Orbit Has a Problem with His Orbit

As part of improving the facility; we are also working hard on improving the health of the resident horses here at VIP. One of those horses is Orbit, one of the original stallions (now gelding) from VIP's breeding glory days. He's the father of Nebo, another gelding still present at VIP.

First picture of the cancerous growth

In the beginning of March, VIP staff noticed a "goopie" in Orbit's right eye while taking pictures. After cleaning his eye with water staff realized this wasn't an "eye booger" but some kind of growth on his eyelid. For weeks, we kept close watch of his eye and documented with pictures of what the growth was doing. After noticing a significant growth from the strange "eye tag", we decided to call the vet and figure out what it really was. 

Thoughts of cancer growths and other horrific outcomes of a veterinarian's diagnosis crept from the depths of our minds as we waited for the vet to come look at him. On a rainy day at the end of March, Dr. Blaire Albers, DVM, from Mountain Point Equine in Bluffdale, UT arrived to look at Orbit. Dr. Blaire performed a full eye exam and determined that the cancerous growth was not only attached to his eyelid, but to his cornea as well. Since a large animal optometrists is required to surgically remove the growth from the cornea and/or that section of his cornea; which costs around $5,000 for the procedure, we needed another alternative for the 25 year-old gelding.

Our short-term treatment options included applying Neomycin to Orbit's cancerous eye twice a day until his chemotherapy arrived from the vet. Orbit's long-term treatment depended solely on how well the Neomycin and chemotherapy effectively reduces the cancerous growth. If the growth does not respond to the ointments and continues to grow, our alternative option was to have his eye surgically removed for around $500. We were relieved we could use the ointments primarily instead of putting Orbit through surgical procedures and ultimately lose some or all of his sight in that eye. We are so grateful for Dr. Blaire's honest, caring, and compassionate professionalism every time she comes to examine our horses here at VIP Equine.

Here are the stages of the growth and recession. The first two (starting from the left) are growth and the last one is how much it has receded since administering the Neomycin. 

We have been administering the Neomycin twice a day for several weeks and are grateful that Orbit's cancer has begun to shrink and has actually detached from his eyelid. We are also so grateful that Orbit is the perfect patient and allows us to administer the ointment without holding him or using any halters or lead ropes; he stands quietly and always asks for extra head rubs after we give it to him.

The chemotherapy has arrived and the cancer in his eye has receded dramatically. If you aren't looking for it, you wouldn't be able to see anything in his right eye. His third eyelid is looking better as well. The Fluorouracil (5% chemo) is doing incredibly well for Orbit. We are scheduled another full eye exam from the Dr. Blaire to make sure he's making a full recovery and outline his long-term plan since the cancer is shrinking. 

Check out the recession after applying the chemo ointment to his eye!

Dr. Blaire did a full eye exam a few weeks after applying the chemo ointment and was thrilled with how well it worked with Orbit. His cancer is gone! So grateful for the help and knowledge Dr. Blaire has and the many options we had with treatment. 

Next month we will feature one of our big projects around the barn! Thank you for following us here at VIP Equine!