When I found a skin tumor on my horse…….
I did what any veterinarian does when their own pet is ill……….
FREAK OUT!!
and I zipped him straight off to an equine surgeon.
The visit with the specialist left me definitely not wanting to try that route……general anesthesia……….a HUGE hole in my horse…………. skin grafts…………. His final recommendation, “If it was my horse, I wouldn’t TOUCH it. Anything we do might make it worse.”
Then another equine vet I know said, “I know this sounds crazy, but…………….”
Before I tell you what happened next… let me explain a bit about myself.
I’m an evidence-based-medicine kind of girl…….
I’ve been in horses & veterinary medicine long enough to know the latest “fad” is often……….
a bit….. off the mark.
Anyone else remember when EVERY sore horse had EPM?
Now they ALL have kissing spines….. but that’s another story.
And yes, both those problems are real but I venture that every single horse diagnosed with one….. or the other……..may not actually have the problem…….
So…….here I am……my pony has a large nasty sarcoid on his leg. I’m pretty bent out of shape about it, and an equine vet I know………….
says, “Try toothpaste.”
Huh??
“Yeah, toothpaste. Slap some on it and let me know what happens. I’ve seen it work.”
Believe me, I had to put on a disguise and do this in the middle of the night….. I couldn’t possibly be caught with my horse and the tube of toothpaste. I have a reputation………and this……. could have been bad.
Here it is. My “ONE RAT” study.
Before:
+c.jpg)
2 Days
This is 6 months later, all but one small bump is gone.
I decided to freeze the last bump, and it actually detached and fell off during the freezing.
Toothpaste???? Who knew????
I've tried that!! It definitley works! But it needs to be regular white Crest toothpaste. Is that what you used?
It was blue, I used what I had in the bathroom.
Wow, glad that it worked. Next question… any idea WHY it worked?
I have 2 theories.
The first is that many sarcoids spontaneously regress without treatment. They are often "self limiting." This means it's entirely likely it was going to resolve on it's own and the "toothpaste treatment" had nothing to do with it. I only did 4 days of toothpaste, and it was 6 months later before it was gone.
The 2nd, is that sarcoids are somehow related to papilloma viruses (warts) though that relationship is still poorly understood. We know that just crushing a wart caused by papilloma virus is a highly effective treatment & will trigger the immune system to recognize it & fight it off. The toothpaste literally caused the entire area to blister and peel off. It was a raw bloody mess after 4 days of toothpaste (which is why I had to stop applying it.) Perhaps that severe irritation caused a wart-like immune response for the body to recognize it & fight it off.
Very interesting. My old horse had a sarcoid and I feel like we were recommended to use a steroid cream but I can't remember. Glad it worked.
I had a sarcoid that looked EXACTLY like that removed from my TB Mare's neck 6 days ago – via laser surgery at my vet's clinic. Now I find out I could have used Crest toothpaste??? D'OH!!!
I have nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award! Thank you for the inspiration you provide! I’m sure you have already been nominated before I got to it, but I just wanted to add my voice (and play along).
No obligation to play along, of course. I won't be offended if you delete this comment, either. I just wasn't sure how else to play along and say 'Thanks'.
Seriously, how do you not have over 200 followers?