On February 23 2010, we lost Bandito to cancer. Up until 6 weeks ago, we were blissfully unaware that anything was wrong with him. He was in great shape, moving, eating well. In fact I had commented that before we start training him this year we should exercise him without a rider for a while to drop some weight, to make it easier to get him back into shape.
Then he had a flare up of what we thought were bug bites. He had been treated for bug bites approximately 3 months prior. Little lumps would appear on his skin around his chest and under his belly. Bugs had always been an issue, but it seemed he was particularly venerable. This time though it appeared that he was the only one the bugs found desirable – leaving the other horses totally alone.
At the same time we had another horse who had lost condition, was moody and we could not fatten, we had blood work done and it was agreed to try ulcer treatment for him as he displayed symptoms of having an ulcer.
We mentioned that Bandito suffered some of the same symptoms but had not lost any condition and we decided to give him a course of the same treatment. Around that same week we put out a mineral block containing salts, minerals and molasses. Bandito loved molasses and in a couple of days managed to demolish a large chunk of it himself.
Within a couple of days Bandito had developed a lump under his jaw. Two days after that his sheath swelled and his appetite was extremely low. We ceased the ulcer treatment on 20 January, and left him to recover for a week. His weight continued to plummet and he was taken to the vet on Monday 31 January.
Blood work was taken and he was treated for worms. He had a couple of worms but not of any significant number. Some blood was sent to WA to be tested for noxious diseases whilst the rest was tested for various viruses flu’s and cancers. The tests failed to reveal anything except low protein levels. He failed to improve.
On Sunday 6th February he was again taken to the vet as his sheath became more swollen and a large edema had developed between his legs. He was given plasma, had more tests run and had stopped eating for 3 days whilst at the vets. He was brought home on 14th February
Bandito’s energy levels were low, he was eating very little and it was noted that sometimes when he did eat his gut sounds could be heard several meters away. His coat did not loose its brilliant shine, he displayed no temperature or other illness. When brushing him no painful spots were evident on his body. I estimate that he lost 150 – 200kg in 2 -3 weeks, I personally had never seen anything like it before.
On the morning of Tuesday 22 February Bandito suffered a bout of colic and the vet was called. When he stablised, he was taken back to their surgery to try and figure out what was going on. The vet did an ultrasound and located a mass in his bowel approximately 15cm in length. It was determined to be lymphosarcoma.
Research I undertook on this deadly tumor revealed that it may be more common than previously thought. Veterinary Journals tended to state that it 1 in 10,000 horses that will contract this tumor. But Barry has now lost 2 horses to this cancer in the past 6 years, and he has not had 20,000 horses! The number of horses to come and go through Barry over the past 6 years would be lucky to be 30.
I was fortunate enough to discover an article about a thoroughbred in the USA named Lost in the Fog who lost a battle with this disease in 2006. This horse was 4 years old and a very accomplished racehorse, and was in full training when he started to display discomfort and intermittent lethargy and low fever, which followed with reduced appetite and abdominal discomfort on approximately August 9 2006. He was treated by their regular vet. Blood work was taken apart from mild anemia nothing else was evident When his condition did not significantly improve and another bout of colic occurred on 13/08/2006 the horse was referred to and admitted to Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, University of California-Davis renowned to be one of the best equine medical facilities in the USA.
He immediately and underwent a series of tests and examinations including an ultrasound which revealed an abnormal mass deep within the abdomen. This horse went through some chemotherapy but unfortunately was put down on September 17, 2006.
It was found that Lost in the Fog had two football-size tumors, one in his spleen and the other near his spine. Further he had another egg sized one in the ligament supporting his spleen.
It has been theorised since then that this form of cancer is responsible for a lot more deaths than the supposed 1 in 10,000. This is because many deaths following colic are not followed up with autopsy, and cause of death is “colic”.
Symptoms are not diagnosed early unless the tumor is seen growing externally, but it is the internal ones that are the silent killers. In Bandito’s case he did not get colic early, his was very late. If he had presented with colic a month earlier and died as a result, then this article would not have been written and I would be none the wiser about this deadly disease. The “bug bites” would have remained as “bug bites” and his cause of death would have been as a result of “colic”.
He died of equine cancer on February 23rd. An autopsy was not performed, so it is unknown if there was more than one growth. From my own research (books, internet, journals etc) it is probable that there was more than one given the presentation of the little lumps on his chest that we assumed to be bites, and then the larger lump on his jaw which occurred at the same time as the rapid weight decrease.
At this time there are no blood tests that can identify that there is a tumor growing. So until it presents itself there is nothing you can do about it, and of course once it does present itself its too late to do anything about!
