Cancer of penis

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alison247

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We recently lost our 20yr old pony. He had spots on his penis two yrs ago and vet told us it was human papillomas virus and to leave it alone or it would turn cancerous. So we left it alone only to find 18mths later that it had turned cancerous anyway. In May he had his penis removed otherwise we were told to pts. We made the decision on 18/11/08 as he kept getting infections in his sheath and his stitches had burst open. He could have had another op to redirect his urether through his rectum but I felt it was just too big an op. He never looked ill or lost weight but did smell very bad and also had odeama on his stomach. I feel devastated because he might still be fine now if we had left it to up to nature. I would like to know if any one has had penis cancer and how their horse is now.
 
So sorry to hear about your pony.It can't of been a easy decision. A much younger teenage pony at my yard has just had the surgery. We were so worried about him but he's doing very well with no problems after the surgery, unfortunatley he damaged his knee recovering from the anaesthetic, so will prob. always have a mechanical lameness, he's having the winter off and will resume ridden work in the spring. He was lucky, his tumour was a very extensive squamous Cell Carcinoma which was mistaken for a sarcoid in the early days. It never responded to Liverpool cream and the tumour spread from the sheath to the penis so he was refered to Richard Payne at Rossdales. He pees through an opening beneath his rectum like a mare, but he's not bothered. I know his owners had to think long and hard about this decision and for them it all turned out ok. Best wishes X
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your pony.
My horse had spots, lumps and plaques on his penis shortly after I bought him. We only discovered this after I cleaned his sheath. He had several lumps excised and biopsied and it came back with 'precancerous cells' and evidence of papilloma virus. That was 10 years ago (he was given a year to live) and since then we've had the vet cutting off lumps and cleaning him up. I don't know his prognosis, but once he's been cleaned up by the vet, we use natural yoghurt on the sheath. I was offered an operation at the time, but decided against it and managed him by keepping lumps at bay and cleaning. His penis is now excluded on the insurance and I know sooner or later that it's likely that the lumps will start appearing elsewhere as squamous cell carcinomas. I try not to worry about it and let him live life to the full. I would be very interested to hear about others managing this condition. I'm told it's really rare and my horse is well known at the vets!

Sue
 
Oh goodness. My horse has white patches inside his sheath and a long lumpy warty type of lump which comes and goes.

Is this the sort of thing you all noticed?

My vet has seen them, shrugged and advised leaving them alone.

I keep his boy bits very clean as I have heard this can precipitate any cancerous changes.

My horse is also a grey.
 
So sorry to hear about your loss.

My old cob was diagnosed with squamous cell carcanoma (sp?) when he was early 20's. He was ok for a couple of years, apart from the horrendous smell, but then he suddenly lost a lot of weight, became very listless in the field, he was anaemic from his blood loss, and beacuse he also had copd we were advised that an anaesthetic was not an option, so surgery was not an option either - sadly he was pts.
 
I am sorry about your horse, I didnt mean to be insensitive.

You did everything you could for your horse and you should not feel guilty.
 
Just to let other horse owners know what to look for. these spots were noticed on oct 06.about the size of a 5pence. canasta very rarely went in front of us and in the 17yrs we had him he would try and kick us if we even just looked at his bits let alone clean them!
That was the one and only naughty thing he ever did! The vet said it was not anything to do with lack of sheath cleaning as they are not supposed to have detergent up there!!
When these first small spots were noticed we had him sedated to have a better look. Vet said to leave them as if lasered or biopsied they would turn cancerous and spread into the groin.
over the next year when we did occaisionally see them they had got bigger and were nodgled likw warts.
in April/May this year.he began to smell and had a gel like discharge that stuck to his inner thighs. He stood like he wanted to go all day in the field instead of eating.
again we had him sedated and it was horrific. the spots were pink,purple,green and the whole of his penis resembled a cauliflour.
He was operated on 5 days later because we could not bear to lose him. This pony has competed at 7 national championships with my two daughters and we owe him everything.
We sat in the staff room throughout his two hour op and saw him in recovery looking like bamby with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.
Recovery was very good.3 days of painkillers ,10 of antibiotics and was ridden 5 days later!
3 days after he came home we were told the path results showed the cancer had grown back!our vet then went off to the olympics for three months and prepared us for the worst.
we took him on two holidays which he really enjoyed and he put on lots of weight.
He was on piroxicam which is a painkiller plus can inhibit cancer growth. In Oct our vet was back and amazed at how well he looked fat,shiney coat and happy but he had swollen sheat due to infection. We were offered the op to redirect his uerther out by his rectum but we felt it was too big an op as it wouldn't save him from the cancer growth.
By november he had odeama from behind his front leg nearly to his sheath.He was still a delight,happy, eating etc but again couldn't pee.
one day we went out for a hack and he was very slow. took an hour to walk a 20 minute ride. the next morning he looked lame on his back legs and his sheath looked like testicles.
We spent the weekend loving him and slept with him etc before pts.
now I regret it because he was still so happy etc and maybe he could have gone on longer. vet said it was best to quit while we were ahead.
if one owner can be aware of early spots and get treatment in time I will be glad that I posted this!
 
