I’m going to be a guinea pig. Or rather, Lopeh, my little Quarter Horse mare, is going to be a guinea pig.
Lopeh has what I am pretty sure is a sarcoid on her jaw and I’m going to experiment with a remedy I heard about years ago that someone said absolutely positively cured sarcoids. Crest Toothpaste, applied externally, right on the sarcoid.
Yeah, I know. Sounds pretty weird. But I’m into home remedies, and this one is obviously quite harmless, so I’m game to try it.
I’ve never had a horse with sarcoids before so I’ve been researching them a bit online. Here’s a bit of what I found, but I make no claims that this is all accurate information.
- Equine sarcoids are slow growing, locally invasive masses.
- A virus similar to the papilloma virus in cattle is suspected as the cause, but this is not definitive.
- Sarcoids CAN run in equine families, so there may be a genetic predisposition involved.
- Sarcoids usually occur in younger horses (7 or younger).
- Sarcoids often occur in areas that have been injured or irritated.
- Sarcoids are often linked to a weakened immune system.
- Definitive diagnosis must be done by analyzing the sarcoid tissue under a microscope.
- There are several types of sarcoids, identified according to gross and microscopic appearance. Some sarcoids may look like warts; these solid roundish lumps are called the verrucous type and are distinguished from the fibroblastic type and the flat type. The fibroblastic type looks like proud flesh (granulation tissue) and frequently the tumor mass will have an ulcer on top of it. The flat-type sarcoids are ring-shaped, are not significantly raised, and tend to be scaly and crusty. A combination or transition type exists composed of the verrucous and fibroblastic types.
- Treatment of sarcoids varies widely and includes surgical excision, cryotherapy, laser excision, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Crest Toothpaste is not mentioned, but hey, why not try it since no one method thus far employed has been consistently more successful in treating equine sarcoids than the others.
I think it’s high time someone did try this Crest home remedy thing, and I am more than happy to offer up Lopeh as the test case. Her sarcoid — or what I think is a sarcoid — is in a spot where a halter or bridle certainly could have rubbed or irritated her jaw, so its location alone makes it highly suspect.
Also, Lopeh came to me after 3 or 4 years of living virtually wild in a breeding herd on a large ranch where she birthed at least 3 foals during that time. She was extremely stressed out and fearful emotionally, had two babies by her side and had been nursing constantly for those years, so I know her immune system was terribly weakened.
In the six months I’ve had her, Lopeh has mellowed out dramatically. I have also been working hard on strengthening her immune system by feeding her lots of Super Blue Green Algae, focusing on probiotics and anti-oxidants.
But now I think it is time to add one more ingredient to her health regimen. Crest Toothpaste, extermally, for her sarcoid.
I will start in the next day or two (as soon as I can go buy some) and will report back in a few weeks or months.
NOTE: It is now January 1st, 2012, and I have had so much interest in this topic that I have set it up on my Facebook fan page so folks can more easily chat back and forth about what they’re using and what’s working there. If you would like to do that, ust go HERE to check it out! And thanks, everybody, for your posts and your ideas!
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