The Sarcoid - Days 2 & 3

Days 2 & 3 of Daisy's Sarcoid treatment have gone exceptionally well....better than I was expecting! Doc said it will probably 'blow up, puss and drain' and we have had NONE of that. By turnout time on Day 2, the thing was literally gone!!! I am not sure if she rolled in the pasture and it just 'came off' or what, but no more 2 inch thing hanging off her side!

This picture is of Day 2 right before treatment. (Excuse the pics taken from the cell). It was still 'elevated' but not at all how it was prior. And she was ok with me dabbing more paste on. So, if it is sore or hurting, she wasn;t showing it. And, a bonus, the flys seem to stay away from it too!

This picture below is from this evening, Day 3. It is looking exceptionally well! You can see there are a few bits of shavings on it, but Doc said don't wash it or run anything off, just keep applying. So that is what I am doing. As a side note, all the 'white' fur you see is her winter coat still shedding. :( Mules shed later in the season than horses and poor Daisy probably felt like she was in a snow suit today as we hit 90* degrees! The small dark spot on the left is her one stich she needed after the biopsy!

And this is her Daddy giving his poor 'lil mule lots 'o lovin'.....because that is what he does best! And she LOVES it ;) Look at her face, she is saying to me "Eat your heart out!"

This link is an article I received in my weekly email last week, ironically enough, from Thehorse.com. Those POOR horses whose pictures are in the article -ugh, I cannot even imagine!

The Sarcoid - Day 1

About a month an a half ago or so, we discovered a lump on Daisy's side. It was kinda like a pencil eraser, but a tad larger. It didn't seem to bother her and it wasn't pussing or oozing so I decided to monitor it and send a picture of it to my vet to see what he thought before I'd have him make a farm call.

I suspected, after some research and thumbing through my books, that it was a sarcoid. The vet thought it might also be an abscess from an old puncture wound. {puncture wound as in something tiny that we'd have never noticed and then it blew into something big} So, I treated it as an abscess and warm compressed it every evening in hopes that I'd get it to break, puss and heal on it's own. I did this for maybe two weeks to no avail so I took more photos and sent them off in an email to the vet. It was also growing in size. At this point, he agreed it was probably a sarcoid but he'd need to do a biopsy to be sure. Enter the farm call!

Boy was that a fun night. Trying to tranq a 300# mini mule is a lot harder than one would think and she ended up needed a little more of a dose than the vet estimated. She is just that bad ass....no pun intended ;) Don't let her size fool ya. So, to 'biopsy' her lump, the vet took what looked like a miniature apple corer and cored a nice chunk right outta the middle of the lump. He also took a second sample from nearby that was showing signs of also becoming something more. A quick stitch later and there she was, standing with a sleepy look on her face, wobbling like a drunk with her lower lip hanging and a touch of drool dropping out. Yes, it was a pathetic site to see for sure ;)

A week or so later, the results were in and they confirmed my guess; a Sarcoid. To best describe it {as other than gross} this is the terminology on the lab results:
Equine sarcoids are locally invasive tumors that may occur in multiple cutaneous sites but do not metastasize. Sarcoids occur most commonly in the skin of the head, legs and trunk and are often difficult to completely excise due to their invasive nature. Up to 50% of sarcoids recur locally following surgical excision. Bovine papillomavirus DNA has been demonstrated within neoplastic cells of sarcoids and these tumnors are thought to have a viral etiology"

So, for those of you who are not vets, this is the long and short of how my vet explained it to me. It is a form of cancer, but not the ugly type. I have to apply a paste to it 1x a day for 6 days and it should, during that period, inflame, puss and drain and then go away. Of all his clients that have used this paste, none of them have had the sarcoid come back.

So, he ordered the paste and I picked it up today on my way home from work. This evening Daisy had her first treatment. This is what the paste looks like; I had to apply it with a rubber glove. Usually I forgo the gloves for most things, but for this, the vet advised and even packed some with the paste for me ;)

And these are pics of the Sarcoid prior to the paste treatment. It is larger than a quarter and I can get my fingertips beneath it, between it and her skin. It is GROSS; it is like a mushroom cap growing on a stem, but thicker with a very short stem! It looks bloody, but really, it is not. The flys aggravate it to no avail when she is out. I have put Swat (a fly deterent for wounds) on it, but when she rolls and she is she is turned out, it does no go as she is just wiping it off!




