Anyone kept a retired horse on Prascend/Pergolide (and for how many years)

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canteron

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My horse retired at 13 (DDTF) and was put out to grass. Got fat and eventually at 19, after several Laminitus sessions, he was diagnosed with Cushings.

So he has been on Prascend for a year and I am trying to get the Lifestyle/Heath balance for him.

Since the grass started coming through I have kept him on a starvation paddock with some rubbish hay during the day and out on a grass 'track' at night. He has been fine and put a little bit of weight on, but not too too much.

Today however, I noticed he was puffy above the eyes, thats always a sure sign that he is on the way to a laminitus attack. I am hoping to have caught it in time, but is this a one-way street? I have kept him on his starvation patch tonight with more hay, but refuse, absolutely refuse to put him on box rest again.

Just interested if anyone else has managed the elusive lifestyle/health balance with a retired cushings horse and if so how many years before they had to call it a day? All experiences welcome please.
 
Our old girl was diagnosed with Cushings 18 months or so ago when she was 26yrs old. I'm sure she'd had Cushings for awhile but it had never really bothered her but she really struggled losing her coat so we decided to get her tested. She went on to Prascend which helped immensely - she grew a normal coat again and seemed even more sprightly than usual. I should add she was retired a good few years ago. Unfortunately at the end of May she came down with laminitis for the first time ever despite not being overweight. We caught it early and the vet felt it was low grade. We shut her in the field shelter for three weeks and the vet reassessed and felt she was improved enough to have a tiny dirt paddock. Unfortunately 24hrs later she went back downhill and was very lame. We made the heartbreaking decision to call it a day. She was 28yrs old and for me a life without grass wasn't a quality life for her. The vets felt she would need a long box rest and then would have to go in a sand/dirt paddock with no grass. She was pts in the sunshine three weeks ago. I hope wherever she is now she is stuffing her face full of grass.
Sorry not to have a more positive story.
 
Thanks Marchtime that helps. Sorry to hear about your loss but that is a very good age. I also agree with you that a life without grass isn't a life for a retired horse.

Are other peoples experiences the same. I just need to prepare myself mentally so that if I haven't caught it in time I don't put him through unnecessary pain. That wouldn't be fair.
 
Thank you, we were lucky to have 16 wonderful years with her. I hope there are lots of positive replies on here when I check tomorrow. You sound like the best owner your horse could wish for especially spotting the signs so early. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
 
My cushings mare was diagnosed last July. She is retired due to various other ailments. She's on 1mg of pracend at the moment & lives out 24/7/365 on rough-ish grazing. She is a Belgian Warmblood & has never had lami *touches lots of wood*
We're only early days yet, so aren't much help Im afraid, but i wanted to reply anyway.
Good luck with yours :)
 
My mare was diagnosed when she unexpectedly (as she wasn't overweight) went down with lami in Sept 2010. I suspect she was cushings for a while in retrospect

It was ages before she was diagnosed :confused: but finally improved once on prescend. She started going out in a small paddock in Jan 2011. Her time out was gradually increased and by March 2011 she was out 24/7 in the little paddock supplemented with hay.

In june 2011 she went out with my other horse in the big field and has lived out 24/7 ever since.

She's happiest out, she's not over weight, she looks great.

My decision is that she will live a normal horse life and enjoy herself until eventually cushings catches up with her and she gets the sadly inevitable laminitis. At that point I will have her pts.

I just feel, for her, her quality of life is more important than her length of life (she's 22 and retired as has ringbone). She HATED being on box rest, she stressed so much she had to live in the school in the end. She was so depressed and miserable even then. I won't put her through it again. She's now loving life :)
 
My veteran was diagnosed last year at age 27. He's on 2mg Pergolide and it's made such a dramatic change in him that without doubt he'd been suffering low grade Cushings for a while. His ACTH count was 200. However, my understanding is that, eventually, ALL horses with Cushings WILL get laminitis if they survive long enough. Pergolide/Prascend isn't a cure, it just suppresses the symptoms. The pituitary tumour continues to grow. So far my old lad is doing fine though I agree, a life without grass would be a life without quality but as he also has severe pollen allergy and his breaths per minute at rest are 45 or so and he can never be sedated for fear he'd stop breathing altogether, then I know that it won't take much to upset his applecart, bless him. He had a funny attack about 4 months ago when for no reason that the vets could find or guess at, he was suddenly completely unable to drop his head to eat, drink or lie down. He was put on Finadyne and antibx and thank god after 4 days he was suddenly fine again. But if that had stayed I'd have been considering pts as if he couldn't graze or sleep, I don't think that's a life worth living for a horse. Glad your horse has such a thoughtful mum. Good luck x
 
My 22 year old pony was diagnosed with cushings last October after a mild attack of laminitis. He is currently only on *touch wood* 250mcg pergolide with another check up test due in a month or 2. He's semi retired with a couple of days a week on the lunge or a walk out round the block with a friend's kid on his back but purely because he would go insane not having anything to keep his brain active.

His routine was completely changed in that he still lives out 24/7 but he is muzzled from early April till end of November with the odd hour out of his muzzle. After only surviving 3 days on box rest before he panicked (and has severe seperation anxiety) he was out on a bare paddock and it is still a struggle now to leave him in a stable if it gets hot and I want him in as he has respiratory allergies and very noisy breathing. Some days he will be fine for a few hours, other days he will rear over the door the moment you put him in. He is happiest when he has my cob by his side and he thrives on being out and the stress and mental breakdown we both had when he threw himself round the stable on box rest will never be worth it again. Last time he had a vet check, I told the vet there and then that if he ever gets laminitis and is to be box rested he will be PTS unless a bare paddock option is viable. It just wouldn't be fair on his mental state.
 
My 26yr old Shetland was diagnosed last March - only symptom was becoming more footie prone.
He is in at night all year round with Hayledge (won't eat soaked anything, and gets dust allergy if fed dry hay). He wears a muzzle from April to October in a 3acre paddock. He has 1mg of Prascend - he started on half that but didn't have enough of an effect so upped to 1mg after 6 weeks. He was retested 6 months later but had stabilised on a whole tablet.
Equines process prascend differently (my shettie sometimes gets borderline liver results - wh may effect his ability to process the drug, however last results were normal).
Key thing with dosing Prascend is blood test in March & October to ensure the dose is right. If you are still getting lami, you may need to investigate Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS).
Try not to worry, many horses go on for years. There are some great websites with advise, eg keeping stress to a minimum, careful worming, etc
 
Please see my post in this forum ref cushings- it's a long story and I'm too lazy to copy out!! I don't think treating horses for ages with pergolide is fair though (post explains why) it is just treating the symptoms of an all together more difficult problem. Best of luck with you're horse. You will know what to do when the time is right. X
 
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