Sarcoids - success stories please

mavandkaz

mavandkaz

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I know it gets posted about a fair bit, but I am brand new to dealing with them in person. So advice and success stories are much appreciated.
Back at Christmas time I spotted a sarcoid on Winston, under his tail between us back legs.
He's nearly 5, draught cross or similar (unrecorded breeding), and passed a 5 stage vetting in October. Vet saw him beginning of Jan and said it would need lasering off, but agreed to keep an eye on it for a little bit. It hasn't changed in that time.
Yesterday I spotted another one between his front legs near his arm pit. I only clipped him last week and didn't spot it then.
Both are flat types. Vet is coming out next week, so will pick her brains but like to be prepared.

I've heard of youngsters popping out sarcoids and then having no other issues. Is it common? Or is this a sign of things to come?
And if I did have them lasered, how does it work - at home or at horsepital? Post procedure care and recovery?

Please stop me panicking just yet!!
 
I didn't accept the vet's opinion (although I thought it was a sarcoid) mine was too close to the eye that doing nothing wasn't an option.
Vet (very happily, he was glad to have a 2nd opinion that I was happy to pay for) sent details to Dr Knott. He removed it and followed Dr K's instructions. It turned out not to be a sarcoid..

Yours may very well be sarcoids although there may be different ways of dealing with them or even waiting in a younger horse. Even so I would ask your vet to consult Dr K before doing anything.

Don't panic until you have gathered all the professional info. and see what the options are :)
 
When mine arrived she had what I assume was one on her ear and then a few flat ones appeared between her legs about a year later.
I fed her sarc-x and nothing changed. I started feeding oily herbs after reading a thread here about their health benefits and the (suspected) sarcoids started disappearing. I hadn’t considered they would help with them when I started feeding herbs so it was a pleasant surprise.

I can’t guarantee oily herbs will help but it’s a non evasive thing to try and shouldn’t hurt.
 
You will get lots of different opinions and experiences of sarcoids on here.

I tried the liverpool cream and laser surgery route on my previous horse for a very small flat sarcoid and it grew back each time. My current young horse ended up with some, as many of them do at that age. It is what it is, and I thought I'd give Sarcoid Cure (flour and water paste) a go.

I managed to remove 6 sarcoids with it, the quickest was 2 months and the longest 6 months. The small flat one took the longest and was the most stubborn.

Oily herbs are really good at boosting their immune system too. I mix Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano and feed it daily. Sarcoids do tend to pop out in times of stress and can disappear again, so could be worth feeding that for a bit and seeing if his immune system kicks in?

They are awful things and it's such a lottery with them. What works for one horse won't work for another.
 
Agree with a referral to Prof K, he treated my horse 13 yrs ago and touch wood haven't come back, although my horse had aggresive fast growing one over his eye and went for iridium wire treatment, the tiny one under eye was resolved with the chemo type cream.
 
Slightly different as 20 year old horse, had between his front legs and on the inside of a hind leg. Had standing lazer surgery in his own stable. Removed the bigger ones from the front and all from the back. The surgeon felt that doing them all in the front in one go would be too much and to see how he got on. I will admit they looked absolutely awful, felt really bad. Horse was a complete star and just stood whilst they were done, he was then hand walked and turned out daytime to keep the skin moving. He finished second in an in hand RIHS qualifer about 7 weeks later. Two years on, he has had another one at the back banded, and has small ones between his front legs but nothing come back nastily.
 
Dex popped up 5 or 6 sarcoids following his journey over from Ireland at just turned 3yo - I think its likely that he maybe had encountered the virus in ireland and the stress of the journey compromised his immune system for a short while and up they popped. He had a verrucas one on his muzzle, one just below his eye that was flat, a flat one in one thigh and then a ball under the skin on the other thigh and a teeny tiny verrucas one in his armpit.

I went with the salt and flour method (equal measurement of both into a paste and then apply to sarcoids once a day, don't get them wet if you can help it). I also fed the main components of the two most popular sarcoid supplements that I made myself as I couldn't afford the £400+ it would have cost to feed the bought ones. This was:
- Brewers Yeast (Radiance Gold Sarcoid Secret)
- Bicarb (Radiance Gold)
- Fenugreek (Radiance Gold)
- Milk Thistle (Radiance Gold)
- Ashwaghanda (Sarcex)
- Tulsi Leaves (Sarcex)
- Amla Powder (Sarcex)
- Turmeric (another method people vouch for)
- Pepper (with the turmeric).
ETA - and Oily herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme)

Yes it was OTT, but I mixed it all up and put it in a big tupperware and fed a scoop of each - I figured it may help and it certainly won't hurt so sod it.

Did the supplement help? Who knows.. but they're all gone now. A couple dropped off and a couple got worse before they got better and a couple just healed over. The only remaining sign is that Dex has a bit of a bald/less hair spot on his face where the bigger one was.

My last horse also came with them (10yo) but they didn't disturb him, weren't red/angry/bleeding and weren't changing so I left them well alone and lost him for entirely different reasons.
 
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There are different types of sarcoids with different levels of severity. Different people also have a variety of tolerance for them based on previous experiences.

