# Swelling on Abdomen



## Horsesdontlie

As always should put the disclaimed out first. *I will have the vet coming out within the next week*, he seems unconcerned. 

Okay, so long time, no talk. But in short I'm a little worried about Jake and thought I would throw this out there so I can possibly hear some answers before the vet comes out next week.

At the middle of spring (aprilish?) I noticed that Jake was getting large, soft swellings on his lower belly. They would be very soft and fluid filled. They would range from size of a golf ball to a grape fruit. He also had some smaller lumps on his back/rump area. 

I noticed that there are a lot of bees coming out at this stables. Sometimes I find them on the ground in his pen and what not. So I ended up concluding that Jake was rolling on bees. (He also is sensitive to the flies in the area) so I got him a fly sheet. The problem didn't go away, so I asked my vet over the phone about it (june) right after he had looked over Jake for his lamness issues. He said he didn't really notice it and that a lot of geldings have muscles that will swell up on the underside of their belly when it is very hot out. 

This summer has been VERY hot so I believed him. Well it somewhat went away, for about a month until it came back 10x worse. So it pretty much looks like the attachment : (A bad picture, I'll take more tonight)

I was then told that it might be from Jake laying down on the mats in his pen instead of the dirt. That laying on his own legs causes the swelling. Well we put down a lot of shavings and a month later it has not improved. 

So now Jake has two lines of swelling that start right behind where the cinch would go back to his sheath. They make a V shape joining the point where the cinch would be in the middle of the bottom of the chest the widening out towards the flank. He also has a very swollen sheath.

I have checked for beans
He gets sprayed with fly spray. 
It does not seem painful, 
It seems to be getting firmer over time. 
There has been no diet change and no bedding change.
This has become more and more of a problem since I have retired Jake. He does not get regularly exercised due to ringbone. 

He does stock up in his hind legs but the swelling on his belly does not go away with exercise like his legs do.


----------



## Roperchick

sounds like a hematoma to me.

is his sheath swollen? 

we have a gelding at the ranch whos in his 20's and has a big hematoma on his belly right now.

vet said he wasnt getting enough exercise so we turned him loose in the field and its starting to get smaller.


----------



## Horsesdontlie

Roperchick said:


> sounds like a hematoma to me.
> 
> is his sheath swollen?
> 
> we have a gelding at the ranch whos in his 20's and has a big hematoma on his belly right now.
> 
> vet said he wasnt getting enough exercise so we turned him loose in the field and its starting to get smaller.


Hm, I guess that could be a possibility. I had thought that hematomas would reabsorb by now, but maybe not. 

Sheath is swollen. 

Right now he is in a 12x24 pen but I'm in the process of getting him moved into a small pasture. Then in a few months he will be moved into a 2 acre pasture for retirement.


----------



## Roperchick

its sounding more and more like a hematoma at least imo.

the gelding at the ranch has had his for about 2 weeks and its just barely starting to get smaller...it was wierd because he had done a 5 mile parade the day before and then bam huge hematoma on his belly.

but now that hes getting more exercise, more lessons etc the swelling is starting to go down.

maybe try some extra exercise with your boy? like some lunging etc to see if it helps.


----------



## clippityclop

Well, it wouldn't be a hematoma unless he had an injury - hematomas are blood filled - maybe edema is what you are looking for (fluid filled). Common in older horses who have limited exercise, and an impending (or undiagnosed) insulin disorder or maybe even just has 'old age' syndrome which means just that, old age and the heart isn't pumping efficiently enough for the blood to displace the fluid that naturally builds up on the lower extremities (just like an old person) - is your horse geriatric? 

For a minute there, i was thinking pigeon fever because the swelling is exactly the way you describe and sometimes even on the chest. We are having a bad year of that down here in TX this fall - it is the time of year for it. Nasty stuff! Let's hope it is something much more simple!


----------



## Roperchick

haha yeah^ sorry. thats what the vet kept calling it when the BO called out about the gelding. lol but then she had to keep correcting him saying edema and i got hematoma stuck in my head when he kept calling it that lol.


----------



## New_image

My mare has some sort of a edema. We aren't sure what its from but shes had it around for the better part of this year. I hadn't seen anything similar until this post.


----------



## Super Nova

Looks like edema to me....possibly from a fly bite....or a a bee sting.

My horses have had some pretty nasty edema from bug bite reactions.


----------



## Super Nova

Whoops posted wrong pic and don't know how to change it....this is the one I meant to post


----------



## Horsesdontlie

Roperchick said:


> maybe try some extra exercise with your boy? like some lunging etc to see if it helps.


