Storm my 5yr old grey has a recurrent problem with sarcoids. He had one removed a year ago in hospital. My vet has recomended a special cream from Liverpool. However this is my problem, my farrier had 2 horses of his own recieve this treatment and it failed to work on 2 occasions. It's quite a considerable ammount of money to waste if it don't work or even makes them worse. What do I do?

Storm has 3 sarcoids at present 1 of which is of considerable size on his stifle. The other 2 much smaller on his inside hind leg. They have not been bothering him up until recently due to the flies making them bleed and look pretty sore. They are cleaned daily and fly repellants used but due to their location there is no way to bandage them or cover.

Has anyone ever had the liverpool cream and it's worked, or any other forms of treatment? Any help I would be very grateful.

Sorry I can't offer much help other than to say that I do know of one case treated very successfully with the Liverpool Cream with no recurrence but I know of more cases where the sarcoids have come back after this treatment. As you say it is a very expensive treatment with no guarantee of success. I know some people have used camrosa and others will tell you not to touch it. And believe it or not, I know people who claim they have successfully treated sarcoids with Crest Toothpaste. Really! If that is so, we really shouldn't use Crest to brush our teeth
I think the bottom line is that some treatments work for some horses. There is a lot of info available if you google 'sarcoid treatment' Particularly the Crest toothpaste treatment.
All I can say is do lots of research, look at all the possible treatments, then decide.
Good Luck.

Some suggestions
(not recommending any but just some ideas for you to research)
Global Herbs Sarc Ex
Camrosa
Thuja Herbal Cream
Crest Toothpaste
Sarcoid Salve from Equine Health.
Just to add that I have NO personal experience of any of these treatments but you will be able to find more info and hopefully make an informed decision.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help. Looks like I have a lot of research to do. I have seen the Global herb supplement before but passed it by until we had seen the vet. Looks like I will have thousands of questions for the vet when he comes next. Hope he knows his stuff! Lol!

Liverpool cream is good but it will only act as a...soother and like wart cream which freezes and kills and makes them drop off....but doesnt cure them type thing. Unfortunately you can't stop sarcoids. Grey esp get them badly, so MY advice is if they are small and NOT in the way of any tack or fold, just let them be. If they go away on their own the your horse will be able to fight any of them off. I have a chestnut TB and he used to get sarcoids and had like three in the year after i got im but i left them alone (on advice from my vet) and they went away on their own and he has never had any since. If they wont leave without aid, just keep getting them removed. There is no cure unfortunately, and greys usually end up getting them on the anus/mouth and they eventually turn cancerous. But my horse lived with them until he was like 30 (but i admit i didnt know about these and he probably had a lot of discomfort but i was 13 so didnt know ...)

I came across this research recently - it's the same stuff as the human cold sore cream Zovirax (acyclovir) which is anti-viral. Might be worth asking the vet if he has heard of this treatment if they are still pretty minor lumps.
This is the article anyway
A Novel Treatment for Sarcoids in Horses | Equinews

Good luck! My grey mare lived with all kinds of lumps and bumps for many years

I read somewhere that the anti-viral ingredient in cold sore cream - acyclovir - is being used with some success in treating sarcoids in horses.
Might be worth having a word with the vet to see if it might be useful with your horse's sarcoids (and cheaper than Liverpool Cream??)

My grey mare lived for years with lots of lumps and bumps, bless her.

Good luck. I hope you find a treatment which helps

I had a sports horse mare on loan a few years ago with some nasty sarcoids, she had had the Liverpool cream but it didn't seem to have done a lot for her, her muzzle was badly scarred by it. Apparently though the human BCG vaccine can be effective, when injected into the base of the sarcoid they are supposed to fall off, but I have heard that there can be serious reactions to it in some cases (serious as in sudden death )

Hi

I used to own a mare with quite a problem with sarcoids and I tried various different treatments, all with little long term success im affraid.

I tried the Camrosa ointment, that seemed to make things soo much worse. I tried Thuja cream again absolutely no luck there.

I tried the cream from Liverpool which although does get rid of the sarcoid it wont stop it reoccuring somewhere else. It is also very expensive as the vet has to apply it over 3 visits, you will find that the sarcoid also gets quite painful as the cream gradually burns it off.

The best results I had was with freezing, the vet came and did several at once and within days of treatment you could see results. I found that the treatment was quicker, cheaper and the wound healed faster than with the cream.

My mare had quite a problem and I used to have them all treated once a year usually around christmas time which meant no flies and if the horse needed any time off work is wasnt too bad as i tended to ride/compete less at this time of year.

For some horses treatment is a lot more successful and for some it just does not work, unfortunately sarcoids for many are an absolute night mare that we can only just manage to maintain as there is no sure fire cure that works for all.

My advice is if your horse has just one leave it alone until it becomes a problem. If your horse has many re occuring sarcoids treat them while they are reasonable small as the treatment and scaring is less.

Good luck

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My friends horse has a sarcoid on his belly (5yr old tb gelding) We washed it daily (use a tiny bit of hibi scrub), dried it, put crest tooth paste and sprayed it with the oxymicen (however its spelt) spray..this was in summer and it kept the flys away, he had it for 3 months and then it shrivelled and dropped off!! xx

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