Melanomas and much loved aged pony what would you do?

[Marigold4]

I have owned this pony for 12 years and had a fantastic time with her. She's now approx 24 (no papers). I retired her a couple of years ago when she developed arthritis in her hock. She is no trouble at all to keep and a lovely kind animal. She's had melanomas under her tail for 5 years. I was told by vet at the time of discovering first to leave well alone. In the last year she has developed a swelling above her eye/under her ear which vet has confirmed he thinks its a tumour growing but we haven't done a biopsy. Her breathing is a bit laboured and Ventopulmin hasn't helped. Now she has developed large firm lumps on her abdomen. Despite all this she looks pretty chirpy. Question is what would you do at this point? I feel I owe it to her to prevent something awful developing but can't bear to lose her.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

You must act in the pony's best interests, putting your own feelings aside, unfortunately. The best time to let them go, when you know that there is no improvement to be made, is when they are still feeling chirpy, imo.

It is never an easy decision, I feel for you.

 

[be positive]

Sadly they are probably growing inside her and there is nothing you can do other than have a plan as to when you do call it a day and pts before they cause her too much discomfort, it is never easy to do when they seem to be generally well but you have given her 12 good years and the kindest thing will be to do it before she deteriorates further.
I lost a young, 13 year old, to melanomas that grew extremely rapidly and he went downhill very quickly so I let him go before it was an emergency, my vet was surprised at how quickly they developed and agreed that pts was the only option, you do get over it and can look back on the good times you had.

 

[Red-1]

I lost my first pony to melanomas. He had them under his tail for many years, then one day one popped out on his ribs.

He over the next week he was also breathless coming up the steep hill from the field. He was gone the week after. He looked ready for the show ring other than the couple of lumps, despite being the wrong side of 35, and that is the way I wanted him to go.

It is an awful time when their age catches up with them.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Sadly they are probably growing inside her and there is nothing you can do other than have a plan as to when you do call it a day and pts before they cause her too much discomfort, it is never easy to do when they seem to be generally well but you have given her 12 good years and the kindest thing will be to do it before she deteriorates further.
I lost a young, 13 year old, to melanomas that grew extremely rapidly and he went downhill very quickly so I let him go before it was an emergency, my vet was surprised at how quickly they developed and agreed that pts was the only option, you do get over it and can look back on the good times you had.

I lost an 11yo in the same way-after having a very small one for years his began growing very quickly, we had tried two different treatments but a scan showed them inside his rectum and they got much bigger in the space of a week. One morning he was in obvious discomfort peeing (which may have been due in part to the chemo he had on one on his dock) and I called it a day. I didn't want it to turn into an emergency colic/internal bleed situation.sorry you are facing this OP.

 

[scats]

So sorry to hear this OP, but I think I would be considering calling it a day. I had a pony who was riddled with melanomas, they were everywhere, but amazingly nothing internal that ever caused her a problem.
My friends mare however, developed them in her windpipe and had to be put to sleep.

 

[honetpot]

Its hard to face but I would make practical plans for PTS. Its the holidays really till Tuesday. I would try and have a ring round to see what is available and when.
I had a much loved young cat PTS unexpectedly on Saturday, tough as it was he wasn't going to get better and trying to find an emergency vet over the holiday would have been stressful for him and for us.
Four Christmases holidays ago I had a horse PTS due to an emergency, in the snow, in the dark using car head lights and a torch. The fallen stock company couldn't get to the field for days because of the snow, and in the end a kind farmer had to get a tele handler to move the 16.2 out of the field.
Animals are very good at hiding pain and often only show distress when they are really struggling, better sooner than later.

 

[Marigold4]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Really helpful to have your thoughts. I would carry on but there's this look in her eye that says she's in discomfort somewhere and she's quite protective about being examined. I expect I'll be fine once i've made the final decision and called the vet. I will miss her terribly. In her heyday she would jump anything and turn on a sixpence to beat flashy showjunpers of 16+ in jump offs and always jumped clear cross-country. Apart from the recent arthritis, never been lame, no laminitis or colic ever. Nowadays she is snowy white and resembles a unicorn! I think I'll just have her tested for Cushings just in case new lumps are fat pads and unrelated then if not, call it a day. Probably a waste of money, but worth a blood test.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

That sounds like a good idea. At least then you will have a better idea of what is going on and you will know that you did everything you could to help her.

All the best!