Over my lifetime I have either owned or been involved with many horses with some sort of sarcoid. Of mine, only one was a problematic sarcoid horse. That one had ulcerating sarcoids between her back legs that would grow quite large, get quite manky then shell out. Rinse and repeat. It was back in my less experienced (ignorant) days. We didn’t ever treat them, poor horse must have been pretty uncomfortable. These days I wouldn’t touch a horse with those type and if I had one develop them the horse would be handed over to the experts and have everything thrown at it.

Other than the above horse the others I’ve had either had flat sarcoids or small non ulcerating sarcoids. My motto is leave them alone wherever possible. None have worsened, some cleared on their own with immune support. One which was a bigger non ulcerating with a very clear neck, we banded.
 
I had a pony that developed a flat one an inch across on his chest as a 4yo. It fell off after 6 months with no treatment and he never got another. He had had juvenile warts all over his muzzle as a 3yo which also went away.
 
I would try feeding oily herbs as an attempt to boost the immune system to help him fight them off himself.

My own mare had recurring sarcoids, including having them assessed by Prof K. Put her on oily herbs to sort out her hind gut and her sarcoids calmed down a lot. It’s not crackers, it’s a knock on effect of reducing stressors on the horse.

Enough of us have found that adjusting the diet can help to calm sarcoids. It’s not guaranteed but it’s worth a shot ahead of physically meddling with the sarcoids. Never annoy a sarcoid - either leave it alone or zap it completely.

Good luck.
 
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Sarcoids seems to have become the catch all name for any lumps that aren't melanomas but they could easily be something different that could be either far more benign (juvenile warts, although I accept Winston's aren't in the right area for that) or far more serious (carcinoma). I know someone who tried to deal with a 'sarcoid' with home made remedies. It turned out to be a carcinoma and the delay led to a very serious situation that, thankfully, has turned out well (if expensively) so far but he is under close monitoring as it's likely to return. That was a much older horse than Winston though.

I suppose that's me saying keep a close eye on them and, at the first hint of them changing, get the vet out.
 
My lovely TB arrived with me with 2 flat ones. I put him on oily herbs, sarc ex and a balancer and they went. Might have been a coincidence and I've obviously got no idea which one of the 3 helped if any, but they did go and quite quickly. He was 7 and had had them at least 2yrs
 
Thank you all. You've calmed me down and reminded me that I would normally leave things alone unless it's posing a an issue.
Will obviously hear what the vet says, but will try the oily herbs and homemade paste.
He had bloods run twice since buying him - he has raised liver enzymes (coming down) and from memory the last ones had slightly raised neutrophils. So I wouldn't be surprised if a compromised immune system and of course the journey from Ireland would have been very stressful for him. He's on milk thistle and B vitamins already, but will tweak a few things and try to support the immune system more.
He had juvenile warts on his muzzle when I viewed him, and these have nearly gone.
 
mavandkaz said:
Thank you all. You've calmed me down and reminded me that I would normally leave things alone unless it's posing a an issue.
Will obviously hear what the vet says, but will try the oily herbs and homemade paste.
He had bloods run twice since buying him - he has raised liver enzymes (coming down) and from memory the last ones had slightly raised neutrophils. So I wouldn't be surprised if a compromised immune system and of course the journey from Ireland would have been very stressful for him. He's on milk thistle and B vitamins already, but will tweak a few things and try to support the immune system more.
He had juvenile warts on his muzzle when I viewed him, and these have nearly gone.
Click to expand...

I think those things, while not being great generally, are all really good signs that his immune system will deal with them once you get him feeling 100% 🤞🤞
 
Mine developed some after a stressful period. One flat and one modular. The modular was lasered off and the flat was removed with cream from the vet. Neither have returned since , for him I’m convinced they were triggered by stress and event which immunocompromised him. They have never returned.
 
One of mine had one on his side as a baby, we’d been keeping an eye on it but hadn’t treated as summer time. It was quite a good size lump. He must have been 3 or 4 as I was long reining him, something spooked him and he spun round and buggered off/ fell over and in the drama my line must have gone under it then pulled sharply up 🙈 anyway it ripped off, looked a bit gross for a while then healed up. He’s 10 this year and hasn’t had another one! Not a recommendation but worked in this case 🤣
 
mavandkaz said:
Thank you all. You've calmed me down and reminded me that I would normally leave things alone unless it's posing a an issue.
Will obviously hear what the vet says, but will try the oily herbs and homemade paste.
He had bloods run twice since buying him - he has raised liver enzymes (coming down) and from memory the last ones had slightly raised neutrophils. So I wouldn't be surprised if a compromised immune system and of course the journey from Ireland would have been very stressful for him. He's on milk thistle and B vitamins already, but will tweak a few things and try to support the immune system more.
He had juvenile warts on his muzzle when I viewed him, and these have nearly gone.
Click to expand...
I would love to know how you got on with the herbs and paste.
 
My 3yo homebred developed some near his sheath. One was flat, more where his umbilical cord was, the others could’ve been juvenile warts to be fair. I got some thuja cream off Amazon for a fiver and they’ve all fallen off within a matter of weeks! The flat one went ‘manky’ to start so fairly confident that was the sarcoid working its way out.

