Looking for advice on a PPE finding- sarcoids

[vxf111]

Assuming you vetted a horse and the only derogatory finding was some sarcoids in/around the sheath area/inner legs, would you…

1. Pass
2. Ask for a price reduction

If you’d ask for a price reduction, how much? I am sort of at a loss here. It’s not like an arthritic finding where you can say “ok well, he’ll need injections and this is how much injections cost.” It’s more uncertain what treatment you’d give and how much it would cost. I could do nothing. I could put creams on it. I could put creams on it and later something more invasive. I could do surgery. I have no idea! So it’s sort of hard for me to “take off the price” the cost of treating light I might if I vetted a horse that say, needed hock injections younger than typical, etc.

I guess as a separate question, for those of you who have a horse with sarcoids, what do you estimate you’ve spent treating them and how have you treated them.

Details in case it matters-- 8 year old bay WB gelding hunter/jumper horse. 3 areas of sarcoids, one in front of the sheath, one on the midline near the sheath, one on the inner thigh. None found anywhere else. Mostly hair loss but with a few wart-like looking lesions. I need to ask the owner how long they have been there and if she’s done anything to them. Owner happens to be an equine vet herself. Has had the horse 4 years, since importing him.

[SonnysMom]

Sonny had a sarcoid on his face. It was smallish. The only reason I treated it was the bridle would rub it sometimes. We did a cream first that didn’t seem to work then he got injected with a chemo agent of some kind. I was over 15 years ago so I don’t remember the specifics of what the cream was and what was injected. At the time I spent less than $200.

[mydogs]

I had a horse with a sarcoid. I put xyterra (sp?) on it for a 2 or 3 days and it came right off.

Maybe ask the owner to treat it with a cream and see if it goes away within a week and make a decision then? I don’t know if that can be done for the sheath area, but I, as a owner, would try treating it if I was selling.

[betsyk]

We’ve had 2: one we didn’t treat, just added a grapeseed extract supplement and the sarcoid went away, never to return (15? years). My other horse had one in his ear last summer. Vet wanted to freeze it, so we did that 3 times. It went away. Then it came back. Now I’m ignoring it, except for feeding the same grapeseed supplement we gave the other horse. Supplement is less than a dollar a day. Freezing might have been a few hundred total. I realize sarcoids can get really ugly but I’m taking the “whole healthy horse” approach first and doing as little as needed for now.

Would I buy an expensive horse with 3 sarcoids? I’d have to really, really want the horse. Would I pass on an inexpensive horse with sarcoids? they’d have to be pretty bad. In between? I dunno.

[skrgirl]

@mydogs

I had a horse with a sarcoid. I put xyterra (sp?) on it for a 2 or 3 days and it came right off.

Maybe ask the owner to treat it with a cream and see if it goes away within a week and make a decision then? I don’t know if that can be done for the sheath area, but I, as a owner, would try treating it if I was selling.

Weve used xterra on three. One is cleared right up, one it caused nasty bloody ruptures which then eventually cleared up, one it did nothing.

[vxf111]

Update: Sarcoids have been there for 4 years and never changed. Owner treated with Fluorouracil Cream once a day for two or so weeks when she was in Florida and the flies were biting up the horse’s sheath area. Sarcoids went down.

Jeez almightly what are in these creams?! They sure are expensive!

[AKB]

One of my guys developed a sarcoid on his face, under the bridle, about 4 years ago. I wanted it gone ASAP. I used Imiquimod cream (generic Aldara), which cost $125 at Target pharmacy, called in by the vet. The prices for the cream varied incredibly at different pharmacies. The sarcoid sloughed off, along with a large area of skin around the sarcoid. Washing the area before applying more cream was hard because his cheek was really ugly after about the third application of cream. After 2 weeks of cream,the sarcoid was gone. His face healed without a scar. So far, there is no recurrence.

Sarcoids don’t scare me as much as other problems scare me.

[DoubleDown]

Wouldn’t stop me from buying the horse. I’ve treated my mares with Xxterra that were on the side of her udder. They’re kinda gross and a little painful to treat but totally NBD. I’ve had to treat hers twice in the almost 12 years I’ve had her. My vet gave me the cream from a big bottle he had so it really didn’t cost much. I wanna say $40-$50?

[notlost]

I would love to know what grape seed extract you’re feeding. I bought a fabulous horse who had some that they used Xtera on, but he’s got some small ones on his nose. They’re not in the way, and they are barely there, but I’d love to see about feeding the grape seed extract.

@betsyk

We’ve had 2: one we didn’t treat, just added a grapeseed extract supplement and the sarcoid went away, never to return (15? years). My other horse had one in his ear last summer. Vet wanted to freeze it, so we did that 3 times. It went away. Then it came back. Now I’m ignoring it, except for feeding the same grapeseed supplement we gave the other horse. Supplement is less than a dollar a day. Freezing might have been a few hundred total. I realize sarcoids can get really ugly but I’m taking the “whole healthy horse” approach first and doing as little as needed for now.

Would I buy an expensive horse with 3 sarcoids? I’d have to really, really want the horse. Would I pass on an inexpensive horse with sarcoids? they’d have to be pretty bad. In between? I dunno.

[PNWjumper]

Sarcoids hardly seem like a reason for a price reduction. Assuming your average sarcoid, they wouldn’t be anything I’d be concerned about if the horse fit the bill otherwise.

I have a mare who had one on her chest and one on her butt. I used an xterra-like ointment (iirc, both are a bloodroot extract…can’t remember the name of the one I used, but I’ve posted about it here before, so probably relatively easy to look up). Caused the sarcoids to fall off, leaving holes where they were…pretty gross, but also pretty darn effective. I would guess that total cost was $50? Both “wounds” healed up nicely.

[tinah]

Daughter’s horse had one on his chest about 3 inches around when we looked at him. We tried a goo on it, but it made it angry so we just left it alone. A year or so and gaining 200 lbs later it went away.

[Aleuronx]

3. Smile and take my new horse home

To me price reduction things are findings that would detract or take away from the horse being able to do it’s job to varying extents. And to that end a PPE is simply a (typically) thorough exam at that moment in time of whether the horse is sound and capable of performing the job. If a sarcoid is preventing the horse from being able to do that, then yes perhaps try to negotiate or be prepared to pass on purchase.

To me? Not a big deal, and I literally just went through this myself. I thanked my lucky stars that the only findings on a recent PPE were a small sarcoid on the inner thigh and a wolf tooth. Both of those things are leave it be unless it becomes an issue and not anything I would have considered grounds for price reduction.

I smiled and brought the horse home.

[Pembroke]

Before using xxTerra (which is pretty darn expensive), try Crest toothpaste

Just google the method and you’ll get lots of results. Horseware also has a cream for skin conditions like sarcoids (Thuja cream), so that could be worth a try. And there are some supplements to try for sarcoids, too.

If the horse is right for you otherwise, I wouldn’t be bothered. A small price reduction is never a bad thing, though.