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Thanks everyone (all 34 posts to me on the subject) for your
stories about your troubles (or lack of them) with melanomas.
The final head count as of this morning stands at:
49 non-melanoma-d greys
17 greys with melanomas.
1 chesnut with melanomas
3 other brown horses with "things" on them (not confirmed as being
anything in particular)
Some of the melanomas were "oh, my friend/someone I know.." cases -
and I wonder how many of those people also know "friends/someone I know"
with non-melanoma-d greys that they didn't mention. People tend to
remember cases that stood out, not the lack of cases.
I did have a few other cancers mentioned, but they didn't appear
to be melanomas, so I excluded them. I also had some mentions of
sarcoids/sarcomas tumours, which seem to be a different thing as
well.
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The Details
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The 49 included horses that were regularly standing around in pastures
in Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and Kansas.
The ages quoted were from 7 yrs to 30 (and I had reports of many horses
up there in their 20s).
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Of the 17 "unfortunates" (and most of these horses are probably
not aware of any problem)(beware, some of these are a bit gory):
1) "We have had many, many grey Arabian horses here and only one
gelding had melanoma. It was very slow growing and we left it alone.
We noticed it when he was about 14 and I know he still was alive at 22..."
2) "I have a 27 yr. young gelding. He's had some cancers for about
10 years...sheath, tail dock...we had one removed in the inner eyelid
that was extending the eye. That has healed with no reoccurance. The
others seem to be there, maybe slightly annoying but not a nuisance.
The vet recommended not to disturb them.... Otherwise, the fellow
is as healthy as a ....horse....."
3-7) "The count of horses I know of in this area is mostly at my friend's
racing stable, where he currently has a grey gelding and two grey mares
being treated for melanoma (2), and squamous cell carcinoma (1). This
is out of a herd of 17 of various colors. One lady down the street from
us is having her grey gelding treated for melanoma, and a lady in our
club is has had two melanoma surgeries on her gray Ara-Appaloosa
gelding. The latter had a big portion of his sheath removed the second
time. He's 18 and doing fine now with no recurrance."
8) "One mare (aged 19) had so many lumps in her udder and under her tail,
I felt sorry for her. She is now 31 and still going strong for her current
owner except for minor age related problems."
9) "I now have an Arab mare (grey) who has a suspicious lumpy/flat/combined
spot on the flat part of her side (right under the girth, about 1/3 way up
her side/rib area." (this was an unconfirmed one)
10) "...know a gal in Germany who had to put her full arab down at age 6...
had melanoma on the girth area...always open, etc. Very sad!!!"
11) "The mare that did have some melanoma is also recently deceased
(of ethmoid hematomas). She had one melanoma above her right eye.
This looked like a small mole, about 1/4 inch or less in diameter.
It was sort of firble when you scratched on it. It was removed
surgically without any reoccurence in that location or complications.
She also had another one on her hindqurters about eight to ten inches
from her tail. This was removed with cryosurgery. Again without any
complications or reoccurrence. Her dam is alive at twenty years of age
and has no history of melanoma."
12) "My first grey arab developed a couple small melanomas under her
tail and one at the base of her ear when she was around 10. At the time,
we tried cryo-ing the one on her ear but I later sold the mare and don't
know whether it recurred or not. I do know the mare lived into her 20's."
13) (same person) "Presently I have a grey gelding with several melanomas.
He developed a large one on the crest of his neck when he was only 4 and
several other smaller ones have shown up over the years (he's 13 now).
I tried the cimetidine route for several months with no response (he's
one of the statistics in the research paper showing that cimetidine is
ineffective in the treatment of equine melanomas). I had one golf-ball-sized
one removed from deep in his prepuce, under general anesthesia...as far as
I know, it hasn't recurred. I tried injecting the one on his neck with
Regressin, a mycobacterial cell wall extract used as an immunostimulant...
that was quite an experience but I wouldn't be quick to try that route again...
a large area of the neck became very swollen and painful, then the tumor
started to drain melanin-stained fluid (looked just like India ink) for
weeks...a large core of the tumor fell out and several abscesses developed
around the site...basically, after 4 painful injections, the tumor had
disappeared grossly - it remained like that for about a year, then the
tumor regrew to its original size and has been there since. Basically,
my philosophy now is to leave them alone and keep my fingers crossed
that they don't develop in an area that interferes with tack (he's
developed two inside the corner of his lips so I've now switched to a
hackamore). Nikki's description of melanoma as "the most worst form
of deadly cancer" is highly inaccurate...the truth is most grey horses
develop them at some time but they are usually a relatively benign
nuisance and rarely a cause of death."
