Sarcoid question

[Trewsers]

A friend of mine is looking at a horse with a couple of sarcoids - are some horses just prone to them? What actual harm do they do? I know the vet has said that one needs to come off. Why would this be? Is it because they can get knocked?

[Tim]

Every horse is susceptible to sarcoids, there are no particular breeds or colours that are more prone than others, it applies to all horses. They are basically a skin tumour, although scientific research has shown that they do not spread to other organs. Any given sarcoid may need removing if it is in an awkward place, ie, on the line of the girth or by any area covered with a bridle etc. Obviously the horse cannot be ridden if sarcoids exist in these areas as they will be dislodged and the wound left open to infection. Some horses never have one, others have many, and there a number of different types of sarcoid. Be guided by the vet and be aware that removing them is costly and some insurance companies will not provide continuous cover for sarcoids after one claim.

[Drm2Go]

What is a sarcoid?? Thanks

[Tim]

Answers to questions about sarcoids can be found here:
http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/sarcoid/facts.htm

[Trewsers]

Thanks for the info - will check out that website later :)

[Sophini]

The website Tim recommends is very good.

KitKat had verucose sarcoids which are flat sarcoids, similar in appearance to a horses chestnuts, one on her face and about 8 on her udder and inner thigh region. These never caused her any problem as they were not in a position to interfere with tack or movement and did not cause discomfort as were always dry so didn't attract flies or infection. However, they did increase in both size and number in the spring months.

Her sarcoids were treated with a fluro-uracil cream (chemotherapy cream) with unimpressive results and the side effects of the treatment (blistering, swelling, discomfort) in my opinion were worse then if the sarcoids had been left untreated.

[Trewsers]

Yes, I've heard mixed reports about that cream, apparently its very expensive too - somebody said in the region of £100!! :eek: and apparently they need two or three applications of it?

[Sophini]

It was due to the cost of the cream that her own took her back actually (very long story) - yep it's expensive and it had an extreme reaction for Kitty, huge swellings and lots of discomfort, after the first few days of application it was very hard to get close enough to her to acutally put it on :rolleyes: Think Becca has used it on her horse with good results though....

To be honest i wouldn't consider a horse with sarcoids unless it really was absolutely 100% what i was looking for. Even then i would expect a hefty price reduction becuase of them - at the end of the day not enough is known about them to be able to make a sound judgement over whether they're going to be a problem in the future.

[Mehitabel]

echo sophini - as i show, i would discount a sarcoidy horse altogether as it couldn't do what i want- but if i were to consider one if i stopped showing, it would have to be a seriously, seriously nice horse and very cheap.

one of our liveries had a horse with a small sarcoid on his chest, and it started growing - by the time he left the yard, a couple of years later, it had gone mental and looked like a pound of grapes hanging down between his forelegs, crusty and bleeding where the weight was pulling it off the skin, and it hung down nearly to his knees.

they are such a gamble - it's more stress and heartache than i want.

[Bozzy]

Sarcoids are horrid things :( As Sophini has said, after my experiences, I probably wouldn't consider another horse with sarcoids unless it was perfect!

I've used Xxterra cream and had success with it. http://www.vetlineequine.com/ The pot cost me £55 from my vets which I didn't think was too expensive considering the amount I've already forked out on different procedures, lotions, potions and supplements in the attempt to combat them.

Considering the 'Liverpool cream' treatment would probably have cost hundreds of pounds, I was willing to try other treatments before resorting to this. These have included surgical removal, thuja cream, hilton herbs equimmune.

Ed has different types of sarcoids, the only ones I have treated are those in contact with tack (chest and nose) and because they turned fibroblastic (open, weepy, bleeding type) Others are just left alone.