I can’t believe how successful it’s been for the price. Too soon to tell whether they’ll return but..
 
Lots of advice here already, so although I do have experience of sarcoids on a big draft, I won’t repeat stuff except to say firstly there are so many variants of these which behave in so many different ways that it is difficult really to say for certain that a home treatment has ‘worked’ ( it might have, or what happened may have happened anyway); and secondly, think very carefully about laser treatment in the armpits - it is a pretty long journey to healing recovery.
 
My New Forest had about 5 appear on and around his sheath and 2 around his eye when he was around 6/7, we were originally going with 'wait and see' with them but a couple were fitting quite large so we went Liverpool cream which worked on all of them and he's now 15 and *touches wood* they have never reappeared.
 
Bog had one. I used blood root cream and it went and he never had another. Probably from the stress of the Irish journey!
 
I don't know if they still do it, but my then youngster was going under for a different op and I asked if they could.remove her two sarcoids. I think they froze them off. They never returned
 
Both my Irish bay boys threw some up at 4 years old, I’m convinced they become susceptible when immune systems are compromised due to stress, change of home or getting backed etc. Both their’s were on inside hind legs and were lazered off and never returned or had anymore come up. Lazering does leave scars though and one needed lots of after care, debriding etc due to being near a joint.
 
My TB mare has sarcoids, one particularly prominent one on her neck. I’d spoken to the vet who was dubious about removing surgically due to the area being somewhere with a lot of blood vessels (and she wouldn’t cope with the Liverpool cream method). I’ve been using radiance gold sarc secret and their clay which contains thuja amongst some other ingredients and have noticed a change. Will see what happens, it’s been about 6 months now
 
As a little update:

I had them lasered off in the end. The one near his armpit was changing in appearance, so decided to go for it whilst it was still cold weather. Must admit, I did feel a bit pushed into it from the vet, and when he came out of hospital I felt really bad for putting him through it. They looked awful and were so big and deep. And let's say I was not impressed by the care from the vet hospital.

Luckily they healed pretty well with no set backs. He had about 6 weeks off in total, although did do some in hand walks with him. He could have come back into hacking work sooner but gave him time for the one near the armpit to heal a bit more.
It has left a noticeable scar, but he's not affected by it in anyway.

Would I do it again? I don't know, would probably try topical treatments first (depending on the time of year).
It appears that he has an underlying viral infection/weakened immune system which probably caused them. So only time will tell whether it's going to be a recurring thing.
 
mavandkaz said:
As a little update:

I had them lasered off in the end. The one near his armpit was changing in appearance, so decided to go for it whilst it was still cold weather. Must admit, I did feel a bit pushed into it from the vet, and when he came out of hospital I felt really bad for putting him through it. They looked awful and were so big and deep. And let's say I was not impressed by the care from the vet hospital.

Luckily they healed pretty well with no set backs. He had about 6 weeks off in total, although did do some in hand walks with him. He could have come back into hacking work sooner but gave him time for the one near the armpit to heal a bit more.
It has left a noticeable scar, but he's not affected by it in anyway.

Would I do it again? I don't know, would probably try topical treatments first (depending on the time of year).
It appears that he has an underlying viral infection/weakened immune system which probably caused them. So only time will tell whether it's going to be a recurring thing.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel. I felt awful about having them done as well because they look so bad but healed quickly like yours did. All the best going forward.
 
mavandkaz said:
As a little update:

I had them lasered off in the end. The one near his armpit was changing in appearance, so decided to go for it whilst it was still cold weather. Must admit, I did feel a bit pushed into it from the vet, and when he came out of hospital I felt really bad for putting him through it. They looked awful and were so big and deep. And let's say I was not impressed by the care from the vet hospital.

Luckily they healed pretty well with no set backs. He had about 6 weeks off in total, although did do some in hand walks with him. He could have come back into hacking work sooner but gave him time for the one near the armpit to heal a bit more.
It has left a noticeable scar, but he's not affected by it in anyway.

Would I do it again? I don't know, would probably try topical treatments first (depending on the time of year).
It appears that he has an underlying viral infection/weakened immune system which probably caused them. So only time will tell whether it's going to be a recurring thing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update, it's always interesting to hear the outcome. Fingers crossed they stay away for him
 
Had one (a flat plaque) underneath eye on a 2 or 3 yo. Thuja homeopathic cream and thuja tablets for 3 weeks. It instantly started retreating and never returned (horse is now 15). I used Thuja homeopathic cream and tablets on basis that it either might work (good result) or worst way, it would cause no harm at all.
 
Over past year I have had 2 lots of sarcoids removed from groin area of pony.
Both times samples have been sent off for analysis & both times half the lumps were sarcoids & half werent.
Personally I believe what is being treated by Thuja Cream & the like is the non-sarcoid lumps.
Sarcoids are actually cancer that doesnt spread to other areas but I dont think if I had cancer I would choose to treat it with homeopathic medicines so chose upon the vets advice the laser option.
 
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