On Board With Oncept

Oy with the poodles already, I just can’t seem to keep up with this blog lately. I have two posts written and just can’t bring myself to organize the pictures to go along with them. There’s been a lot of travel going on lately, and that’s pretty much been my focus. Without any further ado, let’s get in a quick Goose update!

The Goober started his Oncept loading doses on Thursday, May 31st. He had his second loading dose on Monday, June 11th, and his third and fourth doses will be on Monday, June 25thand Friday, July 6threspectively. The doses are meant to be no more than two weeks apart, so the shortened timeframe between the last few is not at all an issue and is vet approved. 

Taken right before he had his first loading dose on May 31st

Because my barn manager is a magical human, she has been taking Goose for me. With my current travel schedule and carefully managed PTO, I don’t exactly have the luxury of taking off work to accompany Goose to the vet. Granted – if I had needed to make it work, I would. But I trust BM and Goose is a Very Good Boy and I’m grateful that in this instance, I don’t have to tell work yet again that I need to go meet the vet for my horse. (Seriously, my boss has been amazing about this and has let me work from the farm on surgery and vet visit days. Trying very hard not to take advantage of that kindness!). I’m holding out hope that I can make it to Tryon for his last dose, but I’m just not sure yet.

The night before his first loading dose I went out to the barn to see him and make sure he was some semblance of clean. You see, I have a Grey Horse Rule: Grey Horse does not leave the property unless it has had a bath. Some people seem to think this is stupid, but hey, I’ve now given up on keeping him clean all the time on the farm. I figure if he’s going out in public, he sure as hell can be presentable. Unfortunately, we were having issues with the water at the barn that day and the hydrant wasn’t working. Don’t worry – we were able to fill troughs, but baths were a no-go. Double whammy – Goose was DISGUSTING. It had been raining for weeks (I think we literally had like 16+ days in a row of precipitation) and mud was EVERYWHERE.

*Ilovehorses, Ilovehorses, Ilovehorses, Ilovehorses*

And so my lovely goon went to Tryon looking like a disgusting ragamuffin. There's just no amount of grooming that can truly fix this much mud and sweat. Sigh. I was told that he loaded and unloaded like a good boy, and behaved perfectly while they prepped him by shaving a spot on his chest where they had to inject. I had told them that he’s great for All Things Vet (he’d better be, after all the bills I’ve paid) and I didn’t think they’d have to drug him, but I’d leave that to their discretion. They decided not to sedate for the first shot. Oops.

So the injector that they use is not a typical needle and syringe variety. It’s an transdermal device, similar to what they used to use to give the Smallpox vaccine that left people with scars on their arms. Since I haven’t been going with Goose, I don’t have pictures, but here’s a link to a video on YouTube on how to assemble the VetJet injector. The device makes a loud *POP* and the needle goes quite deep, ergo is likely quite painful. Apparently they were all standing around, Goose was basically asleep all on his own, and then they injected and the fool horse nearly jumped out of his skin. Poor boy! We’ve since decided to take the edge off with some Xylazine so he doesn’t jump so much at the injection.

They did sedate him that first day to take measurements of the current melanoma. This is comforting to me because it’s extremely challenging, and awkward, to take measurements of penis melanoma by yourself. To be honest, the tail melanoma isn’t much easier. I do think I’m going to get a set of calipers to keep some sort of accurate records once his loading doses are done, but will likely enlist help when I have to measure. Luckily, Goose drops without sedation for me. Actually, I think that’s definitely an awkward thing to say… to clarify, Goose gets SO EXCITED by cookies that he drops it like it’s hot. It really has nothing to do with me except I’m the one holding the cookies. (Glad we clarified that).

The second dose went about the same minus the big jump, and he goes for his next one on Monday. As for the melanoma, I can’t say that I see a huge change at the moment, but have been diligent about taking pictures every few weeks. I wouldn’t expect to see results yet, but hope to within the next few weeks. I keep telling myself that even if the existing melanoma don’t shrink, as long as they’re not getting bigger or more aren’t popping up that’s a huge win.

Taken right after his 2nd loading dose - they look smaller in this picture but the lighting was very different, they didn't look that much smaller in person

Because I’ve promised to be transparent about the cost, I’ll throw this out there again.

• Cost of 4 loading doses: $2,600 paid in full before first dose
• Cost of each visit: $14.50 for sedation

That’s pretty much it, as far as I can tell. I’m not entirely convinced I won’t get a bigger bill after his last dose, because horses, but so far it’s just been the sedation fee for Xylazine that they auto charge me for the day of the exam. After these loading doses, we’re looking at a January/February timeframe for his first booster, and each booster will be six months out from the previous one. 

Just a derp picture, cuz why not

So far so good on the melanoma front, and I’m relieved it’s not only underway, but nearing the end of the loading doses. I’ve been in contact with several people who have had excellent success with Oncept, and I really hope Goose will be among those success stories. In the meantime, life is busy but good, and I have a ton of writing to catch up on. Not to mention posts I wrote back in April/May that I should think about throwing pictures on and putting up there, even if they’re no longer relevant…

Side note: Who subscribes to Practical Horseman? Be sure to read the July issue!

Sometimes it's 100 degrees in South Carolina so we ride bareback to the pond with optional steering