The vet says nothing causes a Sarcoid; some horses (or in her case, mules!) are just prone to get them. It is almost like it is in their DNA and it is just a matter of time before it 'sprouts'. All I have to say, is thank goodness she'll be ok and it is not anything life threatening. And, thank goodness she doesn't have any like this poor horse....or goodness THIS poor horse....or good god this pooooor horse :(


PS: Guess I should have put the "don't read before lunch" disclaimer at the beginning of this blog post!


PSS: Stay tuned for updates on Days 2-6 of the treatment.

Horses

Bear with me. I am not sure where this post is going......

Horses are so strong and courageous. So large and mighty. So powerful and graceful. Yet, so fragile and dependent. So touchy and complex. So intricate and complicated.

Horses teach you patience's. Horses test your patients. Horses teach you strength, and test your strength. Horses prove you wrong. Horses show your true colors. Horses teach you who YOU are.

Peaceful. Complex. Grace. Beauty. Strength. Wisdom [Yes, I believe horses have wisdom]

Bliss. Power. Teacher.
Horses teach you things you never knew about yourself.


Emotion. Personality. Feelings.
Fear. Apprehension. Doubt.
Courage.


Ah yes, so many emotions. One large animal. One captivating scent. One girl hooked forever.

My Battle with the Bottle

No, not that bottle! I love my wine....there is no battle there ;)

So I have this horse. Her name is Gypsy. Sometimes she can be less than tidy in her stall. And then, sometimes, she'll insist that she stand right where she relieves herself. *sigh* So, needless to say, sometimes I need to treat her 'hoof' that she insists on resting in a 'certain' area when she is in her stall. It isn't often since, pending weather, she is outside and all her other hooves are doing very well. It is just this one hoof. It doesn't like me. It likes to see me sweat trying to get her to lift it. And then it laughs at me. Why?

Because when I FINALLY get it up long enough to pick it [the hoof that is] it isn't too long before Gypsy fights with me to put it down. She is 1100-some pounds; she usually wins. But I persist. I continue to work on getting that dang hoof back up. And just when I do, I grab the 'Thrush Buster'.....and try to squeeze some of the goods in the bottle out.....then, I realize something has clogged the tip. Now understand, what I am about to tell you all took place in about 1 minute and 8 seconds TOPS!

I panic ...ok, not really panic. I try in a fury of all my might to squeeze that dang bottle as hard as I can to blow whatever is clogging the tip because, gosh darn it, I have her hoof back up. I have her hoof up. And I won't have it up for long.

And the next thing I know, I have successfully thrush busted myself. *sigh*

Allen came home from a golf outing and I ran at him with my hand in the air telling him I have a disease. He said "get away because you probably smell like hoof" :/ Dang, can't fool that cowboy!

Note the lovely new french manicure....we do it in brown instead of white out here in the county. Ok, you got me. It is dirt under the nails. What do you expect?

Anyways, the thrush buster actually sprayed onto my face [pics spared] and I had blue specks everywhere. My brother-in-laws reaction was "What the ....." I told him I turned into an alien while they were gone. He might have believed me...but it was probably his beer talking.

And this was my right hand! Good Lord; who knows if Gypsy even got any on her dang hoof!

And to my dear friend Yvonne, who always battles the bottle. I believe I have now trumped you and any war you have ever had....with the bottle ;)

Weekend in Review - Animals in Need

Remember the horse rescue neglect case I mentioned last week? Here are a few pictures of some of the horses we rescued. Sad, Sad, Sad.

This mare is 30-ish years old.

This poor gelding is 8 and that is our barn manager with him.

This is a 5 year old mare on the left and the 8 year old gelding on the right.

Anyone who would like to learn more about this rescue I work [volunteer] with, please visit H.O.P.E. Horse Rescue.

And hubby and I weighed the kittens this weekend. Not quite 2 pounds yet....once they are two pounds, they can be fixed and placed up for adoption. Anyone interested in learning more about the kitten rescue my husband and I foster for can visit Kitten Krazy!