Melanomas

B

Bananarama

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 December 2007
Messages
1,395
Location
Scotland
Visit site
My friends mare has melanomas. The vet was here today and confirmed that is what they are. She has one fairly large one on her nech and 5 or 6 smaller ones on the underside of her dock. She is a 14 year old grey mare, so yes she is the text book case
tongue.gif
. Anyway he said best to leave them for now as treatment can make them more agressive. He also said they probaly wont cause her any problems for a good few years. What are the chance of it causing problems, what are the problems and what treatment might need required?
 
Just been discussing this elswhere, there are a lot of conflicting research projects on this subject, some say greys are less likely to have malignant melanomas others say all greys have them. Then there are a whole host of theories as to why.

I have always been told that they do not generally give any problems until the horse reaches quite a ripe age.

There is a research project underway in the USA into grey. I believe they have found a correlation between the rapidity of greying and being homozygous, but I beleive a number of geneticists are lining up to challenge this. I also believe they were heading towards a finding of all greys have melanomas, but again I think this might get challenged. This is all tittle tattle by the way and is by no means accurate information, just grapevine!!!

However I find this older piece of hands on research to be one of the best and accessible at them moment, it's a bit of a grisly setting but makes some very good points on the subject that have stood up to peer scrutiny so far. Unfortunately its a bit technical.

http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/HOR/UQ-28A.doc.
 
We had a horse with melanomas

The vet prescribed cemetedin(sp?) as surgery wasn't an option due to where they were . That worked well
wink.gif
 
P has them under his dock. I discovered the first one about 2/3 years ago. I just keep an eye on them but thats about it. In the last year of two he has developed a few more smallers ones but they dont seem to affect him in any way
grin.gif
He is 17 now...
 
My old girl has them she got her 1st aged 7, then more developed, at 22 they started to bleed ect, they have grown a lot since then but the vet said as long as she can poo & she is happy she's ok! She is now in her 33rd year.
 
melanomas are cancerous despite what people say
depends on type --
most gray horses ponies do have thm more so than other horses
best thing in summer is to make use of the fly mask and fly sheet
to protect the horse from uv rays

you cant say and nor can your vet say it shouldnt bother the horse
as it depends

having lost four horses to different types of cancer
then i can tell you

1-- time is something that cant be measured
2--pain is something that cant be measured
3-- vets can not commit themselves as they dont honestly know how long one has got and if they do then its unfair on you and the horse -- as in truth its could be one day or six week or a year or years or none at all
4-- understand the word magilnant and benign
5 they are all growths wether they called sarcoids or malonmas
anything thing ending with sarcoma
is maglinant--
diffference-- maglinant is a tree of cells as in grows like a tree
benign is singluar meaning one doesnt make cells

but your horse has one on its neck--------
now that tells me its not just melanomas --
my tb is another horse that has the same as you

as tthe vet has told your freind to leave it for nowas tretament can make it more aggressive
thats tells me to watchful--

1st signs of cancer is colic ie spasmatic colic
2-- you dont know how deep the one on her neck is so be aware
that this does cover the wind pipe and lanrax ie food channela aswell

so make her foodstuff damp from now on -- feed only mirco feeds as they smaller and easier to digest - with bran to keep the gut flowing not a lot of bran about 1/2 sccop or a little scoop
no chaff as this could make her choke- as harder down the thoart -- equi libra and perhaps a weigt gain mix
so make use of the feed balancer

haylage would be better as its moist

how long she has with her mare no one knows but tips above will make her eating a bit more comfy

id she shows any signs of colic --make sure your freind tells them shs has melanomas of the thoart

heres a guide for you

adenocarcinoma glands maglignant
adenoma glands benign
carcinoma an epitelial surface magilinant
fibroma beneath the skin benign
fibroma fibrous tissue benign
fibrosarcoma " " maglinant
granulosa cell tumour ovary benign
haemangioma blood vessel benign
hepatoma liver benign
intersital cell tumour testicle benign
lymphoma blood forming tissue maglinant
lymp nodes
lipoma fat in abdomen benign
melanoma skin benign
melanosarcoma skin maglinant
osteoma bone benign
osteosarcoma bone maglinant
papilloma(wart) skin benign
polyp (pappilloma) nasal passage benign
sarcoid (angleberry) skin semi- maglinant
 
squamous cell skin sinus maglinant
carcinnoma

teratoma ovary testis benign



sarcoids are listed as semi maglinant
most melamonas are benign but some are semi maglinant or maglinant

my mare is 9yrs grey and tb she has melanomas on her glands and neck and a few on her bum
she is and does have cancer as she has different types of growths has suffered 4 bouts of colic last one was 10 weeks ago when i 1st got her as 4yr old she sufered 4 bouts of colic then i have had a huge gap until 10 weeks ago
if she gets another now then i am going to pts as this cant go on
for her-- as its obviously now effecting her gut-- but i cant say how deep those on her gland or neck goes as whats on the surface is often the same length inside as a root - or cells
cells that grow are like a tree so continous growth so there fore attacking her insides maybe as in vital organs--
having lost 4 before from different cancer s have leanrt a lot in how to feed and handle them as they often lose weight or are colicky --
they stare gaze to- or dont know what to do with themsleves as in look past you nt meaning to but have a ignore stage too
they peck with foodstuff in cluding grass or hay and sometimes arnt quite with it--
and unless you rich or have heaps of money which most of us dont we cant xray the whole body of a horse to find xyz only xray the part at that time as and when we can afford it if it has to be done

