Ocular Cancer? Any experience?

[motherdragon]

Ocular squamous cell cancer help?

Our 20 years old cob Bobby had a tumour removed from his eye at the beginning of first lockdown- it was literally the first Friday and as such no labs were open to do pathology.

His third eyelid remained visible after the op and recently it’s swollen so we’ve had our vet out and he thinks it’s a recurrence. He has advised us to send Bobby to Liphook to have the eye removed.

Has anyone had experience of this? I can find by googling that upon removal these tumours have a high rate of recurrence but nothing about if the eye is removed too.

Is it fair to ride an older horse that has lost an eye? The vet was adamant that Bobby would be fine.

Also, does anyone have an idea of the cost?

 

[AandK]

My now 24yo had his eye removed as a 21yo, due to a hemangiosarcoma on his third eyelid. It had spread far enough that to get it all out, they had to remove his eye as well. He went back to being ridden, including jumping and a low level ODE with one eye, he was no different to ride. He is now retired, but that was due to a leg injury.
The cost was a bit higher than some others I have seen, it was about £2k in total, including the first consultation (approx £400), the op was done under standing sedation.

 

[BronsonNutter]

We generally charge £1000-1200 for an enucleation (removal of the eye) under standing sedation, but we are up north so potentially cheaper! Some horses need a general anaesthetic if they won't tolerate this which might be a bit more expensive.

And absolutely, it will be ok to ride him following the surgery once he has recovered and adjusted. In my experience they are a little slower to adjust initially if they are used to having full vision in the eye beforehand than if you are removing it due to a chronic problem like uveitis or a non-healing ulcer, but usually by the time their stitches are out they're all ok about it.