The type of exercise he can do is very limited due to his advanced ringbone. Any long periods of anything above a walk leave him sore. So he gets out and does a little walk/trot and on good days he'll canter too. But the longest I will ask for a trot is about 2 minutes each direction. Then one some days I can only hand walk him because he is a little more tender. 



> Well, it wouldn't be a hematoma unless he had an injury - hematomas are blood filled - maybe edema is what you are looking for (fluid filled). Common in older horses who have limited exercise, and an impending (or undiagnosed) insulin disorder or maybe even just has 'old age' syndrome which means just that, old age and the heart isn't pumping efficiently enough for the blood to displace the fluid that naturally builds up on the lower extremities (just like an old person) - is your horse geriatric?
> 
> For a minute there, i was thinking pigeon fever because the swelling is exactly the way you describe and sometimes even on the chest. We are having a bad year of that down here in TX this fall - it is the time of year for it. Nasty stuff! Let's hope it is something much more simple!


Aw yes, thats why I was thinking a hematoma would be odd, unless he is bursting capillaries from laying down on the mats like someone had said to me. But it does seem more like an Edema. 

Jake is somewhere around 23-24 years old, so definitely up there. I'm just shocked it was so sudden and is not going away. Jake looks like a much younger horse, and besides the ringbone he shows little signs of aging. 

I'll look up pigeon fever, but he is not showing any other signs of illness at all. So hopefully not. =\



> My mare has some sort of a edema. We aren't sure what its from but shes had it around for the better part of this year. I hadn't seen anything similar until this post.


That does look very similar, though Jake's has gotten larger than that.



> Looks like edema to me....possibly from a fly bite....or a a bee sting.
> 
> My horses have had some pretty nasty edema from bug bite reactions.


I would have assumed if it was an edema due to bug bite/sting it would have gone away by now. I had thought thats what the issue was, but its remained consistent for a little while now.


----------



## Horsesdontlie

I have more pictures if anyone else has anything to add, Jake is being moved to a larger pen tomorrow and the Vet should be out by the end of this week. Swelling has actually decreased.


----------



## clippityclop

He's such a handsome ol' boy!


----------



## Horsesdontlie

clippityclop said:


> He's such a handsome ol' boy!


Why thank you. I do have to say that these are not very flattering pictures of him, though. Lol. His head is just too large for the side shot. :lol:


----------



## clippityclop

My pics come out that way, too - why is that? My horses heads always look too big for their body or skewed in some way that makes them look silly - I can never take a picture of them the way I see them - LOL! 

Well, your horse is happy - I can see it in his expression - he's smiling, I think! You must have had treats in your pockets.:wink:


----------



## Super Nova

If your horse was active and then suddenly went inactive the edema could be from that..........I've got a horse with IR and she is out on pasture for the summer and ridden once or twice a week but when fall comes and there is no grass and she is back in her gravel paddock 24/7 with hay she developes edema in the belly area .......if I round pen her once a day for a few days it goes away and does not usually come back.

Super Nova

PS and the bug bites that I posted pictures of took several weeks to disappear.


----------



## Army wife

my guess is edmea due to inactivity


----------



## Horsesdontlie

clippityclop said:


> My pics come out that way, too - why is that? My horses heads always look too big for their body or skewed in some way that makes them look silly - I can never take a picture of them the way I see them - LOL!
> 
> Well, your horse is happy - I can see it in his expression - he's smiling, I think! You must have had treats in your pockets.:wink:


Jake's head is actually larger than is should be. He is only 15.1 hands and uses an oversized bridle. 0.0 The reins that came with the bridle are so ridiculously long for his very short neck. 

Here is a better picture of him from about a year and a half ago. Big head, small body. Lol.










I like to think he is. I actually didn't then, but normally he knows I have a few on me. =P 



> If your horse was active and then suddenly went inactive the edema could be from that..........I've got a horse with IR and she is out on pasture for the summer and ridden once or twice a week but when fall comes and there is no grass and she is back in her gravel paddock 24/7 with hay she developes edema in the belly area .......if I round pen her once a day for a few days it goes away and does not usually come back.
> 
> Super Nova
> 
> PS and the bug bites that I posted pictures of took several weeks to disappear.


Yes thats pretty much what happened, he went from being ridden 3-4 days a week pretty actively to little to nothing. 

I'll work to see if I can lunge him some more. I have been over the past few days and it actually is starting to go down. I guess maybe before I possibly wasn't lunging him long enough. 

But he also is now getting settled into his bigger pen and hopefully will move around more on his own now.


----------

