sarcoid

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smellsofhorse

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My horse had a sarcoid on his eyelid

I first noticed it in November, the vet saw it straight away and said just to keep and eye(!) on it as it wasnt affecting his sight at the current time.

It has grown very quickly, so now we have sent the pictures of to Liverpool who will decide what treatment is needed.
Apparently they are the only place in the country that produce the treatment.
My vet said it will most likely be a course of injections, 1 a week for around 6 weeks.

l wasnt worried about it and my vet said he should still be able to continue to compete (BE and BSJA) as long as we arrange treatment dates carefully.

I was talking to my farrier yesterday and he said he knows a horse that had the same treatment and it got worse first, blew up massively, it lost the hair on half its face and now after about a year its looking better.

Ahh
Im scared now!
 
Don't panic! My lad has been treated for two - one huge one and a tiny one. The cream makes them swell up when applied but the swelling comes down after a day or so. The tiny one did flare up after the first treatment so they did a second course which got rid of it.

You do have to be patient though - Fin's took about 9 months in total to get rid of and he had a scab for what seemed like ages, but now there's no sign of them.
 
its a nasty cream and doesnt always work. my vet treated his own horse unsuccesfully.

my horse had several ulcerated bloody ones which have now all gone thanks to a lovely lady called Pauhla Whitaker, she uses essentail oils. Her web site is called animoils. her support was supreme.
 
Because of where the sarcoid situation on his eye, sometimes its too dangerous to apply Liverpool cream to that area, in case it goes in the eye so a safer way would be to inject your horse with a course of BCG injections but they will need to asses photos of the sarcoid to see where exactly it is and how much bile they will need to send out to your vet, because treatment has to be within a certain time scale.

It will knock your horse for six a bit because throws the whole immune system out, so weight loss, loss of appetite and his performance will be effect, although some horses cope better than others.

The sarcoid will get a bit unsightly looking because the body is trying its best to reject it so to speak, but it depends on the type and where it is, before it eventually drops off but the main thing is that is not getting any bigger, its quite serious when its on or near the eye area so its better to get it sorted and put up with a an unsightly scab etc than it to cause further problems.

Also there is less chance of your horse growing any more (in other areas of the body) once your horse has gone through the BCG process, because the Liverpool cream only works on the one sarcoid that its applied to, so if you horse has various sorts, its often a better route to go down and the sarcoids are less likely to return in due course.

Problem is sarcoids tend to grow like wild fire through winter months so although people tend think oh it small I'll leave, they creep up on you before you know it.

Don't panic, I've seen very good results with the injections.
 
i had one that had the course of BCG injections for an eyelid sarcoid! works well though needs a careful vet as there is a risk of anaphalatic shock. your vet will know about this! usually the first 2 injections are done at liverpool! my horse was fine throughout the treatment, continued to work and didnt loose any condition, so life more or less as normal. sarcoid takes a little while to shrink and shrivell off. mine hasnt come back and only a small bald patch remains (about 9 years on!!)
 
My vet has said the injections are most likely.

Liverpool is a long way from us so hope he doesnt have to go there!

Thanks for all you reassurances.

I want it treated, so if it means an easier life for him for a while than so be it.
His health is more important than competing.
 
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