Duchess was rescued from a PA auction. She had a large growth on her muzzle.  We knew we need to help her so that she received proper diagnosis and treatment for the growth. When we got her the vet did a biopsy to determine if the growth was cancerous or a sarcoid. See education page for information on sarcoids. It turned out to be a sarcoid and not cancer which is a good thing. The growth was also not interfering with her eating. Another plus. Below is a picture of the growth when we first got sweet Duchess. 

Because of the sarcoids size, it could not be cut out. There was not enough skin to suture closed. We tried a new vaccine treatment that was injected into the sarcoid twice two weeks apart. This treatment has had some success in shrinking the sarcoids.  However, Duchess’s sarcoid actually grew. See below for a picture of the sarcoid after this treatment.

So now we are using a paste called Xterra to shrink the sarcoid. We apply it once a day for 5 day with 2 weeks in between treatments. We just finished our third round of treatments, and it’s shrinking. So we will stay the course. It seems to be taking layers of the dead timer tissue off a bit at a time. They say it burns it off, but I got it on my hand and it did not burn or take my healthy skin off. I need to read up a bit more on that. Our goal is to get it to shrink small enough to cut off, cryo freeze, and implant small pieces into her neck. The body will then create antibodies to help keep the sarcoid from coming back. Fingers crossed we can shrink it enough. We have had great success with that procedure. Watch for an updated picture. She’s not very happy with me right now, so she turns her bumm to me. Lol