Cancer Eye....Passed On?

[K2011]

I noticed today that a cow had a small 'spot' on her eye....last year her full blood sister had over-grown hooves and we took her to the vet to get them trimmed, and the vet looked at her eye and she had a spot that looked very simmilar to this one and he stated that it could be cancer and with her toes likely to grow again - send her on....cancer is/can be passed from generation to generation, right? Does this look like cancer or a spot from something else....I would like to keep her calf, but if it passed on I will likely think better of this......

Her Calf That I Would Like To Keep

 

[msscamp]

As I understand it, cancer eye in cattle is a direct result of a lack of pigmentation in/around the eye area. The calf you want to keep has pigment around her eyes, so I'm thinking cancer eye should not be a problem. Of course, my understanding of cancer eye could be wrong.

 

[IluvABbeef]

"Bovine ocular neoplasia includes a variety of benign and malignant skin tumors of the eyeball and eyelids.  Benign tumors are growths that do not spread to other parts of the body and do not tend to grow into surrounding tissues.  They can cause local problems with eye function, but do not affect the rest of the body.  Malignant tumors are growths of cells that spread to other parts of the body and tend to invade surrounding tissues.  Clearly, it is in the cattlemen's best interest from an economic, humane, and public perception standpoint to treat or market cattle with cancer eye  as soon as practical.

"Cancer eye appears to affect cattle that have non-pigmented skin, especially around the eye.  You can reduce the incidence of cancer eye in your herd by selecting breeding stock with dark pigmentation or color around the eyes and by culling affected animals and their offspring from the breeding herd.  The peak age for cancer eye is between 7 and 8 years of age. It occurs infrequently in cattle less than 3 years of age.

"Check eyes whenever cattle are gathered for other routine procedures, especially breeds known to be commonly affected.   Veterinary treatments include surgery, cryosurgery (freezing), hyperthermia (heating), or combinations of these.  The success rate, if treated early, approaches 90 percent.  Given the genetic susceptibility of this condition, you may elect to cull affected cattle rather than treating them.

Cattle with advanced lesions that have spread to other parts of the body or invaded the local tissues around the eye should be humanely destroyed and not transported to market.  If presented, they will be condemned and the presence of cattle with cancer eye at the market could create negative public perceptions." (From Cattle Today health problems info)

http://www.facs.sk.ca/pdf/cattle_facs/cancer_eye.pdf

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/l ... -in-cattle

 

[Aaron]

Cancer eye has a genetic heritability factor of 0.4. Therefore, don't be discouraged in keeping daughters off of cows with cancer eye, but it would help to select for daughters with more pigmentation around the eye, especially on the lower eyelid. Pigmentation around the eye is directly correlated to how much pigmentation develops in the eye itself. :cowboy:

 

[bigbull338]

you both are right.pigment around the eyes basically elimates cancer eye.but icancer eye can also be inherited as well.if you want to keep her heifer calf id keep it.what i said doesnt mean her calf will have cancer eye.

 

[dun]

you both are right.pigment around the eyes basically elimates cancer eye.but icancer eye can also be inherited as well.if you want to keep her heifer calf id keep it.what i said doesnt mean her calf will have cancer eye.

The only cancer eye I have seen in person was in a solid black cow, so pigmentation doesn;t eliminate it.

 

[bigbull338]

dun i didnt say pigment elimates it if its in the cattles genetics to have cancer eye.

 

[I luv herfrds]

We got a cow with the same little thing on her eye. It has never gotten worse nor gone into the cancer form. She's had it for about 4 years now.
Pigment around the eye will reduce cancer around the exterior of the eye, but not cancer on the eye. Big difference guys. I've seen both in our Herefords.
Most times for us cancer eye shows up around age 8-10 years of age.
We now breed for the pigment around around the eye and that has helped with the exterior cancer eye, but have had cows with it get cancer on the eye.
K2011 this was discused before. I posted a picture of one of our cows with cancer on both her eye and third eye lid.

 

[TheBullLady]

I wouldn't worry about that either.. it's basically just irritation, and of course it's more pronounced because she doesn't have that darker pigment in her eyes. Just watch it, and if you see a small bump or nodual growing either from the third eyelid, or anywhere around the eye, you can usually take her to the vets and they'll freeze it with liquid nitrogen with good results. If she's a good cow she's worth putting that into her!

Having said that.. I'm hauling one to A & M tomorrow for that same reason..

 

[TXBobcat]

For those of you that have had a vet treat a cow for cancer eye, I was wondering about the cost of the treatment. I'm going to contact my vet about a cow (Longhorn) that I suspect may have cancer eye. She has a spot (pinkish growth) on the lower part of her eye lid that has been evident for a week or so. Otherwise she is a healthy 4 1/2 yr old cow.