Far out theory - biotin & sarcoids

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Kirstine

New Member
Aug 3, 2006
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OK, I have to ask you this: is it possible that biotin can help trigger sarcoids?

My horse had soft hooves last winter and I started giving him biotin to counter this. Two months later, he developed (at least) two sarcoids.
As I understand, biotin is thought to stimulate cell growth in skin, hair and nails, and sarcoids are excessive cell growth of the skin. Could there be a connection?
I am not saying biotin causes sarcoids, but could it be exacerbating them?

Admittedly, my horse's 'outburst' also coincided with the advent of the fly season, so it is entirely possible that biotin had nothing to do with it. However, a similar thing (was fed biotin, got sarcoid) happened to another horse that I know of.

Any thoughts?
 
not sure....only ever heard good reports with biotin and never heard of it being connected to anything else. Like above, I'd ask the vet.
 
I've asked the vet who didn't know - but also tends to only believe in scientifically proven theories. I've asked (human) medical professionals that I know and they've said it was not unlikely. But again, it would take some research to show if it is the case.
I was just thinking that it would be interesting if others had seen a similar pattern.


Thanks :)
 
I have no idea if it is possible but there is always a chance it was just coincidence. Have you stopped feeding the biotin? I guess the only way to know if it was affecting your horse is to see whether feeding it affects the rate of growth. But of course I doubt you want to experiment with your own horse!
 
Hi,
Lucyad, I haven't gone down that route yet, as want to let the Liverpool treatment have full effect. Then if it definitely doesn't work, I'll try alternatives. Must discuss with vet first, though.
Thanks again for your support and help. I hope all is still going well at your end :)


Martini55, he hasn't had any new ones since I stopped the biotin supplement, but as you say, the whole thing could very well be a coincidence. If nobody else has seen anything similar, then obviously it is (there goes my chance of a Nobel prize ;))
I've changed his feed so he no longer gets any added biotin, although, even if he were to not get any more sarcoids, it would still not be conclusive, as that may also be coincidental....
But wouldn't it be great if it was that simple?
 
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