[PICTURE] Sarcoid on sheath

[GreyDot]

My horse has two small sarcoids on his sheath - these have been examined by a vet and we were referred to Dr.Knottenbelt who has confirmed they are sarcoids and has prescribed Liverpool cream.
Considering where they are, we are going to have to also sedate my horse, who is a sensitive soul at the best of times.
Please can you share your experiences if you have had sarcoids treated on the sheath? I am really quite concerned about doing this. I have been recommended to think about waiting until the autumn as he is out in the field for the majority of the day and the flies are bad here.
As a side note - I first noticed these two sarcoids about 4 weeks ago once his summer coat fully came through (he had fine fur covering his sheath before that, and they deifnitey weren't there last summer). I took photos every week to watch them, but they have not changed at all in that time, thankfully.
He doesn't have them anywhere else (vet has thoroughly checked).
I am just wanting to hear firt-hand experiences on how this treatment will go - I am assuming it will be very painful and he will be out of action for some time. I can't imagine what it's going to look like on such a delicate area
He is 12, a grey, in full work (competing at PSG) and very, very precious to me.

 

[meleeka]

If he were mine I’d wait until the winter. The flies will be awful once treatment is underway and you risk spreading them then. Has nobody mentioned banding? They look small at the moment but are the right sort of that and it’s much less traumatic. In the meantime, apply fly cream around them (but not on) to discourage flies.

Mine had Luverpool cream and the area swelled up hugely. I’ll try and find a photo but it was way more than I was expecting. It did clear them all, so was worth doing, but not nice at the time.

eta - found it. I’ve also added one of the one on his girth line as the swelling is easier to see.

 

[Tiddlypom]

They look like suitable candidates for banding? Is there any reason why that has not been suggested?

Banding is very effective and much less unpleasant for the horse than Liverpool cream.

In any case, if you can do wait until the flies are gone.

Pics from my mare. Banded plus liquid N2 under sedation at home - now all healed up and gone. Prof K had previously mooted a lengthy treatment protocol.



And now. Even the long standing (4 years+) flat sarcoid adjacent to it seems have largely disappeared. This is a 'sarcoidy' horse.

 

[AmyMay]

Another vote for banding and winter.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I would also definitely leave any treatment until winter time. Would you vet be happy to do that and perhaps try banding first?

 

[Zuzzie]

My 28 year old gelding has had sarcoids for years (on his sheath and around) - initially treated with Liverpool cream which was very successful. But in the last 2 years he developed a sarcoid on his sheath which resembled a button mushroom! So I opted for banding. It was brilliant - it was not painful (but he was sedated in his stable just in case he kicked out at the vet) - the sarcoid just dropped off after a couple of weeks. Can you actually get a band around it? If it doesn't have a 'stalk' it may be difficult to do.

 

[ycbm]

If you have a big hammer you will look for nails to use it on.

There is a plentiful supply of loose skin in that area to band two small side by side sarcoids.
.

 

[TPO]

My horse appeared to develop a large blueberry sized "sarcoid" overnight as a 3yr old.

I bought him in very poor condition and he was grazed in a field next to cattle. The majority of the cattle appeared to have sarcoids/warts on their muzzles and the flies were very bad in that area being next to the forestry.

Due to it's location I decided to leave it be but keep an eye on it. I've had two previous horses treated with Liverpool Cream. One was a success and the other was eventually but caused my mare a lot of pain and discomfort. I really didn't want anyone fiddling about with his penis and potentially causing more damage.

After spotting the "blueberry" on his penis a tiny dot appeared on his chest and it grew to jelly tot size. I d3cide thst there was no harm in trying turmeric. I added it to his feed and mixed some with nappy cream to apply to the chest one only.

The one on his chest grew to a large blueberry size too then one day when I went up after work it appeared to have burst as there was a fair amount of blood and it was gone. The area scabbed over and healed fine.

Thr one on his penis just shrivelled up and disappeared.

So really, who knows. They might not have been sarcoids although they looked very similar to what I could find online.

If they were sarcoids are unpredictable so perhaps what happened would have happened without the turmeric and it was just coincidence.

There appear to be links between flies/cattle and horses with low or stressed immune systems. Of my three who had them one grey gelding was bought in very poor condition with one, a chestnut mare developed them after ongoing lameness and surgery so lots of stress (they weren't treated correctly by the initial vets so came back bigger, angrier and in more places. The treatment by the new vet practice worked in getting rid of them but they got very angry and sore) and the youngster arrived at me a bag of bones aged 2. So the "sarcoids" disappearing on the then youngster could also tie in with his improved health.

I did have pictures documenting them both growing and their disappearance but I can only find these two pictures on my phone right now.

 

[GreyDot]

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated. I definitely want to wait until winter and I had also thought about the banding. In my totally non scientific opinion, they protude clearly enough to have a band around them. The thought of putting a very aggressive cream on that part of the anatomy without exploring more gentle options seems logical. My vet immediately went to the 'refer to Dr K' route, but I will ask their opinion on other methods.
Size-wise, they are both smaller than a blueberry and I am keeping a close eye on them and have switched to nighttime turnout, with fly rug on and fly cream around (but not on) the sarcoid.
It's so difficult to know what to do for the best, obviously his health is top priority, but I also don't want unnecessary suffering when they are not growing (and fingers crossed that stays that way) and are not in a place that rubs against anything else.

 

[GreyDot]

Just an update on this - I have been photographing every two weeks since last June and they hadn't changed shape. They would sometimes look more dried out that usual.
Yesterday there were two 'blueberries' as usual and this morning, to my utter delight and amazement, one has dropped off! This is it now, excuse the yellow, that is Summer Fly Cream, which has been the best thing to keep the flies off his sheath.

Before and after (after has the yellow)

 

[ycbm]

Excellent. His immune system has kicked in. Lucky you.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Great outcome they are definitely connected to the immune system all Arabi's sarcoids came up after him being ill, luckily all his went on there own without treatment as well.

 

[GreyDot]

Great news again! Second sarcoid has now also spontaneously dropped off! Photos below show before, middle and after (which is today). So happy!!!

 

[Barton Bounty]

Thats great news!!

 

[Birker2020]

Great news. This happened with my first horse when i used vitamin e cream and rubbed it in twice daily. They were small sarcoids. The bigger one was cut off his neck and I made a cover out of netting to keep the flies off.

 

[ycbm]

Fab, his immune system has cracked them by itself and he should now be immune for the rest of his life