Gorgeous new horse has a Sarcoid -advice re flies thuja 30c- dosage for heavy horse

Storminateacup

Storminateacup

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My lovely new boy has a smallish (6-8mm) red sore sarcoid on his left fore armpit.
He keeps scratching the top off whenever it heals and the flies are feasting on it. He is extremely unhandled and wary of fly sprays/ creams or anything near it and I dont want to make him more of a handful than he already is. The vet advised putting toothpaste on it (for the flouride content - re: - 5 fluro- uracil ) until we can start Liverpool cream in the autumn, but that clearly hurt a lot and it was oozing and bloody the next day so I can't reasonably do that again. Going to work on the basis of treating from the inside 'til then, and I will be starting the Thuja 30c tabs tomorow too - so does anyone know the right dosage for a heavy 16.1hh ID/Cob?
Has anyone got any suggestions for something just to keep the flies off for now until the weather gets cooler, that is non- stingy, non-poisonous and reasonably effective?
By the way he lives out - no stable available to bring in.
 
I'd recommend the Thuja cream rather than the tablets. If you follow the instructions with the tablets, you're supposed to have spotlessly clean hands, no strong smells, horse has rigid requirements too. Can't remember the details. My veteran cob x had what may have been a small sarcoid on his face. Vets advised if it might be a sarcoid, treat it as if it is. Some nasty lumps and bumps aren't sarcoids. Vets treated with Liverpool cream and it resolved within a few weeks with no further trouble. He then developed a couple of iffy looking patches in his mane, where he has a whorl in the hair. Could have been anything but I thought I'd start with Thuja cream. It's incredibly gentle but it cleared the dodgy patch up within a week or 2. I would stress that it may NOT have been a sarcoid but hey, who cares, Thuja did the trick. I'm stunned by the toothpaste solution! If I had a skin cancer I wouldn't want someone to slap a bit of toothpaste on it! The Thuja cream would also form a barrier to prevent flies getting at the site - you can apply it as thickly as you like. Take care what you put on a sarcoid - anything that promises to speed up the growth of healthy skin has to be a no-no. The last thing you want to do with a true sarcoid is to speed up its growth. Products with tea tree oil or aloe vera come under that heading. Good luck x
 
I used Thuja tablets in conjunction with BCG vaccine for a horse with sarcoids on her eye lid. I gave her 1 twice daily for 3 days before each treatment and 5 days after.

I was told that the sarcoid would ulcerate and the eye would swell hugely. None of these things happened, and the treating Vets were very suprised. After 5 months the sarcoids were gone and so far no re-occurance.

I don't know if the Thuja had any effect, but the Vet was so impressed with the lack of swelling/ulceration he was going to tell all future owners with horses undergoing the same treatment to use it.

As far as dose for your guy, prob twice daily is sufficient, but probably better to do an on/off cycle, ie. 5 days on it 5 off, as I understand some homeopathic treatments work better this way.
 
If it's extremely weepy you need to get something on it as the flies could make the spread of it worse. i had a similar problem with my horse and found that slapping wet mud (just dug it up from field and mixed it with water), or clay, on worked a treat. the mud dried on it and stopped the sarcoid weeping within 2 days. it also actually made it drop off. But mud is really good just for drying it out.
 
monstermunch said:
If it's extremely weepy you need to get something on it as the flies could make the spread of it worse. i had a similar problem with my horse and found that slapping wet mud (just dug it up from field and mixed it with water), or clay, on worked a treat. the mud dried on it and stopped the sarcoid weeping within 2 days. it also actually made it drop off. But mud is really good just for drying it out.
Click to expand...

That great, and you know I actually thought of using fullers earth or china clay ( ex Beauty Therapist you see) to dry it up and at least it would be "clean mud"
 
He has had 7 days treatment with thuja 30c, someone advised 10 tabs a day in a carrot hollowed out. He has finished them and the sarcoid did look a little less and dried up, but next day the "red marble" was back. Flys were bad that day so I put a dollop of sudocreme as this acts a great barrier to the flies. Got some thuja 6c from Boots and he is back oin ten a day in carrot hollowed out so no contact with tabs.
I am not optimistic that this will work, so when he has finished these it will be thuja cream and tabs together, then Sarc-x cream and supplement, then if still got them its Liverpool cream or perhaps bloodroot cream if I can get it first.
Still cannot find any info on the strength of homeopathic medicines, so not sure which is stronger 30c or 6c- anyone please?
 
For anything open and weaping I swear by betadine ointment - although I hear what your saying about trying to get it on your horse. Its super stick stuff and as a member of the iodine family (its actually the stuff they paint on you before having surgery) so its fights bacteria for ages and helps support the healing process while keeping insects off. I put it on my pony's recurring leg abcess and its doesn't appear to be nippy / stingy.

I was given the heads up by an army plastic surgeon who actually specialises in burns. He'd plaster this stuff on burns victims and said it was incredible healing / scar preventing stuff.

I've had a sniff and it doesn't really smell of anything so you might be lucky and get it on - although its a bugger to get hold of these days.
 
if it is a sarcoid i would be getting the liverpool cream on now! wouldnt be messing with anything else! once the liverpool cream has been applied a hard crust will form, no oozing. each to their own i guess.
 
Homeopathic thuja is normally given one 30c tablet a day, regardless of the size of the horse. 200c would be one tablet twice weekly.

You will be wasting quite a lot using so many!
 
I'd be looking at blood root-this is found in Sarc-off (bit like Liverpool cream in its effects) or Liverpool Cream itself.

My lad had one in his right axilla (armpit) and it was cleared within weeks with LC. Meanwhile, use Summer Fly Cream, the bright yellow stuff: I've never known such an effective fly product.

The trouble is with it being in his axilla, he will keep rubbing scabs off, as you say. What colour is he? If it's in the axilla itself, sudocreme is OK, but obviously be careful it's not exposed to sun as it acts as oil in sunlight and he may burn.

Good luck with whatever treatment you choose.
 
My boy has sarcoids waiting for results from liverpool and the flies are really bothering him at the moment !Will try thuja cream from boots dont think ant harm in trying them
 
Would strongly recommend not putting anything on it that hasn't been approved by your vet. With each treatment of the sarcoid that isn't effective, the sucess rate of any subsequent treatment is much reduced (and none of the sarcoid treatments are 100% sucessful anyway - a total pain!). My mare's sarcoid is weepy and a proper pain with the flys. I clean it with sterile saline, then cover it with a sterile dressing. No sprays, irritating stuff etc! Hopefully the treatment from the vets (cisplatin injections) will kick in soon and it will start healing. I would get your vet out as a matter of urgency and get a plan of action with them. It might be that they recommend delaying liverpool cream treatment until the autumn and there are less flys around, but there are things your vet can do in the mean time to help it. Flys are thought to help spread sarcoids so it is important to keep the flys off.
 
My ID youngster had LC treatment for around 8 sarcoids last spring/summer one of which was in her armpit. That one had the worst reaction and opened up a 6cm diameter crator. I was given Equigel by my vet to put around the wound it's got citronella in it and is soothing. Thankfully her sarcoids have cleared up except for a small bald patch on her girth. I'm currently giving her 7 x 30c tablets once a week (put into a banana) as my 12 months is up with my insurers with vets fees £1200 for the LC treatment mainly due to me finding new sarcoids and needing to have more application visits.

If I were to treat again with LC cream in an armpit location I'd definitely leave until autumn as it's a tricky spot to treat and tends to kill off more tissue than is needed due to the movement of the horse transferring the cream to a larger area.

Wish your horse all the best for a quick recovery.
 
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