how do i feel with horses with melanomas etc
it can effect any horse any age-- and if one has one on a vetting its up to you if you wish to take it on-- some will be ok some wont its unpredictable so vets wont pass it -- nor will they pass a sarcoid as the semi magilinant same to with insurance companies-- they will not insure a horse if known to have a sarcoid or melanoma as like i said its upredictable-- so cost is with the owner---
so only basic insurance is offered



 
My mare died just after christmas. She had lymphosarcoma and never had colic or any obvious signs (except swollen thyroid glands) until she stopped eating 4 days before she was PTS..

I have a little grey pony that has small melanomas under her dock, round her anus, teats and she has one on her ear...
frown.gif
She's 14
 
I had a grey mare who had visible melanoma on her dock, anus and inside her cheek. The advise was to leave them alone as long as she was passing dung okay etc. Unfortunately, the melanoma that you can see is only the half of it and she had a bought of untreatable colic resulting in her being PTS at 17 years old.

In the years we had her, she had never had colic and this was a one off. It transpired that it was caused by internal growths that none of us could ever have known about.

It has not put me off greys as I have two now but it has certainly made me more aware.
 
iHello everyone

I am new to this forum and I hope that someone might still pick up on this thread. I am desparately searching for information on melanoma's to see what help and advice I might get in respect of my much loved mare.

Long story short, I have a grey mare who is nearly 25 years old, although has still been in very active work. My mare has had melanomas on her anus, vulva and dock for many years now with no particular problems (other than lots of tail cleaning at various times where they have broken down and released much black mess!!). However, a few weeks back she developed a large swelling on her mammary gland and on doing an ultra-sound of these we found that the swelling was caused by tumors in the gland that are interfering with lymph drainage and also a blood vessel. A week ago I therefore took the scary decision to have the tumors surgically removed so she's had a mastectamy and also had a particularly large one right by her vulva removed (as this was interfering with her urinating).

My mare has a few others around her anus still, although these are small. I do not know what else she might have elsewhere and to be honest I struggle to think about it without crying my eyes out. The surgery did, however, go well and she is recovering nicely. It has been hard on her, though, and at her age I would need to think carefully about putting her through surgery again, should the melanomas come back (which I am aware they could well do).

I have, though, heard of a drug called Cimetidine which may help and I am desparate for any knowlege anyone can share on this, or on other aspects of prevention/ care for melanomas.

Thanks to anyone that can help me.

Kelpie.
 
Me too, my old girl has had a melanoma since she was 4 - she now has several but has never ever had colic
confused.gif
Sirena has one now, under her tail - never had colic either. TBH unless the melanoma was in the gut area, there is NO way it could cause colic unless through pain, and I cannot believe they are a painful condition unless they interfere with something else.
 
Hi Sirena

Yeah, they are pretty common, sadly, aren't they :-(

Glad to hear that they have never given your girl colic, though. From various things I've been reading, as far as I can gather the risk is that if she has any in her intestines, they could get so big as to cause a blockage and that would be what causes colic, though I guess the key is to just make sure you keep an eye on how much they poo and try to spot any problems early.

I am interested, though, that you are confident that the melanomas shouldn't cause colic - I very much hope you are right but as a matter of interest, have you ever heard about this thing of them possibly causing a blockage and what do you think of it?

Thanks ever so much.

Kelpie
 
I had always believed that around 90% of grey horses got melanomas, however, my vet has now said that he believes that ALL greys will at sometime get melanomas. I have five greys
crazy.gif
crazy.gif
so, understandably I am interested in this subject!

Yes, you are right a melanoma in the intestine could indeed cause colic symptoms/blockages as it got bigger that does not mean that all horses with melanomas will get colic, tbh it would have to be pretty large before it caused a problem and there would be several on the outside before that happened. However, I did once have a black horse who on the outside looked a picture of health, he went down with sudden and severe colic and we had to have him PTS, turned out he had a huge carcinoma which may have been growing for some time - it had grown to the size of an orange and burst through the gut wall. Must point out though that this was def NOT a melanoma but a carcinoma which is an entirely different animal.

In grey horses, melanomas are caused by excess melonin (?sp) in the skin, because of the grey gene this is not dispersed through the hair as it would be in a normal horse, so it forms clumps of cells which we call melanomas, they are normally harmless or non malignant, in a non grey horse the melanoma is very rare, but not unheard of, and much more of a worry as they tend to be more aggressive by nature and can be malignant.

God - I sound like an anorak and I appear to be rambling - will stop now
blush.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top