14) "My mare has had a malignant melanoma that has grown very slowly.
It was first diagnosed when she was nine, she is now nearly fourteen.
It has spread from the jaw where the head meets the neck to encircle
the jaw, and across the head in front of the ears. There are also
smaller ones along the length of the neck. The vets say they won't
operate on her because of the location of the tumor, which is in the
area of the parotid artery, lymph nodes, etc. I've done five years
of endurance with her, including multi-day rides, and she has
been fine up until this last February, when she had trouble breathing.
She is still rideable but only for short distances and not at high speed.
None of my mare's relatives in this vicinity have any life-threatening
melanomas, just a couple of small nodules near the anus or on the barrel,
which can be removed. I live in Santa Fe, where we have intense sunlight,
which is supposed to contribute to the growth of melanomas. I think it's
still pretty rare for melanomas to become a problem."
15) "my girlfriend [has a grey arab which] ...just had a couple of
melanomas removed mainly in the saddle area on her back and on the side
of her belly. The mare is Bask and is 7 years old."
16) "I do remember one boarder at my trainer's barn with a mare that had
reoccuring ones around her ears. This is the only one I actually remember
with a problem. We live in San Diego."
17) And a sad one... "I hate to tell you, but I lost my best horse this
spring to melanoma. He was only 8 years old, a grey, and it was in his neck.
So sad! I'm afraid to get another grey! I do have another grey, 13 years
old, with no sign of it."
and the chestnut:
> ...chestnut arab with non malignant cancer. Little larger than the
> size of a silver dollar. Keeps spreading. Vet says not to worry
> about it. Mainly just ugly which is sad since he's gorgeous. But
> it's on his side in his lower flank area so if it has to be
> it's in a decent location. Started out looking like a
> wart, Now looks like a mass of warts. Had it the 8 yrs
> I've had him - just keeps growing slowly.
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I conclude from this that *most* melanomas are nothing more than a
nuisance and only cause problems if they are in a position that gets
rubbed by tack.
In a handful of cases, the tumours either grew very quickly or
were somewhere that caused a problem to the health of the horse
(not being able to breathe properly, etc). This does not seem to
be the typical of equine melanoma, however.
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One story from Susan in WA:
"I have an 11 year old grey Arab mare and no sign of any problems...
She did have a swelling on the outside of her lip one time and a
stupid vet (not mine, but one where I was having her bred) told me
it was melanoma, but not to worry about it, almost all grey arabs
have it. Well! I was shocked, I had always read that any melanoma
should be treated ASAP! I still believe that, the swelling turned
out to be a splinter or something that was festering and finally
erupted - end of problem!"
Linda Flemmer:
"The Univ. of Florida Vet School folks told me that old age would kill
the horse long before the melanomas would. It is a far less aggressive
form than HUMAN melanomas. Whole 'nuther story!
...The look and feel like marbles under the skin. They are hard,
rounded and noticeable."
George deLong:
"It may well be that grey arabs who live to an advanced age tend to
eventually succumb to melanoma...sort of like prostate cancer in males.
It didn't used to be a major cause of death, because most men didn't
live long enough for it to become a problem."
Al Randal:
"Meanwhile, just like in humans, proper nutrition will help
in the prevention of all kinds of diseases. Feed him, love him
and, most likely, he'll last a long time."
George again:
"Best advice I can give is enjoy your horse(s) every minute that you
have them, because no matter how long they live it is never long
enough by half."
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I will tell Patrick that he would do better to worry about
the amount of selenium in our alfalfa; or whether we should
be feeding apple vinegar with our feed to prevent endoliths;
or whether Provo will stop walking on the outside of his heels
with corrective shoeing...
There are plenty of other things to worry about with horses - I
don't think being a grey horse and getting melanomas is one of them.
Thanks people.
-- ************************************************************** Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com Displaced English person in Sacramento, CAhttp://www.calweb.com/~elsie/mouse.htm (Mouse's page) http://www.calweb.com/~elsie/provo.htm (Provo's page) http://www.calweb.com/~elsie ("Stuff") **************************************************************
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