A bit of advice please would you pts in this situation?

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Just wondered if I could get someone elses opinion on whats best for our minature Shetland. She is approximately 25 years old and until the last 10 months was always a good doer.
She has developed cushings and even now still has her winter coat in patches. She is desperately thin despite hard feed, hay, and grass.
She had an eye absess last month and the vet came out and huge bill later treated it and gave us pergolide to try. She has been on a whole pergalide tablet now for the best part of 6 weeks and has put on absolutely no weight even with a hard feed diet designed by Dodson & Horrell and ad lib hay.
We are all very fond of her but after reading on here about others making the hard decision im wondering whether maybe we should have her pts? She is still full of energy, shiny coat, and a cheeky so and so but is desperately thin especially round her neck area and im now wondering how she will cope in the colder weather and sadly the cost of the pergolide treatment is fairly steep for little benefit. The vet also says she needs some dental work and is pretty much blind- not that she looked it when she escaped from her paddock for the millionth time today and did a bunk!
What would you guys do? Leave it a bit longer or opt to pts before the colder weather?
 
It's made so much harder when the character and temperament are still so full of life and vital.

I cannot say what you should do, I can only say what I would do. I would look at the long term weather forecast, detemine whether it looks likely that there will be some warm dry days, give her those with all the treats she cannot usually have, then have her put to sleep.

She is not going to get better. She is likely to get worse come winter. For me, I'd rather lose my friend before she felt the pain, if it was pain I could not stop.
 
Is it maybe the dental work that is required the reason why she isnt putting on weight?

It sounds like you obviously love her to bits and you say yourself that she is still cheeky, shiny coated and full of energy so if it were me I would get the dental work carried out and make a decision after that.
 
A Hard decision either way...From what you describe and if it were me I would make this her last summer. Only you can fully understand your situation and your horse.
 
MrsMozart said:
It's made so much harder when the character and temperament are still so full of life and vital.

I cannot say what you should do, I can only say what I would do. I would look at the long term weather forecast, detemine whether it looks likely that there will be some warm dry days, give her those with all the treats she cannot usually have, then have her put to sleep.

She is not going to get better. She is likely to get worse come winter. For me, I'd rather lose my friend before she felt the pain, if it was pain I could not stop.
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I agree with this. As hard as it is, I'd rather lose a horse a day too early than a day too late :( I'm very fortunate that I've not had to make that decision for myself but I'm hoping that I would stick to this.

Good luck and hope whatever you decide to do goes smoothly.
 
Hi, theses decesions are always hard, if you think shes going to struggle in the cold weather, it may be kinder to make the choice to pts sooner rather than later. We sadly had to make this decesion for 11 year old sisters elderly pony, and as heartbreaking as it was we knew it was the right choice.
I think yu probaly know whats best deep down and you shouldnt feel bad if you so have her pts as its better than her suffering.
Big hugs for you.
 
It's such a personal thing so I can't comment on the PTS issue as only you will know when the time is right BUT if the little one hasn't had Lami yet, then the Cushings should be controllable - I would try Vitex Equids from the Laminitis Clinic and get her teeth seen to.
 
I am having my old boy PTS in the autumn. He has got to the stage where he looks like a hatrack despite eating loads, his legs are not carrying him aswell as they used to but more than anything he has turned into a miserable old grump where he used to be the most tolerant loving boy.

I'm feeling he won't get through another winter and I want to let him go before he really struggles.

Good luck with whatever you decide its never easy.
 
Pergolide can take several months to take effect.
If her character is still there then that is a good sign.
I would get a good equine vet to check her over including takeing blood and also sort out her teeth and also put her on a good worming regime.
 
If you think she will struggle through winter then I would take the decision before then.

Sorry to hear that she still isn't too good.
 
Wow, what an emotional situation you have :(

1. Why is she not putting on weight with all the food
2. Can you rethink the food; try other weight gaining hard food, give haylage
3. If she's happy in herself I would question pts
4. The winter will make her worse and she may not be so chirpy, thats true
5. Is the blindness really affecting her if she's happy and cheeky?
6. Do the dental, she may increase her hay intake and put on weight
7. What do you do with her/what is her 'work'/retired?
8. If the worry is more of a financial thing maybe see if a charity would take her
9. Saying that, a charity may more likely pts anyway due to the numbers at the mo

At the end of the day, if she's been with you a good while and you know her inside and out, only you know when the time is right to pts.

My instinct would be to do the dental, amend the hard feed and if it would suit her change to haylage and see how she goes. If there is no improvement before the winter then give her two months of being spoilt and then pts. If she does put on weight after the change of food and dental then rug up well for the winter and play it on a week by week basis.

That's all you can do, do your best and react with your brain and not your heart.
I'm sure she knows you will do right by her whatever you have to decide xx
 
I used to breed Shetlands and had my last one PTS last September at 32! He sounds very similar to yours - character still there. but just looking thin. Also he had very few teeth left which made digestion/chewing difficult so I had to feed him soaked nuts which he could sort of suck!! I did not want to put him through another winter and it was better to do it while he was still showing a bit of attitude than when he wanted to die. Sorry, but I think the time has come. I don't agree with giving these ponies lots of drugs as they can cause more problems than they solve.
 
Thanks everyone i've been going round it for months now but it never gets easier.. The vet wants to sedate her in the hospital to do the teeth with power tools as they aparently can't do it with rasps. I suppose this is whats bought things to a head as with her eye sight so poor too it seems alot to put her through when she is such a little thing (31" high!). I'll call them and talk to the vet again about the prognosis and see what she thinks.
 
I personally would not PTS unless i felt i had done absolutely everything possible to give my horse/pony quality of life. If there was no quality of life and nothing more i could do then i would PTS.
With regards to your pony, she wont put on weight with dental work needing to be done. You could also try a different diet as although formulated by a feed company it may still not be the right diet for your individual pony. older teeth become smooth and cant grind so although you are giving her hay she may not be able to chew it very well. You could consider hay replacers- allen and page fast fibre for example. there are lots of other things that could be soaked too- alfalfa pellets, unmollassed sugar beet, grass nuts, etc.
 
Thanks for all the advice. She is on the allen & page fast fibre at the moment but the so and so has decided she doesn't like it! I have just called the vet and am awaiting a call back so I will see what she says about the dental work. They have been rasped this year but apparently there is a problem with some that must have been missed? I was more worried about the eye at the time so can't recall exactly what she said. I'll get some haylage and see if that helps.
 
Good luck and im sure that whatever you decide to do will be a well thought out decision thats the right thing to do
 
It would not be wrong to PTS at this stage.
I would consider though that whilst she has character and energy she is not suffering too much, hard to tell over internet obviously.
 
Not withstanding the need for dental work I suspect one of the reasons she is thin is because she is just not metabolising her food anymore, which is one of the effects of the cushings.
I also believe if you didn't know in your heart that the time had come you wouldn't be posing the question in the first place.
I personally wouldn't put an elderly pony with cushings in the state you describe through the dental procedures either. Give her a week or so of eating whatever she likes (within reason) & then have her PTS. J
ust because it's right doesn't make it easy I know, but in this situation it really is the best thing to do for her, & you have to be brave enough to make that decision in her best interests.
 
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