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Discussion on Permanently enlarged salivary/grass glands
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New Member:
crossley
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Posted on Friday, Jan 4, 2019 - 9:28 am:
I have a connie x 14 year old mare who has this. They have been enlarged for the 5 years I have owned her. Vet says they are nothing to worry about. Horse has pollen allergy in summer months exhibited by nasal discharge, snorting and sneezing and the occasional head shake. So its worse in the summer, but some discharge, sneezing and snorting year round. Reading other posts on various sites, it seems true grass glands go up and down. These do not. They are behind her jawline, hard to the touch but moveable. They are not causing her pain if you squeeze them but i guess they must be causing some discomfort when ridden due to position Any thoughts on what they could be? If an allergy, what she could be allergic to, and finally, should i get the vet to investigate further?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 5, 2019 - 8:49 am:
Welcome Jenny,
We have an article that describes (and has images) common swellings found around the horse including the head. You will find it here HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Swellings / Localized Infection / Abscesses » Diagnosing and Assessing Swellings in Horses. Once we pinpoint which of these swellings you have (I have not heard of the grass glands) we can speculate further as to what might be going on. Other helpful information would be whether the swelling is the same on both sides of the head.
DrO
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New Member:
crossley
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 5, 2019 - 12:16 pm:
Hi the swellings are at the point coloured light green on your horse head diagram so are lymph or salivary glands. They are equally sized on left and right sides of the head
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 6, 2019 - 8:49 am:
Hey Jenny,
Assuming the structures are abnormally large and not just a horse with normally prominent one, possibly these are the retropharyngeal lymph nodes and have received some sort of immune stimulus in the past (the nodes help drain the sinuses) and the resulting inflammation resulted in some amount of permanent fibrosis. The lack of history of disease in the past 5 years does suggest permanent change from an earlier event. To help support this theory a ultrasound to confirm this is lymph node tissue and you may be able to see the increased fibrosis if you are use to viewing these structures.
DrO
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New Member:
crossley
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Posted on Monday, Jan 7, 2019 - 12:36 am:
Thanks for that information. Looking at other diagrams of location of lymph nodes, I think these are, as you say, retro-pharangeal. Supposing the ultrasound did show fibrosis, what would the vet do to reduce their size or is she just stuck with them?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jan 7, 2019 - 10:40 am:
If you are not having problems, I would recommend living with them but you can discuss this with the vet to see what they are comfortable with.
DrO
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