best treatment for cushings

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basically i've been working at a livery yard/riding school since april last year. without boring everyone with a long story, i've basically had a bit of a promotion i was in charge of a few things before, now i'm basically running the place.
this happened less than a month ago. i had no idea that things as far as the horses general care had been left to slide so badly such as teeth and vaccinations.
1 of the liveries is very old, with most probable cushings. i'm slightly mad at the vet as i was concerned about it but not once did he state any treatment for it. now i've seen his email report to be sent to owners it states that he would put on weight most probably if he had some sort of treatment.
all the vet said was due to his lack of teeth and any grinding surface he was living on borrowed time and to give him the spring-summer then he'd need PTS.
so back to the reason for posting, what should i be giving the old man? never had to deal with a cushing's pony.
 
has the pony actually been tested and diagnosed with Cushings? Its very easy to assume that all old horses are sufferers to some degree but without expensive blood testing this cant be confirmed.

I would work on the assumption that he has dodgy teeth and has lost all his muscle tone. I have a 30 year old cob in this situation and its the feed you need to concentrate on rather than thinking you have cushings to self medicate for. Cushings is quite complicated and the medical treatment of it is something best left to vets so the best thing you can do is help the horse to eat well. Provide soft soaked food and nice grazing.

Unfortunately the end comes to all of us so you must be prepared for the fact that this may be his last spring. Once there are no teeth left thats really the end of it.
 
he gets grass nuts and 16 + nuts, soaked and fed to him.
just the vet report now states he should be treated for cushings and he'll put on weight. the vet mentioned nothing about it, just he might have cushings when he visited.
wasn't till i seen the report this morning he had decided he should get treatment for it.
i did think cushings, but this pony was on good grazing all spring and summer and never did he show any laminitic signs, which i always thought was a main symptom?
so i wasn't convinced. but i'm far from expert on this.
my boss has said to get whatever he needs, so surely some of supplement won't do any harm?
 
ok found this

Increased thirst
Increased appetite
Increased urination
Pot bellied appearance
Loss of topline muscle.
A thick wavy hair coat in the summer – failure to shed its
winter coat.
Chronic laminitis.
Lethargy

other than the wavy coat and a few strange yellow scabby bits on his coat, there's none of these symptoms. in fact i was more worried about his lack of urination rather than the increase of it. def not lethargic, he drags me in from the field and charges to his feed. was doing lessons before christmas and would canter rather than trot to the back of the ride on occasion, and he's still that same bright cheeky pony.
 
There is a pony at my yard with cushings - he gets given something called cushy life by equine herbals. It is a liquid which is put into his feed - has worked wonders on him! You might want to try it if he has indeed got cushings.
 
It is easy to assume that all old ponies have Cushings. The grey in my signaure was diagnosed over two years ago. He had laminitis during the prevous two winters and was then tested for Cushings. He is on Pergolide - a prescription only veterinary medicine, and he is also on a low starch/sugar diet with Top Spec Antilam balancer. He has to be very carefully managed for laminitis. From you post, I wouldn't think the pony has Cushings, just old age and poor teeth!
 
I used to have a pony with cushions on loan for my daughter
I maintained the condition with low sugar/protein feed and in the summer limited grazing...
If you go in on www.dengie.com they will help you.
You more and less treat a cushions pony the same way as a laminitic pony.
Hi-FI Lite and Alfa Beet would be great for him,and easy to chew
 
My old mare has had cushings since she was around 27 & she's now 35. She has all the symptoms you've described *except* (touch wood x 1,000) lami. I asked the vet about it & he said that while she's fine in herself, it's best to leave her alone.

Her teeth are 100% so she can eat totally normally & her weight is okay.

I like the sound of cushy life though & will look into it, so ta for that it0510.
 
thanks for all the info everyone. might go have a look for a cushy-life literally and figuratively
laugh.gif
 
Regarding the being underweight and not having laminitis, I'd suspect these two things are linked! So I would not be too keen to put weight on him especially with spring just round the corner. As long as he is not being starved, being thin in itself isn't a problem.

I have a pony who is probably early stage cushings, he kept getting laminitis the first year we had him, he was a bit podgy but not cresty, we couldn't work out why he was getting it.

But then we gradually got his weight down, and he has not been lami for a year (touch wood quick!). Some people might think he was underweight, he is certainly lean! But he gets loads of low calorie food so he isn't hungry and he has a much better quality of life being underweight than he did when he was a bit chubby and had sore feet and had to be kept in all the time.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I used to have a pony with cushions on loan for my daughter
I maintained the condition with low sugar/protein feed and in the summer limited grazing...
If you go in on www.dengie.com they will help you.
You more and less treat a cushions pony the same way as a laminitic pony.
Hi-FI Lite and Alfa Beet would be great for him,and easy to chew

[/ QUOTE ]
Thank you Brighteyes who pointed out that i did a spelling misstake...It should of course be CUSHINGS and not CUSHIONS LOL oooooops..My spelling is rubbish so please point it out to me so that i can correct it
blush.gif
 
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