Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Diagnosis: Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Cash was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma today. He has lesions on his right eye, left nostril, and on his sheath.

To be honest, I'm shocked that we've made it this far without any cancer. I mean, he's PINK and he's TWENTY-FOUR. He's got one blue eye, and the skin around his brown eye is entirely pink all the way around. He's had a tiny (like, the size of a pin head) bump on his lower eyelid on the right side for... oh, say five years. I've had several vets tell me that if it ever changed I should have it looked at immediately. Two weeks ago, it turned a raw-looking pink, instead of its usual skin color. In the last few weeks he's had a crusty thing develop on the top lid of that same eye, along with a small scabby spot on his nostril. I'd also noticed a scab on his sheath a while ago, and MC noticed that it hadn't healed... so, another clue it was time to have him looked at.

A little research (warning, icky pics) shows that squamous cell is very common in pink and gray horses, especially on the eyes and genitalia. Fortunately, if it's caught and treated early, it can be kept in check. In addition, the treatments for the early stages are minimally invasive. In Cash's case, they used cryo techniques to freeze off the lesions. There's even a topical chemotherapy cream that we can use on his sheath if it becomes necessary, but hopefully we caught it early enough that the cryo got it all.

I did have my vet tell me that I'm the Most Anal Owner Ever (well, and MC. She's even more anal than I am, and WAY more observant!). I'd sent her an email with a list of all the areas of concern, along with all the juicy details (ok, I didn't take pics of each spot, but I did think about it). Apparently after checking all the spots I had mentioned, she, two other vets, AND two vet techs went over Cash with a fine-toothed comb to see if they could find any other suspicious areas. Fortunately, they didn't find anything else.

So, the prognosis is good. He gets a fly mask (with a nose) all day every day when it's sunny (he's gotten one for years and years, so we just need to keep doing it). He has shady spots to stand in during the day, since keeping him in a stall would drive him batty. We'll keep an eye on things and any time something turns up, we have it looked at. Hopefully todays treatment will keep everything in check and this will not be too much of an ongoing problem.

On the other hand... remember that Bromance that Cash and Saga have going on? Right, well they both went to the vet today, Cash for the lesions and Saga to get new shoes. They couldn't have stalls right next to each other, but instead were about 50 feet apart and facing each other, with the Dutch doors on the stalls down. The MOMENT I put Saga in one and Cash in the other, they started screaming for each other. Loudly and repeatedly.

I think this bromance has moved past the "friendly relationship" phase and well into the "co-dependent" phase. How embarrassing.

12 comments:

  1. Gee whizz. Those photos are definitely icky. So glad Cash's doesn't look like that!!
    Fingers crossed that's the end of it.

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    1. Yeah, those photos are Not Cool. In some cases it's hard to believe the owners let it go so long! But I'm glad that Cash's were tiny and treatable, and hopefully not something that will spread.

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  2. It pays to be thorough, especially when it comes to the horses. I hope that Cash has seen the last of it.

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  3. Sadly, our mostly white pinto pony died of this. But he was fairly old and the previous owner had failed to catch the cancer before it had formed a large tumor on his sheath. We were able to keep the cancer at bay for several years and Toby had a happy life right up until the very end. It sounds like you are on the right track to giving Cash a good long happy life as well.

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    1. Laura, I sure hope so! My guess is that whatever is putting pressure on his cecum (likely a mass of some sort) will be the end of him, and not this. Oh well, one day at a time, and make every day wonderful! He has been getting a shocking amount of alfalfa cubes in the last two days...

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  4. Interesting that you and I had this conversation not too long ago. Do you think it's more likely that he has something on the inside that's causing his diarrhea now that you're seeing some signs on the outside?

    I'm glad you were able to catch this early, and hopefully Cash won't have any more issues. This is why I am SUPER anal about the BO putting Lilly's fly sheet on every single day she's out in the sun. They don't seem to care nearly as much as I do, but if I can help prevent things early, the prognosis is so much better.

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    1. in2paints, I specifically asked the vet if there was any chance that the carcinomas on his body could be related to the mass causing issues with his cecum. She said it was very unlikely, and that if there's an internal tumor, it's a different kind of cancer. Likely we will never know - he's not a surgical candidate and I won't do an autopsy when the time comes.

      Definitely make sure Lilly gets a fly sheet and mask EVERY DAY! Better yet, keep her in during the day. I know turnout is for the best, but sometimes you gotta take other things into consideration. Cash was turned out at night only for most of the time I've had him, and I think that's helped tremendously.

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  5. So glad you caught this early.

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    1. Terry, me too! Scary looking at some of those pics to think about what might have happened.

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  6. Scary diagnosis. It sounds like you caught it early, so I hope the prognosis stays good.

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