Any people with experience of Cushings?(Also in NL)

[karenjj]

My mare had laminitis for the first time this year and she's 17. She was tested for Cushings and it came back negative. She's been sound for about a month now and then yesterday was hopping lame in one foot. Vet came today and it was an abscess, the 2nd one she's had in 3 months. He said, blood tests are not reliable and he's sure she has Cushings based on fatty deposits under her eyes? She has a longer coat than last year but it's not curly or anything like the pictures when you google Cushings. How many of you have experience of Cushings and is there always a curly coat? Help and advice please?

 

[Abandluc]

I've been a little concerned that my daughters pony may have start of it - long coat (not curly) and insulin resistance (confirmed by blood test in May).
I spoke to my vet (who also happens to be the son in law of the owner - pony on loan) and he said it is the wrong time of year for testing for cushing as some horses can react to the season changes and can produce cushiod results in blood tests. You should test about December time.
The horse has to be starved for this blood test and he will only perform it if he has very strong signal towards it.
Also if the test comes back Negative it may not be correct.

My vet also explained that the coat is always curly with cushings and as our pony's coat is just very long and thick and not curly he is not too worried.

Good luck with your horse

 

[Pasha]

Sadly I have!

When was your horse tested and which test did the vet perform? (as there are several). The ACTH test is not reliable during June, July, August and September as the longer daylight hours can effect Cushings symptoms.

No they don't have to have a long curly coat! My boy never grew a long curly coat and up until he was diagnosed, always was the first on the yard to shed his winter coat!

My boy had fatty deposits above his eyes but that was it really, apart from acute Lami!!!

The ycan have IR on it's own, Cushings on it's own or both together!

Have a look on here: http://www.laminitis.org/cushings.html lots of useful information!

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

Autumn and spring are the worst times to test for Cushings, not totally messes up the test, but it effects the test as the horses normal Corisol levels and ACTH levels are fluctuating during these seasons.

Retained haircoat is an early indicator (it is the start of hirsutism, which is the long curly hair coat) so if you catch it at this stage its good! It means you have the greatest chance of preventing further symptoms of the disease.
Best treatment is pergolide, this can also be an indicator of whether your horse has the disease or not. Saying it is treatment is actually a bit misconceptive as it is not treatable Pergolide compensates for the dopamine reduction that occurs with old age. This therefore help to suppress the horomone excess produced and caused by the tumour.

The recurrent laminitis is also a symptom, and will improve with the administration of Pergolide. Other indicators of the disease are polyuria/polydipsia (excessive drinking and urinating), pot bellied appearance, muscle wasting, fat depostis around the eyes, tail head, penile sheath/mammary glands and possibly along the abdomen. There are a number of other symptoms as well.

Erm............... ye, as I say pergolide is best "treatment" then a drug called cyproheptadine (which acts with a different neurotransmitter to dopamine, it works to suppress serotonin) and finally there is trilostane although this is not particularly effective on equine cushings disease as it acts on the adrenal glands rather than the pituitary gland where the tumour is in equine cushings.

HOpe this helps some
if you have any other questions feel free to PM me, iv just finished my very long research project on it!

Also there is a yahoo group on it, which is really quite helpful!

Erm..................... ye!

As I say feel free, happy to help as much as possible