Can't get hold of my vet but.................

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JillA

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Waiting for a call back, since early this morning
Horse is 23 yr old 620kg with PPID, been on 1mg Prascend/day for a couple of years, The last week or so he has lost interest in his bucket feed (weight is, well, could lose a little, on a shared 3/4 acre well grazed paddock with track) and this morning has digital pulses. I want to discuss upping his dose to 1.5 or even 2, especially given the seasonal rise, and book an ACTH test, but no-one is getting back to me despite follow up call.
Would you wing it and give him another 0.5 mg/day to see if it helps (assuming still no call back by tea time)?

ETA I really can't stable him, he is an itcher and will knock down walls if he is kept in with solid structures to scratch on
 
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It might be the prasend thats putting him off his feed though. I would not want to increase without speaking to a vet.
 
no because your current dose could be putting him off his feed. I would leave him on his current dose and treat him as potential laminitic until I had an ACTH reading that indicated a higher dose. Has it rained with you yesterday/today? If he has pulses today had the grass suddenly spiked? just a thought.
 
paddy555 said:
no because your current dose could be putting him off his feed. I would leave him on his current dose and treat him as potential laminitic until I had an ACTH reading that indicated a higher dose. Has it rained with you yesterday/today? If he has pulses today had the grass suddenly spiked? just a thought.
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No, no real rain to speak of and the reluctance to eat bucket feed has been developing over a couple of weeks. I can't even give him Danilon or a bran mash unless I syringe it into him in some apple puree and like I said, can't stable him. Vet is apparently not working today and another vet has rung and said to wait for him to get back tomorrow. Not impressed TBH
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I wouldn't be impressed either! I would seriously consider using a different practice, tbh.
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He's a very very good equine vet when he is available, and his wife is at Leahurst so he is well up to speed on all things equine. And a nice guy who knows us well - I would be very reluctant to change.
 
JillA said:
He's a very very good equine vet when he is available, and his wife is at Leahurst so he is well up to speed on all things equine. And a nice guy who knows us well - I would be very reluctant to change.
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That's great if you can get hold of him, when you need him. If you can't, it doesn't matter how good he is! We used to have an excellent vet but he was a sole practitioner most of the time and his emergency cover was hopeless. We changed to a different practice for routine and emergency matters and just use him for any back/neck/poll problems, as that is his specialism and unlikely to be a true emergency.
 
I increased my mare’s dose after a couple of episodes of raised pulses. I do get her levels checked twice yearly but I’m pretty confident after all these years whether she needs her dose altered. Laminitis isn’t to be taken lightly and If its looking likely I’d increase (and be prepared to decrease again if it makes no difference).
 
Thanks all - still waiting to speak to the vet but he is much much better this morning, moving much more freely. Will get his ACTH levels checked - has the seasonal rise got going yet?
 
JillA said:
Thanks all - still waiting to speak to the vet but he is much much better this morning, moving much more freely. Will get his ACTH levels checked - has the seasonal rise got going yet?
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I think it’s August so nearly but as coat changes seem to have gone a bit odd this year it might be early. I have heard of people increasing by half then reducing again once the rise is over.
 
Or if you can get a decent pill splitter you can increase by a quarter, I’ve found in the past this works better than increasing by half with my horse. Can you reduce the grazing too a little bit until the vet has been?
 
Micky said:
. Can you reduce the grazing too a little bit until the vet has been?
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He and his porky girlfriend are strip grazed on a track around a 3/4 acre paddock, and I think I had been giving them too much of an allowance in the new strips most days. Hard to tell when it all looks grazed right down how much they are getting as it comes through. But less than half an acre between two horses 16.1hh and 15hh!!
 
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My two PPID ladies are doing well this year (fingers firmly crossed). I put them on a larger area than usual coming out of winter, about 1.5 acres of eaten down winter grazing between 3 horses, but since then I have not strip grazed at all. They have to eat what grows in their paddock. The older mare who can go easily get footie is doing particularly well.

So this:-

0095998A-9CCA-4B84-B167-4FE25F1EC80B.jpeg

Compared to this set up last year and previous years:-

5BAC8034-202D-4D95-89D2-7432456B2C0F.jpeg
 
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