it is.
Not meaning to alarm you, but friend had to put down her aged (gray) Arab when a benign tumor on his neck - where it joined his chest - grew large enough to interfere with him lowering his head to graze & breathe.
He’d had the tumor for years w/o a problem, aside from being unsightly.

[RhythmNCruise]

Yeah, I think a needle biopsy is probably a good idea.

The weird thing about this lump is it appeared a week or so after his fall 2022 vaccinations and eventually went away (like…months later). I honestly don’t think it returned when he got spring shots, but I can’t swear that it didn’t. I just know that it was not there this fall when he got shots and now it’s back again (his shots were at the end of September).

If it subsides again, I’m definitely going to ask the vet to do his shots in his chest from now on.

Oh, the other thing is that he gets banamine IV prior to his vaccinations, but that shouldn’t matter. And why he got it with fall shots and not spring shots is a real head-scratcher too.

If it’s not hurting him, it can stay. It’s just so strange. I’ve even wondered if something I’m feeding could be contributing. When it finally subsided he was on nothing but timothy pellets, KIS Trace, and his various fat supplements and other odds and ends that he’s still on (and hay, of course). Now he’s getting TC Gold Balancer and chopped alfalfa and beet pulp with the same hay, same supplements, etc.

I want to blame the alfalfa. Is that silly?

[RMJacobs]

My large pony came to me with a knot on his neck. It felt hard to the touch, but wasn’t huge–maybe the size of a sunflower seed. My other pony developed fatty tumors as he aged, just like the ones my older dogs would get. The vet did a needle biopsy on the first one and said it was definitely just fat. So I feft both ponies’ lumps alone.

Rebecca

[RhythmNCruise]

My guy’s lump feels like it’s in the muscle to me. Very firm and his skin moves over it while it stays with his muscle.

I don’t know. I don’t really have extra funds for “lump investigation” right now. If it were bothering him it’d be different, but he seems unaware of its existence. His pasture mate gets spring shots really early (January), so I’ll have the vet take a look then if it’s still there.

[2tempe]

Here is a pic of my mare’s bump - with my hand for size comparison. It is hard, and seems to be attached to something underneath. The recent change as been in shape - used to look more like a peanut but the middle has filled in and its somewhat further out from the neck.

I would just keep an eye on yours - perhaps measure and make a note, etc. and wait till next vet visit unless something seems different.