# Cheek or Saliva gland abscess?



## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

As if I need another thing to worry about - :stars:

This has grown really quick - because I didn't even notice it last night, but it was dark up in the barn. . .so I am sure it was there then - lol.

Anyway, one of the does that got into the moldy feed has a hard knot on the side of her check. It is about the size of a little rubber ball like you get from the vending machine for kids. . .

Is this a salivary cyst, a cheek abscess, retained cud?

I am fairly certain this couldn't be CL 

This photo IS NOT of the lump - but it is the same doe and I drew to show where the lump is.

It is quite hard.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

I would check her teeth and inside the mouth to see if there is anything going on in there.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I agree with minelson too, also I have heard of goats getting a picker from hay or something & having it lodge in the cheek area & cause a big lump. Not really sure, haven't had that happen here yet but have had others tell me about it.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

That's pretty much the same place that Claire got her abscess. When we got it popped, out came puss and....

....a bit of hull from a sunflower seed.

Considering the location, I would say salivary gland, bad tooth, or thorn/briar/sticker/something that poked into her cheek.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I agree with the others, though there is another option. I had a milking yearling get bit by what I am assuming was a spider about a month ago. I noticed at evening milking that her one cheek was largely swollen. By the next morning there was no swelling left, just a tiny hard bump low on her cheek. It is still there a month later, but getting smaller each time I check it.
Either way, I doubt in that location it is something you should be too worried about.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Thanks - I am just going to recheck her mouth and if it doesn't resolve in a bit - maybe let the vet lance it.


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## moonspinner (Jul 2, 2002)

Is she eating okay? I had an older doe with something similar to your lump. She went through times where she didn't want to eat hay, just grass. It turned out to be a swelling inside her mouth on her upper plate. It would be there one day and not the next and she would go long stretches without the swelling and then it would return. Eventually it went away and hasn't returned.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

She is eating okay, as far as I can tell.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Not a CL location. The lump was more than likely brought on by a splinter, thorn, or sharp piece of hay or weed. Lance and cleanse it yourself if your up to it. I've had two goat and a few calves have the same type abcess. Years ago I called the vet out to look at a lump identical to yours. $60 dollars later I was taught how to lance and clean the wound....Use 7% iodine if you decided to do the deed....Topside


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Thanks, Topside


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

I've even gone as far as squeezing the pus into a white piece of cloth to examine the partical. Once lanced and irrigated, the wound will heal quickly and become invisible. If left alone the "rubber ball" will finally burst releasing the foreign matter and then heal naturally. I don't like looking at the absesses everyday so i lance....topside


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

> I don't like looking at the absesses everyday so i lance


Sounds like me


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