Good news Oncept users! They seem to be shipping it again YAY! Looks like Mr Ay-rab will get his next injection this weekend. Stay tuned!
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This is great news! I’m going to bother OVC again. I’d much rather drive to Guelph than Cleveland!
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Oncept administered! So glad I can check that off the list of things I was tracking. Let’s hope things aren’t so crazy for the rest of the year, especially September when I’ll being doing this again!
Masses are stable, horse is fine! Hard to believe we’ve been doing this for 10 years!
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Cleveland Equine has a good supply, for anyone looking! So we’re going to get our fourth dose for the proper loading dose. Price did go up about $50 
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So Mr. Ay-rab got a dose of Oncept as part of his Thanksgiving celebration! My niece the vet very kindly tracked down a dose for him and administered it after Thanksgiving dinner. Totally a non-event as usual - he was bright-eyed and ready for turnout on Friday.
His bumps and lumps are are pretty stable and he’s living the good life this winter with his cousin my show horse on the family farm.
Hard to believe he’ll be 19 and we’ll celebrate 11 years on Oncept in January! Fascinating journey!
Just for fun, here we are: long-lived science experiment and his patron:
Happy Holidays everyone!
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Aw, what a cute pair you two are. It’s wonderful to see someone who truly loves their horse and takes the best possible care of them. All horses should be so lucky to have someone like you. 
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That is such a kind thing to say! He is a good boy and put up with my feeble attempts at dressage for a long time. I have a scientific background so the whole Oncept experience has been really interesting. I’ve also enjoyed keeping this discussion going. The old man found his purpose in life and I’m just his PR woman and financier! LOL!
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It’s been interesting following your experience, although I’m sorry you’ve both had to go through it. I’ve only owned bays so have no experience with melanoma. I’m sure your willingness to continue sharing your story has been helpful, and hopeful, for many other owners. Thanks!
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So good to hear @oldernewbie 's update. We just had our Oncept treatment last week. The small melanomas continue to multiply, but remain very small. The ones under his tail are tiny still. The vet thinks that the fact they are small is good.
Does anyone here know about creating a vaccine for that particular horse? I forget what it’s called. It’s pretty expensive but I wonder how effective it is. If it would stop the proliferation of melanomas, that would be a relief.
Autologous vaccines, we use them extensively for cattle, test a few cattle in a load and make vaccines for those specific organisms.
May want to ask your vet, he will know what local labs make those, worth talking to them.
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Bluey is correct - it’s an autologous vaccine and it has been used in horses with melanoma. In the article I reference waaay upthread, they talk about it as an option in some detail. Unfortunately I haven’t (in a quick search) been able to find anything more recent. My impression is that it can be successful, but as in all things melanoma, your mileage may vary. I would suggest that you get in touch with your local vet college and see what their current experience is.
This is the (or one of the?) company that creates the autologous vaccine for melanoma. Maybe you could contact them and see what they have to say and who near you has tried this route.
Hope this helps in some way!
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An update: we had the usual Oncept vaccine in early February. However, today I discovered a brand new melanoma, pencil eraser size, on his butt cheek. The vet is now suggesting Torigen.
Help me out here. Has anyone had Oncept quit working (after 4 years)? Anyone else out there with experience with the autologous vaccine?
This horse is 16, my last horse. He is pretty darn important to me. There is no evidence of internal melanomas.
Any info, anecdotes, would be helpful. I’m distressed…
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The mare at my barn that’s on oncept got bumped up to a quarterly schedule a few years ago after she had a melanoma grow, presumably cut off it’s own blood supply, get necrotic, and cause a nasty infection. It’s at her throat and inoperable but a good portion of it did die off so it’s smaller now. She’s had no issues since increasing to a quarterly schedule.
that’s good to hear. I wonder how that compares to the cost and success rate of autologus. I’ll do it if I have to!
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What part of the country are you in? Are you near a state veterinary hospital?
About 3 hours. About the same to Rood and Riddle, in Lexington, KY.
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It is distressing to think that things are going OK and then a new one pops up. See upthread when my guy got new lumps on his penis that hadn’t been there the year before. At the time I felt like things were about to spiral out of control. I don’t like that feeling!
Although I don’t talk about it much, I acknowledge that Oncept does not cure melanomas, it only manages them. If you’re lucky (as you and I have been) it suppresses the process to a great extent and the horse continues to have a pretty normal life.
The surgeon at Ohio State lasered off the lumps on my horse’s penis and nothing sizable has re-appeared. He still has lots of tiny lumps but they don’t impair him in any way. I met another gal from our area who takes her horse to Ohio State for his Oncept injections. She regularly has any small melanomas lasered off. So I would suggest, before you invest a lot of $$ in the autologous approach, see about having the new lump removed. And then use watchful waiting to see if this is a one-off event or a sign of a big outbreak of some sort.
All of this advice comes with the usual disclaimer that I am not a vet! But I hope that sharing some experiences helps you help your dear horse.
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When they lasered him, was he completely sedated? I mean fully put to sleep. We did that with his first batch, mostly because one was kind of raw and ugly looking. The cost for that was 1400? IIRC. And 2-3 months later, he had several more. That’s when I started with Oncept, based mostly on your story and this forum. I had to convince my vet to get the vaccine.
Given the cost and risk involved with surgery, especially if he was going to produce multiple bumps in just a few months…I was hoping for a different route.
Can I just ignore them and hope they don’t get bigger? I just don’t know. The majority are on his sheath, maybe a couple on his penis. The ones under his tail are tiny, have to be felt. Then this brand new one.
The mare that I have had some lasered off her mouth and also around her anus. She was sedated and put in stocks for a standing surgery, not totally anesthetized and laid flat.
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