How long could he live

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Ryehill

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Hi - we are considering taking on a horse for retirement as a field companion but have been advised of his problems so are fully aware. Just wondered if there are any vets on line that could advise a bit more about this condition and bottom line in reality how long could he live with this for and what would be the signs to look out for that things had progressed.

Any help much appreciated.

Info below:
diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma on his Penis in July 10, at this stage he has a reefing procedure and local resection to remove multiple lesions and papillomatous warts, the procedure was deemed a success and he returned to work Feb 11. He resumed normal work for 4 months until he began exhibiting abnormal lethargy and a new lesion was discovered on his penis.
Due to this lesion and multiple other lesions identified on his penis a full surgical amputation was recommended as a life saving procedure, this was performed in Oct 11, leaving a urinary stoma in place of his sheath, prepuce and penis.
he made an excellent recovery and had normal urinary continence within 2 days! After a couple of months at grass it was decided for him to go back to very light work . Since Feb 12 been maintained on walk exercise only with occasional trots to keep him interested.
He has no external signs of his current condition, however the Squamous Cell Carcinoma is certainly still spreading internally and there is no way of determining when this could cause a catastrophic incident.
He is 23.

I'm only looking for responses from people that have experience of this either as vets or owners of horses with such problems. I don't want any 'kindest thing would be to put him to sleep messages'. We are well aware of the problems he has at the moment which he has overcome and still has an amazing quality of life. Just looking for further info on the natural progression of this disease
 
hi, it will just be like cancer in humans...............someone who is diagnosed with a cancer will have a different life expectancy to someone else.

crudely speaking it will depend on the cancer grading and other factors and the total amount of secondaries.

this horse might only have the summer...........a month or you still might have him in 5 yrs time. if he is healthy otherwise i would say take him on as a companion.

take a photo so you have a reference photo to look back on, small changes over time can sneak up on you. but if it was me i would say i would give him a try. he must be a fighter to have got to this age with all his illness.

you could find a younger model who has an accident or serious illness and only have this horse a month.
 
To be honest, unless you have a very soft spot for the potential companion. I wouldn't do it to the other horse. It could get very attached and then lose its companion. I know that could happen to any horse, but it's certain to happen, and probably sooner rather than later, to this one.
 
One of my liveries had a horse with this, she decided not to have surgery as he had many other issues. The cancer spread quite quickly on his sheath and penis and internally, I believe it was no more than 12-18mths possibly less before she made the very hard decision to PTS.

Obviously the tumours we could see were external but they had a lot of blood and discharge and grew very rapidly. It became impossible to keep him clean enough to stop flies etc and he got continuous infections so was constantly on antibiotics and trying to allow him to keep his dignity was quite distressing for his owner. He also sufffered quite a bit of discomfort and was permanently buted to help with this so she decided to PTS having tried her hardest to give him some quality of life. I don't know if the internal tumours could also suffer from this type of infection and weeping, but my experience of this would tend to be don't let it drag on too long as many horses hide their pain well. You could tell he was uncomfortable from the way he stood and and his sheath was very swollen. I think the horse will tell you from his demeanour and the usual signs of ill health. You just need to keep an eye on him and if you feel he is happy fine but a vet can advise you what sort of check ups he will need.
 
It is unusual for squamous cell carcinomas to spread internally to distant sites (metastasis); usually they are a locally invasive tumour so if they can be entirely removed with good margins there is no reason to believe the horse has any shorter life span than any other horse.
 
Thanks fowks - your replies are much appreciated. With regard to the mention of not doing it to the other horse as he could become attached - we have three horses and the reason we wanted to take this boy on was because he was attached to my other horse for years as they worked hard in their previous lives together. My boy was retired 3 years ago but this lad was kept on. I've always wanted to reunite them and now we have the chance to but have been informed of the problems he has had.
 
TBH, I would take him on, you take a risk with any horse, you never know whats around the corner - there's every chance this one could go on to live another 10 years yet. I am certainly no expert on everything to do with horses, but I do know they always surprise you when you least expect it! :)
 
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