Advice re blood tests for cushings

[Bradsmum]

I have an elderly companion pony who was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year. She has since had 2 blood tests to check she is on the correct dosage of Prascend. I had her tested for cushings originally because she lost weight, though showed no other signs. She is now on 1 tablet a day and is in good condition and I am very happy with her. However I now need another prescription and the vet wants to carry out yet another blood test. Is this usual? Without sounding heartless, she is elderly and a companion so I want to keep her 'running' costs down but these are now escalating what with the medication and the diet she is on. How often do others have to have their ponies tested?

 

[Flora]

They normally re test every 6 months so they can check their levels

 

[soloequestrian]

I think I'm on once per year unless there are any new symptoms - they get done when the vet is out for vaccinations. I say 'I think' because it's been a weird year. Do you get your prascend from the net? It can work out a lot cheaper - you pay for a prescription (mine are £11). It may be though that because you are using 1 tablet per day, and you can only legally be prescribed six months worth of pills, that the vet has to check the horse before writing another prescription. The other way to keep that cost down is to take the pony to the vet and avoid the callout fee.

 

[JillA]

Mine has never been tested - at the age of 30 the vet was happy that the presenting symptoms clearly indicated Cushings. But ask your vet why, because there are seasonal fluctuations in ACTH levels and also prescribing Prascend is very tightly controlled these days as it is dopamine - mine is much more relaxed because she was first prescribed 5 years ago.
The specialist group ECIR on Yahoo will advise, it is based on many many peoples' experience. Because it is in the US the regulations are different but they will tell you about the clinical reasons and recommended interval for retesting - they tend to retest a lot over there.