Melanoma in mouth

digitalangel

digitalangel

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 November 2006
Messages
1,857
Location
BellEnd.
Visit site
My boy is 19 but never shown any signs of melanomas anywhere but had his dentist checkup and we found 2 small melanomas about an inch forward of where he bit sits on the inside of his lips.

Has anyone had this before? have seen them before around the anus and around the glands of the lymph nodes in the neck ( my boy has big grass glands but they do go down! ) but not in the mouth - is it worth getting the vet out to see if any treatment is suitable or is it watch and wait and see?
 
It wouldn't hurt for you to try turmeric. Any veterinary treatment inside the mouth is going to be invasive and uncomfortable, I would have thought. There is a very good supportive Turmeric Users group on Facebook. Some very impressive stories. At your horse's age, its going to come down to quality of life.
 
i already tried tumeric for his spavins,made no difference and looking at the timeframe of when these came up he would have been on it then too. So no difference but thanks for the suggestion, it is appreciated.
 
Bruce has one on his tongue(part of the reason he was retired as he cant wear a jointed bit/double bridle at all, only a mullen mouth that sits quite low in his mouth so doesnt give a good enough contact for dressage and eventually will need a hackamore).

he is 19 so we are just keeping an eye on it. Vet checks it every time he jabs anything and dentist sees it twice a year. Its very very slow growing and at his age i wouldnt put him through surgery. he is happy and eating up well.
 
I had an email pal whose arab mare had a melanoma in her mouth in the same place. She rode in a hackamore until the tumour interferred with that, and then retired her. I believe the vet attempted to treat it with Cimetidine, but my friend always felt that the dose was too low. I don't think it did any good.
 
Thanks guys - he is insured ( just most of his legs excluded lol ) is it worth trying treatment do you think?

Hes happily in full work at the moment, and hasnt interfered with the bit as yet is it worth trying to treat with pills now while its small?
 
There was an elderly horse on my yard with this. He was operated on to remove the lumps and recovered very quickly with no after effects. I believe he was over 20 at the time and went on to be ridden for another couple of years until his Cushings caught up with him.
 
I'd get vet out asap. There is (was?) a trial of localised chemo for melanomas taking place at Liverpool Uni under Prof Knottenbelt which might be useful for you. My boy has melanomas in his sheath and around his anus and I looked into getting him onto this trial two years ago but his are way too big and would require surgery first - which is a massive job due to the lack of skin that would remain in the sheath to stitch back together. Along with my vet and Prof Knottenbelt we decided this meant he wouldn't benefit from it especially as if the chemo didn't work he could be in a worse position with melanomas growing more quickly so we've left well alone, insurance has also excluded melanomas. We'll make a decision on the surgery if and when they become a problem as he's comfortable, happy and otherwise healthy at the moment.

That was a long winded way of saying get them treated asap before they get to big to deal with. Surgery is generally not recommended as unless you get every last bit, (and they're like the iceberg that struck the Titanic, what you can't see is much more than what you can) it makes them grow faster, so this chemo trial is potentially a big breakthrough. I've never heard of them inside the mouth before so no idea if the mouth is suitable for the localised chemo treatment (fortnightly injections directly into the lump under sedation) that's being trialled - or if the trial is still going ahead, but there's also anecdotal evidence of cimetidine (a human drug for stomach ulcers) working to reduce / slow the growth of melanomas.

Ask your vet what he knows about it, or if necessary contact Prof Knottenbelt directly. He was very helpful when I was trying to decide what to do. Liverpool Uni webiste shows his contact details.
 
Wow thanks so much annagain! im off to go bother this professer i think - this horse is the world to me - i know to expect melanomas in older greys but really thought we had gotten away with it thus far, and when the dentist told me it felt like a big punch in the gut for me! Cant think of a reason why insurance would exclude so will follow up thank you!
 
yes, please speak to Prof K, he's about the only clinician who really knows much about them-cimetidine has only showed 50% success in one trial and noone's ever been able to replicate the results. its so expensive here that its only worth doing on insurance. Something like cisplatin (also debatable efficacy) couldnt be used in the mouth anyway.
 
Just to add if you have a friendly pharmacist you can get a private prescription for cimetidine and buy from them rather than vet (as it's a human drug). I was very lucky as one girl at the yard is married to a pharmacist who let me have it at cost price. Still expensive though and had to be given orally, preferably 3 times a day at equal intervals. I could only manage 2. It didn't seem to work for mine. They didn't grow noticeably while he was on cimetidine but didn't reduce either, and have grown after I'd stopped (after a year when insurance ran out) but that was about 5 years ago so I'd expect that and I don't think they've grown very quickly compared to some.
 
When I bought my horse 20 years ago the vetting identified melanomas in her mouth, I was a headstrong kid and that didn't put me off.

I have never interfered with them, she is now 26 years old.

To start with I used a straight bar vulcanised Pelham (to take some pressure off her mouth) I have never been able to get her to accept the contact for too long (dressage wasn't really our strong point!)

I ride her very lightly respecting her mouth and have never had any issues, we have since used a number of other bits without a problem.

Im glad I didn't interfere, I would have if it started causing issues and its something I do monitor x
 
annagain said:
Good luck. I stalked him for a bit but he was very helpful and didn't take out a restraining order!
Some info here: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/melanoma-treatment-trialled-for-grey-horse-cancer/
Click to expand...

Prof K is absolutely my hero. He gave me hope when everything looked very black for my horse, and carried on encouraging and helping us over the next 15 years. Any time I had a problem I just emailed him and he would come back with the answer within a day or two. When I eventually messaged him to say time had finally caught up with my horse and that we had come to say goodbye and thank you, he wrote the kindest, most touching reply which I treasure. As far as I'm concerned he should be knighted both for services to horses AND their owners!
 
There've also been some interesting accounts from people with arc equines that the horses melanomas reduce or are rejected from the body. I've seen pictures but obviously this hasn't been clinically trialled and is more anecdotal. Might be worth a look for such an awkwardly located one though.
 
Sorry to read this, didn't want to not comment. No experience with melanoma (touch wood) only sarcoids.
Another friend has a pre with melanoma, though, and they haven't changed in the 7 plus years she has owned him.
Hugs. X
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top