# Lump in neck



## Livinwright Farm (Jun 26, 2011)

We have recently noticed a round lump in Olivia's neck.

History: Olivia is 3 weeks old. Was on her mom for 2 weeks, then switched to a bottle. She finally took to the bottle after 3.5 days of force-feeding.  She has not received any shots, so we know it isn't a vaccination bubble. The lump appears to come and go... could this just be some form of milk build-up? or what could it be??


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## doxiemoxie (Jun 26, 2011)

milk goiter- perfectly harmless if that's what it is.

Where exactly on her neck is it? Just under her jaw  at the midline? and then how big?  like the last joint of your thumb?  Does she act like it hurts when you touch it? And lastly, have you checked for a fever?


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## poorboys (Jun 26, 2011)

I have one that has a lump on left jaw towards ear, the vet took a sample and it was a closed salvia gland.


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## ksj0225 (Jun 26, 2011)

Sounds like milk goiter, but where on the neck is it?


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## SDGsoap&dairy (Jun 26, 2011)

Milk goiter ought to be two symmetrical lumps, shouldn't it?


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## Livinwright Farm (Jun 26, 2011)

It is located 1/4-1/2 inch under the back of her jaw on the right side, and is roughly 2/3 the circumference of a dime.


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## Ariel301 (Jun 26, 2011)

Does she have a wattle that it is right above? I had a doeling a couple of years ago born with a wattle that had a lump right where the wattle attached at the throat...if she hadn't been born with it and from a negative herd, I would have sworn it was a CL lump, it was in exactly the right place...but apparently sometimes they get what's called a "wattle cyst", it's just a lump full of clear fluid. I drained it a few times just for cosmetic reasons (it's not infectious but certainly looks bad!) and it disappeared during her first pregnancy and never came back.


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## doxiemoxie (Jun 27, 2011)

This is a list of what you've got there that could be swelling:  thymus (probably not the problem)  thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, lymph nodes, salivary glands.  Along with the tubes and muscles and nerves and blood vessels.  But usually they aren't doing a localized swelling like that.  The thyroid and parathyroid are pretty close to the midline; it doesn't sound like that's the source.

Since its just on one side its less likely that its a milk goiter.  Did you feel around to see if there's any swelling on the other side?  Have you checked her temperature?  If the salivary gland is blocked then warm compresses and massaging might help.  If she has just a single lymph node giving her problems then a compress can help too.  Its also possible that she's having a teething issue.  If she was older I might suspect some cud caused a blockage somewhere.  Will she let you look in her mouth to see if there's swelling there or if there's buildup under her gums?

When the problem "comes and goes" it can be easy to ignore or not realize how bad its getting so be extra vigilant.  Keep us posted.


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## Livinwright Farm (Jun 27, 2011)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> Does she have a wattle that it is right above? I had a doeling a couple of years ago born with a wattle that had a lump right where the wattle attached at the throat...if she hadn't been born with it and from a negative herd, I would have sworn it was a CL lump, it was in exactly the right place...but apparently sometimes they get what's called a "wattle cyst", it's just a lump full of clear fluid. I drained it a few times just for cosmetic reasons (it's not infectious but certainly looks bad!) and it disappeared during her first pregnancy and never came back.


She doesn't have wattles. :/  And we didn't notice it when she was born... and only recently(over the last week + 1 day) have been really handling her due to the switch to bottle feeding.  We are currently waiting to find out what Maude's test results are...   hoping to hear that she is negative


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## jcooke1 (Jun 27, 2011)

Good luck, I know how scary a "lump" can be. One of our 5 month old does had a lump on her neck; the vet and almost everyone else said hands down it is CL. I was not okay with the vet diagnosing w/o even testing her. As you can see from everyone's responses there are many causes to "lumps". I am happy to report that the blood test on my little girl came back negative and vet just ruled it out as some kind of infection. We of course flushed the infection gave her some penicillin and a month or two later (lost track of time) you would never know she had the lump. Either way it is reassuring to test.

This is what hers looked like. You can kind of see it under her jaw line.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jun 28, 2011)

Best of luck to you.  I would guess milk goiter.


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## doxiemoxie (Jul 3, 2011)

I was curious as to how Olivia's neck bump is doing?  Did it resolve?  Did you consult a vet?  Hope everything is well.


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## Livinwright Farm (Jul 4, 2011)

It has gone down some _and she doesn't seem to be in pain when it is touched_... so we are thinking it is just a freak singular milk goiter(leave it to our farm to have something weird like that happen).  We have not been able to get the kids to the vet yet... they have had a LOT of domestic animals on the schedule(double "booking") and emergencies. Oh well.  :/

ETA: area in italics


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