Melanoma - Oncept - July 2023 - Update post 216

I am so glad our journey is helpful! It was 10 years ago this month that Mr Ay-rab got his first Oncept injection! Hard to believe!

If you don’t want to haul all the way to Columbus, call Cleveland Equine Clinic and see if they can accommodate you. Ask to talk to Dr. Johnson and tell her Monty sent you!

Good luck either way!

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They can! I’m going to book today once I’ve sorted everything with my local vet re: health papers and Coggins and all the cross-border stuff.

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That is great news! Keep us posted!!

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Another update here. 2.5 years after starting Oncept. He had a few very small ones on his body wall and on his sheath. Also, the tiny ones under his tail are still tiny. All very small. I’m disappointed that he has more but they are all small and not worrisome. We will take what we can get!

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Just an FYI for all of us Oncept users - it’s apparently on backorder nationwide. :anguished:

Wish I knew more of the details, but that’s where we are. Fortunately Mr Ay-rab is doing fine so we shall wait and see.

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Oh no :flushed: I’m supposed to have the vet out in a couple of weeks for the one I have on it. I guess I’ll call them tomorrow and hope they have it :crossed_fingers:

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Cleveland Equine has three doses reserved for me, and I’ve decided to go ahead after consultation with their vet. They said that they’ve seen people skip the loading doses and go straight to semi-annual doses with success, so I’m hoping 3 of 4 doses is helpful.

I also spoke to the pharmacist at OVC, and they are under the impression that more supply will be available in April, although I wasn’t clear if that was for large animal use, or just dogs. I perhaps didn’t tell them what species I was asking for…

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The dose is the same for horses or dogs, so hopefully they won’t discriminate against an equine vet!

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I sure hope not. I did hear some rumblings that small animal vets were being “preferred” but who knows what that actually means.
We’re one dose in. The drive down and back sucked but the actual treatment was so simple. I was expecting a hell of a bang from the injector but it was more of an enthusiastic click.
My usually wildly vaccine-reactive horse seems just fine, maybe a bit of the runs the next day, but was that also from being stuck in the trailer for 8 hours? Possibly!

That may explain why my equine vet had to get it through a small animal vet in a different state, back in July. There was no mention of this in this last treatment.

Hello all, your friendly veterinary oncologist here. The Oncept vaccine is on nationwide backorder due to lack of product, and has been very challenging to obtain. The next shipment of products will not be out until April, and those are going to veterinarians with a current backorder. There is not a “preference” for small animal vets; large and small animal veterinarians that are allowed to carry and administer the vaccine can place orders equally, and those will be filled as their backorders come due. Please keep in mind that some of us small animal oncologists will see horses (I do farm calls and treat all species!), and that may be an alternate route for getting the vaccine, so feel free to call your local small animal veterinary oncologists to see if they will also administer the vaccine to your horse!

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Thank you for this info! Good to know.

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My horse has not shown any reaction to Oncept after 25+ injections. Glad your horse feels great.

I know it was a rough trip but add 2.5/3 hours each way if you’d gone to Ohio State. Eeeeeek!

Fingers crossed for a good result (and a sudden burst of Oncept production!)

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Ohio State is supposedly marginally closer to me… I drove from Windsor ON, so I got the joy of the border crossing in there too!

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Silly me! Had to look at a map to realize that you had to go around Lake Erie to get to Kent vs just going south to Columbus from Windsor. My head was locked in to the distance from Columbus to Kent. Duh! Reminder to look at a map the next time.

Glad it worked out in any case!

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I have to say, those Ohio roads are SO MUCH BETTER than the roads in Michigan. I was white-knuckling it until I hit I-80/90, but I’ve never been happier to pay tolls! And those service stations… So easy to get into and out of (and gas up) with a trailer. I’m in love!

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Two doses in! A little bit of diarrhea the next day, and a bit of a mild temp, but otherwise smooth sailing. I did lose my HiTie along the I-75 the Ohio side of Detroit, so if anyone finds it… Enjoy!

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Have you seen any changes in his melanomas?

Not yet… But that also means no growth. So, not a negative?

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Exactly - I take arrested growth as a big win, especially if any melanomas have been growing rapidly before you started with Oncept. Some of my horse’s melanomas disappeared after a few doses of Oncept. Some are still there but either not growing or growing very slowly over the last 10 years. All very good as far as I’m concerned!

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