Tonto’s Operation for Skin Tumours

Tonto suffers with sarcoids which is a skin cancer, these are very painful for him and he cannot leave his stable in case they get any worse or open up. Many people think they are ‘harmless’ and don’t effect him, as they can be quite common. However, Tontos sarcoids are a lot more extreme and are much worse than the average horse. This really effects Tonto as he is a thoroughbred and hates to be cooped up and you can really see how much it effects him. He loves being ridden especially jumping, going out competing and being out with his friends but unfortunately Tonto has been stuck in his stable for 6 months now and been out of work for even longer. Tonto now needs another operation as his sarcoids have returned in one place. This will be Tontos third surgery, as he has already lost his eye to glaucoma, had his sarcoids layered off and they will get done again. 

Tonto had his first surgery for sarcoids in May, he was in surgery for eight hours so he was at risk. This surgery cost over £3000 to have all 5 of Tontos sarcoids removed. We had to get a payment plan to do this and only just finished paying that off today with borrowed money and help from family members. He came home after a few days and was on 50 paracetamols a day, 2 Butes and antibiotics. (I will post before and after photos below) 

After 6 months of being stuck in, 4 of the sarcoids have healed perfectly but one has grown back once again nearly as bad as before it was removed. (the second image on the page) So Tonto is now in the process of being booked in for another surgery in the last hope that it will get better before we have to think about what’s best for Tonto in the long run.

Tonto is the kindest horse anybody can meet and everybody loves him, I can’t imagine my life without him. I have all fingers crossed that this will be his last operation and it will be successful. However his insurance will not cover his sarcoids because they have previously been left and not had treatment (not by me) and his after care costs a lot of money. We are still waiting for a quote for this operation, I imagine it will be just under £1000, but will post the quote when it has been given to me. He needs the vet every week after it. Tontos average vet bill weekly is £150. This covers the cost for any painkillers or sedation he needs during the visit. Even the smallest donation will help so much, whether it goes towards his operation, travel fees for him to get there and back (aprox just under £100 one way) or a box of bute so he is in less pain (£60 for 100) all these little things will be a huge help for me and Tonto I'm not sure how we are going to manage these costs but we can definitely not give up on him yet. Hopefully this time the surgery will work and he will be out enjoying himself as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for just reading.