Eye cancer in horses

[4horses]

A friend of mine recently bought a wonderful trail horse for $1600. She’s a sabino walking horse, pretty as can be, gentle, and little to no spook. Unfortunately he never gets a vet check and somehow missed the fact that the mare has cancer in her eye… The growth involves both the 3rd eyelid and is on the eyeball itself.

He recently lost his wife, and the last thing he needs right now is a horse with cancer. I’m reasonably certain he will keep her for some months, until he finds a really nice replacement mount, and sell her dirt cheap ($300).

I keep telling myself it is not my horse. I do not need to get involved. But the longer he keeps her without treatment, the more likely the cancer will spread if it hasn’t already. And I know he will end up selling her…

How do you find a home for a horse with cancer? Even if she rides beautifully… She has a lovely running walk, but is happy to go slow, rides in the front or the back. Just a nice mare.

I just want that poor mare to find a home with someone who will at least attempt treatment. Instead of getting passed around.

I really should just walk away from this. It’s not my horse… But if anyone in North Central Florida wants a nice trail horse in a few months, please let me know. I just don’t think he is ready to emotionally or financially invest in a horse with cancer. It’s just too soon after losing his wife.

[No1]

Tell him to take responsibility for his actions and take care of the mare. If a vet hasn’t looked at it, that’s the first step.

If it’s just the third eyelid, it’s a relatively simple procedure to remove that. Treatment after usually involves topical treatment for the eye. It’s not very intensive. The two or three horses I know of who have had the procedure have gone on to do very well.

If it involves a lot more than that, the eye may need to just come out. That’s a bit more labor intensive, but those horses usually do very well, too.

[spotnnotfarm]

My horse had cancer on the third eyelid. I had it removed. It was not a difficult or expensive surgery. Thankfully, it had not spread to the eye. My horse is two years from surgery and doing great!

If it has spread to the eye, I am sure they could remove it. I have seen many one eyed trail horses and they do fine.

If he really likes the horse, maybe explain the cost of selling her at loss and spending time and money to find another one. Both surgeries would be cheaper than a new horse.

[Horse_Rider]

It’s likely squamous cell and that horse’s sale value is $0. Slaughter houses won’t even take a cow with a visible eye cancer. In a few months, if it is SCC, no one will be able to miss it so no one is going to buy that off him. If the cancer is already on the eye, the only option is likely an enucleation, which isn’t cheap, isn’t risk free, and leaves a prey animal blind on one side. Some take to it like ducks to water. Some don’t. Honestly - you can’t predict who it will unnerve. I have seen chronic spookers who are suddenly happy as can be on their blind side (turns out ignorance is bliss) and steady-eddies fall to pieces over the loss.

If it’s honestly a good horse that he wants to keep? A standing enucleation right now will save him money in the long run. He’s going to lose money on selling this horse (and honestly his likely option is giving it away to a sucker like you - I do not recommend buying someone else’s problem! - or a rescue that’s also a sucker and may or may not be a hoarder situation.) He’s going to have to spend money on a new horse that may or may not be as good as this horse. Depending on your area, a standing enucleation could run you far less than the price of a new animal and in an uncomplicated case the wound is healed in two weeks and you can go back to work. Or, he’s going to have to spend money euthanizing this one when the cancer eats into its facial bones. (If it’s squamous cell it will do this, possibly even if the eye is removed - you can’t always get margins on these - a seriously @$$hole cancer.)

Owning a horse is a responsibility and leaving a horse with untreated cancer is neglect. There are plenty of places where animal control will step in and require treatment or seizure for visible, untreated cancer or illness. You have to weight whether the horse’s suffering (it is a painful and progressive disease) or the human’s sob story (you see where my bias lives - nobody made him buy a horse without due diligence. sorry his wife died but that doesn’t abdicate his responsibility to anything that he brings into his home) is the greater issue here.

[lenapesadie]

No it’s not your horse and no it’s not your responsibility to make sure his horse is treated fairly.

There are no good ways to find a good home for a $300 horse with eye cancer.

He won’t consider peaceful euthanasia?

[mmeqcenter]

This is my thinking as well.

If he won’t pay for enucleation and removal of the third eyelid, he needs to consider responsibly euthanizing. Someone else already pawned off this poor horse onto someone else (your friend), she doesn’t deserve to keep being passed around until she ends up somewhere awful, and you have absolutely zero way to guarantee that the next person will actually do something about the cancer.

[4horses]

In the time I have known him, he has never kept his horses. He just buys them, rides for several months, and resells them. Not to make a profit but he gets bored riding the same horse. That is why I’m reasonably certain he will sell her, even though she rides very nicely. Or if she suddenly declines, he will put her down. I don’t see him paying for surgery on her, or being physically able to provide the surgical aftercare.