My 4 year old mare has had a growing cheek bone on one side for about 3 days. It’s hard, not hot, and she’s not sensitive to touch. Just looks like a large, pointed cheek bone. She’s eating, drinking and acting fine.
it sounds strange but this has happened once before. I was walking her to her paddock when food got dislodged and the “swelling” was suddenly gone. My worry is why it is happening, or if it’s something worse than stuck food this time.
There’s a small patch of hair missing that may indicate a bug bite, but could also be unrelated.
I called the vet the last time and he advised me to wait a few more days - and he was right, it was resolved. I will call tomorrow if the swelling has not gone down. Any advise?
Have her teeth checked. If they have sharp points, they will pack food between the teeth and cheek to prevent pain.
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Thanks. That will be my next course of action.
Second teeth, especially with younger ones. Teeth should be checked a minimum of once a year, more for younger horses.
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I just had a similar issue. I’m posting details for the benefit of future readers who might have similar worries.
I monitored the cheekbone swelling for a week, but it did not go away. Instead it grew a bit larger (albeit very slowly).
I thought it might be a sinus cyst, but there was no significant nasal discharge of any color. My horse always has a little bit of clear nasal discharge so I ruled that out as a problem. The swelling did not appear warm or tender. Just hard, like a ping pong ball. There is a tiny, bloody red opening at the tip of the swelling that never closed over. No pus or blood trickling out, but it is always a little wet and slimy. This ulcer appears to be key - in my case, it meant there was broken bone inside so it does not heal.
The vet came and took x-rays of the cheekbone area. Found small broken bits of cheekbone and a tiny dent in her skull on the x-ray. She must have slammed her face into something while fighting with a horse, or had a kick in her face. The cheekbone trauma seems to occur right at the spot where the metal handle of a feed bucket ends, when a horse’s nose is completely in the bucket eating the feed. Another horse might have banged the bucket against my horse in a scuffle as they ate. For this reason I hate these plastic buckets with metal handles, I prefer soft rubber food troughs.
The treatment was: swelling was sliced open, drained, super tiny bits of bone scraped out carefully, then stitched shut and sprayed with liquid bandage. Swelling will go down very slowly over time I was told. As long as bits of bone remain in, the injury would never heal.
Hope this helps. And wish us luck!
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Thanks for the info Imogen, and best of luck! I was also worried about an injury but she’s stalled half the day for feeding and out with an old gentle gelding the rest of the time and they’ve never hurt each other. BUT she is a 4 year old mare so of course it is entirely possible.
The swelling has not gone down so I have scheduled a vet to come out tomorrow. I will post an update when I find out what’s going on.
Update: she has been seen by a vet. The vet said she most likely hit her cheekbone on something, and it’s possible that a piece of bone was knocked loose. Either way, there was swelling. She has been on bute and antibiotics for 2 days now and the swelling has already gone down, and is almost unnoticeable. A bloody cap formed because she rubbed it yesterday so we’ve been putting a topical antibiotic on it as well.
At this point, the vet does not think radiographs are necessary because it appears to be healing well. Her teeth do need to be floated but the doc does not think teeth are related at this point.
Unbelievable - sounds like your horse and my horse had the exact same accident at around the same time. What are the odds. Glad to see your situation is improving!
