Eye looks odd

[setterlover]

Noticed this a couple of weeks ago a couple of days before I went away.Just got back from the holiday and it's the same. Person looking after them said he was behaving as normal no head shaking or rubbing his face.
Doesn't seem to bother him not weeping or sore not rubbing the eye or the side of his face or shaking his head. Not at all bothered in himself eating etc
Thoughts ? I am calling the vet out tomorrow to take a look.
Horse is a coloured cob in his ,twenties retired so not ridden .

 

[Goldenstar]

Your right to get the vet to look I hope it’s easily sorted .

 

[GypsGal1718]

Get vet out is the right thing, hope it can get better!

 

[asmp]

Bit hard to see from the photo but could he have caught it on something? Our Appy snagged his eyelid on a bramble. Vet came straight out after we sent a photo over. He needed a stitch as there was a small cut.

 

[setterlover]

Not sure it sort of appeared all of a sudden fine one day and then the next day I noticed it .The horses are brought in everyday morning and evening and I thoroughly check them over carefully I can't believe I would have missed it.
I will phone tomorrow to get a vet to come out and look.

 

[Cortez]

That looks like a squamous cell tumour. Vet.

 

[setterlover]

That looks like a squamous cell tumour. Vet.

I must admit that has crossed my mind.
Hope not but will check it out with the vet.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

That looks like a squamous cell tumour. Vet.

Agree. It looks identical to the one my skewbald had back in the day. Waste no time, soonest seen equals a better outcome.

 

[setterlover]

I am waiting for their eye specialist to come out and look .
I have a very bad feeling about this and given his age (twenties ) and the fact he is not insured due to his age etc I am not sure this is going to end well
Feeling quite low about it.
Have to wait and see what eye specialist thinks

 

[setterlover]

Eye vet coming out tomorrow.
My husband and I have discussed this at length.
The more I look the more this is likely to be squamous cell carcinoma.
We do not want dramatic intervention I will enquire as to any non-invasive treatment to extend his quality of life .
He is in his mid twenties I struggle keeping his weight down as he is a laminitis risk so has to be kept on restricted grazing and corralled off the grass part of the time.This year his coat makes me wonder if he is borderline cushings before this all kicked off was wondering about testing him. In the spring.
He is not insured other than third party we are both in our 70's so any costs will have to come out of our savings.
Writing it down makes it sound harsh and clinical but he is a nice old boy and has been in retirement for 3 to 4 years as we don't ride anymore I don't want to put him through surgery so I'd be tempted if there is no non invasive option to let him go.
No harsh words please this is hard enough.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Our horse had similar removed when he was 28 . It was done under standing sedation, he stayed in for a few hours after the removal and then was back out in a mask. The vet took quite a wide margin but it healed quickly and test came back as benign, he is now 31 and in great condition, though has mild Cushings medicated with half a prascend. He was not insured but it wasn't a hugely expensive procedure as I recall. I would not criticise you in any way if you decided to let him go but wanted to give you my experience.

 

[setterlover]

Thanks MurphyMinder
There is a lot to factor into the decision.
We are seriously thinking of selling up and downsizing in the next couple of years my husband will be ,80 in a couple of years and it will certainly be before. that.Any horses left will go on retirement livery so that is also a factor.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I am in the same age bracket as you and also have an old horse in retirement. I am brutally honest in that if anything serious was to occur with her she will be put down. As long as she is happy she will stay and I hope that is for a while yet. Hopefully yours can be kept happy for a while yet without too much intervention but if not PTS would be sensible. There comes a time in life when you have to be pragmatic and put your own welfare first.

 

[ycbm]

Eye vet coming out tomorrow.
My husband and I have discussed this at length.
The more I look the more this is likely to be squamous cell carcinoma.
We do not want dramatic intervention I will enquire as to any non-invasive treatment to extend his quality of life .
He is in his mid twenties I struggle keeping his weight down as he is a laminitis risk so has to be kept on restricted grazing and corralled off the grass part of the time.This year his coat makes me wonder if he is borderline cushings before this all kicked off was wondering about testing him. In the spring.
He is not insured other than third party we are both in our 70's so any costs will have to come out of our savings.
Writing it down makes it sound harsh and clinical but he is a nice old boy and has been in retirement for 3 to 4 years as we don't ride anymore I don't want to put him through surgery so I'd be tempted if there is no non invasive option to let him go.
No harsh words please this is hard enough.

Blimey, you won't hear any harsh words from me, that sounds like a very sensible plan for all three of you.

A friend was persuaded to go down the route of radioactive rods after the first operation to remove it failed and it grew back. It made the most enormous mess of the eyelid and the tumour still grew into the brain (because the eye is an extension of the brain with a direct nerve connection) and the mare was PTS anyway after suffering the treatment.
.

 

[Fransurrey]

Fingers crossed for it being easily treatable. If it is SCC, a friend's cob had one and it was removed under standing sedation. That was followed by eye drops (can't remember for sure if it was chemo, but think it was). Only management needed other than drops was a fly mask for a while.

 

[Cortez]

My only experience of this had a good outcome; the tumour looked almost exactly like your horse's, was removed neatly under light sedation and healed up just fine. Horse lived another 10 years (he was younger than yours) and ultimately died of something unrelated. Your thoughts on your horse are eminently sensible and you certainly won't get any negative feedback from me.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

@setterlover absolutely no criticism from me. It sounds a wise and sensible course of action to me. I am in my 70s, husband in his 80s and my health and future outlook in particular is now quite grim to say the least. I shall be making the same decision for my old retired mare at some point in the near future. I hope it turns out to be nothing serious but if it is I for one (and I suspect most sensible minded forum members) will be behind your decision 100 per cent. Difficult times for you, I am sorry.