I am so sorry to hear about your horse, but I thank you for sharing his with me as I will keep a very very close eye on the white patches in my horse's sheath as a result. thank you so much for being so brave and sharing.

From what you have said, you did everything you could for your boy and you should not feel guilty. It took him an hour to walk what would normally take 20 mins, he couldnt pee and it sounds like his lymph nodes were also involved. You did the best thing for him. Letting him go with dignity and love, before the cancer got total hold of him.

Thank you again for being so brave and sharing your story. You have made me much more aware of this terrible disease.

x
 
So sorry to hear about your pony.

My 'little man' had the end of his penis removed at age 23, and recovered very well from the op. He returned back to full work (hunting once a week, pony club activities etc) easily and had a happy 4 months until severe colic took him from us. We and his loan owner were concerned about the sudden onset and strange symptoms of the colic, and so the vet did a PM. This revealed cancer of the bowel, which he thought was secondary to the cancer of the penis. It was quite a sizeable tumour and had he not had colic, we may not have known about it until it caused his death.

It sounds like you did what was best for your boy, you should take try to take comfort from that fact, although I know how hard it must be right now.

Just writing this has brought tears to my eyes. Foxy was my first pony, and the best friend I could ever have had.

Big hug for you x
 
It's awful to hear of all these stories, my horse at the moment has just been assessed to have the operation where they remove his penis. It's a worrying time for me as I wasn't sure which way to go with it. My other option would be to have it banded again (last time didn't work) and then burn the remainder of any cells/spores off, but the time length of this is no where near as good as getting rid of the whole thing. He is actually a horse that I have on loan and I feel eternally grateful for the owner in paying for the operation. He is due to have it on the 2nd June, so more sleepless nights worrying wether he is going to come out of the operating theatre and then more worrying about how much pain relief he needs, or infection. The one consolation I have if I get my boy back is that if he does did in the operating theatre I won't have the nightmare of watching him fall to the floor like a sack of potatoes or being pulled up that ramp into the back of a lorry to be carted off somewhere, strange what your mind goes through.
 
Anja finally had his operation and is doing well, he had 6" of penis removed which the vets very kindly kept for me to look at, it wasn't pleasant. He was kept in for 10 days but was itching to go out after one. We are back out as normal hacking round Derbyshire he's his normal self - slow- but he's gorgeous, thankyou to the vets at Bakewell for looking after him for me.
 
Our pony has just been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma on his penis; we really don't know what to do as we could opt for the removal of his penis but vet says the cancer may well have spread elsewhere.
Having nursed my mother in law with cancer I feel that for an animal it's much kinder to put to sleep.
Had a sleepless weekend and waiting for the vet to open so I can discuss again....

It's been a real help reading this thread, any experiences/ advice much appreciated
 
So sorry to hear this Foxy; I hope your vet has been helpful.
FWIW, I agree with you. It is such invasive treatment with an uncertain outcome and it doesn't seem to prolong life that much that sometimes I feel the operations are done more for the owner than being realistic about the chances of recovery.
We all say we would do anything to keep and save our pets, but sometimes, anything can be a step too far and we should stand back and look at it from their prospective. I've lost count of the people I've known of with cancer who have all said 'I wish it was over'; they can talk, our pets can't. I personally wouldn't put any of my animals through that simply because I do love them that much; but it is a purely personal view, I don't expect everyone to agree with me.
Hugs, I really feel for you but I would go with your gut instincts, you know what's best for your pony and how he would cope.
 
