# Retained Cud or a Type of Calcified Tumor?



## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

My dear goat Abelene that I just got done saying recently has never had any big health problems has some sort of a hard lump on her face right above her jaw. This has happened before but went away quickly on its own. Last time I thought it was a stick or something that injured her and caused a small lump to form and I massaged it daily for 3 days and it went away completely. It has now come back again several months later in the same spot. It is almost like it could be a clogged saliva gland. I massaged it yesterday and it is already shrinking some but is quite painful for her to have me do that. It isnt in the CL area as it is on the front face upper jaw and is very hard. Maybe she was getting too much rich alfalfa in that last batch of hay and it caused a calcium cyst thing to form? I dont really know and wondered what some of you may think. I will try to get pictures tomorrow. Camera is on loan. She has had minerals but probably not enough.


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## deenak (Oct 10, 2007)

One of my nigerian dwarf goats has a lump that comes and goes on his cheek. We took him to ISU vet school and they told us it was a blocked salivary gland. They drew a sample to make sure it wasn't infected. He seems to take it all in stride. The vet said that if it interfered with his eating that they would talk about further treatment. Good luck !


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Thank you for your reply. It really helped me. I am keeping an eye on her. It looks better today and I may not be supplying enough minerals in her diet. Probably needs to have her calcium, balanced with other minerals.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Here are some pictures of Abelene's face bump. It does hurt her for me to rub or massage it. She acts like it is very painful for me to massage it but I am hoping it will help if it is a saliva gland problem.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

And one more picture.


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## GotmygoatMTJ (Apr 25, 2009)

One of our does would sometimes get that as well. Its completely gone now. I would keep an eye on it and if she appears to have trouble eating, or it gets bigger, a vet visit may be the best way to go.


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## CluckyJay (Aug 3, 2011)

You don't think it could be infection from a tooth, do you?


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## Robynlynn (Jan 18, 2011)

IMHO it looks to be a salivary tumor....I have had this happen 2 X usually they will just go down on thier own....


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I did think about her upper gums to look at them and last time I found nothing inside the mouth at all that looked inflamed. The lump looked much better today and appears to be going down. I have been giving her apple pieces coated in minerals and I think it is helping. I do wonder if she had been getting too much calcium with the last alfalfa mix we bought and not enough other minerals to balance it out. Thanks so much for this input. It is good to know what others have had happen.


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## Goat Song (May 4, 2011)

One of my does had something like that last month. I kept a close eye on it, and it went away on its own after awhile. It was hard to the touch, and she didn't like anything touching it. Looked a lot like what your goat has.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well evidently, she had a sticker inside her cheek or bit her cheek. It softened and oozed out a putrid gagging smelly pus. We drained it on a paper towel, irrigated it with iodine. It was very stinky pus that I gag even thinking about it. We had a lot of foxtails and a few star thistles on the property. We felt the inside of her cheek and there isnt a wound there where the lump is now so it surfaced outword. It is not a tooth problem but is(was) on the very inside of her cheek at the corner of her mouth area. We blobbed sulfur cream inside and now after several days, she is doing very well.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

and to add. The lump was outside and oozed from the outside that we know of. We put the cream on the outside of her face and not the inside but we felt the cheek on discovered that it was a lump on her cheek, close to her mouth opening, not on her jaw or salivary gland. We are confident that it was a sticker of some sort of penetration that caused an infection lump.


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## Farmgirl675 (Oct 21, 2010)

Just thought I would share some info the vet gave us years ago after we had a calf with a lump similiar to what you described......He said that many times the animal during eating will get something (hay, straw, thorn ect) jabbed into there gums or cheeks and that as natural response the body will encapsulate it and it will actually work its way to the outer skin and burst to expell whatever it is. We have had MANY of these type of lumps...I can still smell them just thinking about it...they are putrid! Anyway we clean them with iodine as you did and then we pack them full of ichthamol(sp) or iodine ointment and they heal up nicely.


Glad she is doing well.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

sticker/thorn or something like farmgirl675 said sounds very likely 

my goat years ago love to rub on the fence (wood) and would get festering splinters from it


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

Yep, I bet it is a sticker or something. 

I was going to say a tooth also, but you have already ruled that out.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Farmgirl675 said:


> Just thought I would share some info the vet gave us years ago after we had a calf with a lump similiar to what you described......He said that many times the animal during eating will get something (hay, straw, thorn ect) jabbed into there gums or cheeks and that as natural response the body will encapsulate it and it will actually work its way to the outer skin and burst to expell whatever it is. We have had MANY of these type of lumps...I can still smell them just thinking about it...they are putrid! Anyway we clean them with iodine as you did and then we pack them full of ichthamol(sp) or iodine ointment and they heal up nicely.
> 
> Glad she is doing well.


Oh thank yo so much for your input. It really helps to read what others have had to go through. I will check on the ichtamol(iodine ointment) That sounds like something to have for these type of things.


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

One of my does got something similar, but bigger, only when she was pregnant (not sure if it had ANYTHING to do with her state at the time), but it would always go away, and on its own, or by my rubbing. It looked as if her cud got 'stuck', if that makes any sense. It never looked like a tumor, and always went away, and then after she kidded, never happened again. I'm guessing the issue was with salivary glands, as the previous poster suggested...


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