 

[meleeka]

I chose not to treat a Squamous Cell Tumour on my old mares vulva. It didn’t bother her often and my vet banded it once (before we knew what it was) which kept it under control, until something else got her around a year later. When they get old it’s like fighting fire, you might sort one thing, but then something else just comes along. Often it’s better just to let them go when that time comes. Even if money was no object, I don’t think treating things in an old horse is necessarily the best thing if it’s going to cause them stress to do it.

 

[Alibear]

Everything you've written seems very sensible to me. I let my old boy go last Autumn under similar circumstances. I'd promised him no more operations 8 years previously after he'd had a series of them for his teeth.

 

[Rowreach]

No judgement here either, I wish more people were more pragmatic about their older horses tbh. Having said that, see what the specialist says tomorrow because it may not require radical intervention. At least you and your husband have talked it through already.

 

[Britestar]

Slightly different, mine had a lump on her eye that turned out to be lymphoma.

I kept her comfy for the summer, then said goodbye. She was 23yrs old and homebred.

 

[setterlover]

Thank you everyone for being so kind.
I would hate to have to make a decision without thinking it through and hubby and I are a team so we share the bad as well as the good and talk things through.
Sometimes l question that just because we CAN treat something we SHOULD treat it, particularly if the end result just pushes the inevitable down the track a bit. I will have an open mind tomorrow
but I am equipped with the questions I need to ask and the parameters I will set.
All my horses live the good life, want for nothing and enjoy a happy retirement I have never " moved a horse on ' when they get old and will never put them through unnecessary suffering just to keep them for my benefit a little while longer (if it is not in their best interests)
They live the good life and will have the privilege of a good death (if necessary)
Not all horses are privileged to get that
Every one has taken a small part of my heart with them when they have gone
Hope tomorrow brings better news than I fear.

 

[9tails]

Don't worry too much yet, if anything it looks like it's on the third eyelid and they can cope fine without it. A horse on my yard had one removed last week, he was at the vet for 2 hours and it was done under standing sedation.

 

[Fransurrey]

Good luck, today, SL.

 

[setterlover]

Vet has been and it's a squamous cell carcinoma as was suspected and is quite large which you couldn't see until he was sedated.
The vet was lovely and his first question was what do you want to achieve and what didn't you want to happen.
I said I didn't want dynamic surgical intervention given his age but wanted him comfortable to enjoy his life and enjoy at least a summer with the sun on his back.
There is a new drug they are using which is injected directly into the tumour which reduces the tumour in size considerably.
He had seen a case study of 18 horses 9 with surgical intervention and 9 with the drug injected into the ,tumour. The 9 with NO surgical intervention did considerably better than the ones that were surgically treated.
He has booked to come out again in 2 weeks to re inject and then assess how often he will need it re injected it ( probably every couple of months)
He lightly sedated him put local anaesthetic into the eye then injected the actual tumour in 4 places with the new drug.
The horse was an angel and stood really quiet and still while it was done.
Hopefully it will give him some quality time and best case scenario the tumour will be eradicated.

 

[meleeka]

Well that sounds positive. I wish I’d known about this new drug last year with my old girl, I’d have certainly asked my vet to try it. (I decided against surgery because she’d have had to travel to the vets and wouldn't let me near her back end to clean it, so aftercare would have been impossible anyway).

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I think, to be honest, that has to be a good result considering you were pretty certain in your mind what it was anyway, and the expected outcome.This treatment plan does give you at the very least a few more months with him comfortable and enjoying retirement, or best of all even a possibility he might be around for even longer than that. Every thing crossed for a very successful treatment.

 

[setterlover]

Thinking about turn out for the coloured horse now we are sure that we are dealing with a squamous cell tumour on his eye .
I am wondering about switching around the turnout as the vet feels he will need protection from the sun.
They currently are corralled on a pole barn and forecourt overnight and out in the day. I am thinking I might reverse that and put them out at night and corral them on the pole barn during the day which would keep him out of the sun (if we ever get any!) during the day.
I could use a fly mask to keep him out in the day but he is terrible at keeping one on and I spend more time searching for it in the field than him wearing it.
I could create a pen 12 ft by 20 ft in one end of the pole barn in the shady area for him and the others can use outside area and the rest of the pole barn ( it is 75 long ft by 20 ft deep) there would be plenty of room for the others for when they are in during the day.
I could put a mask on him as well as at least I will find it easily enough in an enclosed area.
Does that sound sensible?
Feel much happy now we have a plan.

 

[meleeka]

Thinking about turn out for the coloured horse now we are sure that we are dealing with a squamous cell tumour on his eye .
I am wondering about switching around the turnout as the vet feels he will need protection from the sun.
They currently are corralled on a pole barn and forecourt overnight and out in the day. I am thinking I might reverse that and put them out at night and corral them on the pole barn during the day which would keep him out of the sun (if we ever get any!) during the day.
I could use a fly mask to keep him out in the day but he is terrible at keeping one on and I spend more time searching for it in the field than him wearing it.
I could create a pen 12 ft by 20 ft in one end of the pole barn in the shady area for him and the others can use outside area and the rest of the pole barn ( it is 75 long ft by 20 ft deep) there would be plenty of room for the others for when they are in during the day.
I could put a mask on him as well as at least I will find it easily enough in an enclosed area.
Does that sound sensible?
Feel much happy now we have a plan.

Out at night sounds like a good plan. I would wait and see what the weather has in store before you make any firm plans though

 

[Goldenstar]

You are doing a good job .