Thank you MFH for your kind words

I just feel that surgery to prolong his life for a year or possibly two really isn't fair. I asked the vet how we will know if the cancer has spread and he said when the pony shows other symptoms eg. starts to lose weight, colic etc. I'm just wondering how much he will suffer before he shows those symptoms outwardly.

I don't know, maybe I'm all doom and gloom but I feel when the vet uses the words 'aggresive cancer' then it's time to say goodbye.

My daughter sadly doesn't agree.
Now can't get hold of the vet...
 
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What do the spots look like?

Looks like lots of granulated proud flesh

Any spots on the penis need properly investigating though

Nothing like that - just a pink 'dot' which has been there a long time - and I always thought was colour or lack thereof. As it has never altered in size or shape and isn't raised or different, I shan't panic and will just keep vigilant. He's dark bay and his penis is mostly dark at the end but patchy pink higher up.

I have to say the only experience I have had with it has required surgery to prolong the life of the otherwise healthy and happy horse, but with a very guarded prognosis.
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Just an update on this for those searching and reading the subject (as I did after diagnosis)

Sadly we had our boy PTS as the vet felt there was a good chance that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in his groin and we didn't want to put him through extensive surgery.
 
There is a pony at my vets at the moment who has had his penis removed. I've seen him every week recently, as I've been going back regularly with mine. He is out in the paddock each day looking well and chirpy, and the only reason he is in long term is because his owners have opted for him to stay there during his recovery. My vet told me it is the second one they've had in recently for this surgery, and they can go on to live happy lives afterwards, albeit peeing like a mare.
 
My old boy has just had a similar diagnosis and apart from the offending article he looks amazing for 23. Like an earlier poster he has always strongly objected to having me do anything down there, to the point now that I rarely see it as he keeps it well hidden from me and my rubber gloves!

Its only because it is so hot that I managed to see it the other day and being somewhat alarmed had it investigated. He had a growth removed in 2006 which when tested was diagnosed as a wart. This time it seems that there are cancerous cells.

I could opt to have his penis removed, but that would involve sending him to the UK (I'm in the Channel Islands) and I feel that the stress of the journey would be too much for him, as he can't cope if I change his field let alone his country! We've been together for 17 years and as I couldn't afford to stay off work to be with him, I think he would be distressed to be away from me and home (not necessarily in that order).

So far in his life he has survived, a fractured pedal bone, COPD, numerous lamenesses (I am an expert on poulticing), arthritus, navicular, a fractured nose, sliced his front foot from the frog to the fetlock, two mysterious collapses for seemingly different reasons, and now this. So we watch and wait........and pray that he keeps well
 
I am so sorry for your loss. In response to your earlier post (I should have quoted it), definitely a week to early than a second too late. you did the right thing. He will have gone so happily, especially having spent such a lovely time with you in the days leading up to it.
 
Alison247

DO NOT FEEL GUILTY! Go back & read the symptoms you described. Your horse had cancer - you MIGHT have been able to extend his life a while, you MIGHT have relieived his suffering for a while, then again you might have put him through the stress of an operation from which he didn't recover or just extended his suffering. What you DID do was do the only thing that would definitely end his pain (remember horses are a prey animal & it is their instinct to hide illness) at the expense of your own suffering and as animal owners that is the most loving thing we can do.
 
My daughters first pony has just been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and he is going in for surgery on Monday. I've just been reading all the posts and have tears streaming!! I don't think I could bear to lose him , he's such a funny character but wouldn't want him to suffer needlessly. He's been through alot in the years we've had him with torn tendons and numerous bouts of laminitis due to Cushings but he is at his peak at the moment, he looks fantastic and has been free of laminitis for over 2 years now so I was gutted to find a growth on his penis. The vet is hoping to just remove the growth but may have to do a partial amputation, poor boy.
Everything crossed for us please, and thanks to everyone for sharing their stories it really helps to hear we are not alone...
 
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