Cushings mare losing interest in hard feed

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slimjim86

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So my girl was diagnosed with cushings in the summer ( acth test over 330) only clinical symptoms were muscle wastage and poor immune system. Started her on 1 prascend per day and retested a few weeks later, numbers dropped to low 20s, very absolutely amazed by the reduction and really impressed at how much better she looked in such a short space of time. She didn't have any behavioral changes ( lethargy/ loss of appetite) when she started the prascend but over the last few weeks she isn't very interested in her hard feed, she now gets a few spoonfuls in a small bucket that includes her prascend then she gets the rest in a different bucket and will either it it all, some of it or none of it. She still happily scoffs her hay and is very happy when we move the fence and let them have some more grass. Is the prascend making her picky? I would have thought this would have happened earlier?? Or is she just bored of the feed and I should try something else. She's a good weight still but sometimes just looks a bit " fed up". Did discuss halfing the prascend with the vet when the test results came back but he said to hold off until the dangerous part of autumn was over, I think maybe try her on less now and see how she goes?
 
This is very common when Prascend is given and can happen anytime, not just at the start. Try giving her Prascend after her feed, not before. You might be to find another way of feeding it, such as in a Polo mint or carrot. Mine won't have it in her feed at all, or she just refuses all food. We tried carrots, bread, empty pill capsules and all sorts, but now she's happy to have it syringed in a bit of water. She won't eat anything for around 10 minutes though, so it must taste vile.
 
meleeka said:
This is very common when Prascend is given and can happen anytime, not just at the start. Try giving her Prascend after her feed, not before. You might be to find another way of feeding it, such as in a Polo mint or carrot. Mine won't have it in her feed at all, or she just refuses all food. We tried carrots, bread, empty pill capsules and all sorts, but now she's happy to have it syringed in a bit of water. She won't eat anything for around 10 minutes though, so it must taste vile.
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This is what's odd she will eat the prascend in a handful of food but then sometimes decides she's not really interested in her feed after that, maybe it's the bad taste it's leaving in her mouth. I'd rather she ate it first and wasted the rest of her feed though I guess. Hopefully halfing the dose will help, if she starts dropping weight I'll have to rethink how to feed it after her feed, or switch to more yummy feed. I've got a friend who has to poke theres into a bit of apple to get hers to eat it.
 
This is really common.
It’s the prascend.

If you can try to give the prascend in a different way/time to giving the feed.

I used to syringe it with apple baby food in an old gastroguard tube. Then feed at opposite end of day.

If still not eating, and if acth levels well controlled, worth asking vet about reducing prascend dose
 
My Cushings pony won't eat his breakfast because he associates it with the tablet, but he does let me push it into the side of his mouth while he's eating grass. Perhaps that disguises the taste a bit.
Not to be recommended unless you are sure your horse won't bite!
 
My mare wouldn’t even go near her feed bowl if I put the tablet in so I started giving it to her wedged in a carrot, gave her an ok piece of carrot first then the bit with the tablet in and then another ok bit. She did go off her feed after being on prascend for a couple of years and I got samples from the various feed people and ended up with baileys light chaff and Allen and page fast fibre and she did really well on that
 
Thanks guys I was worried it was a symptom of over medicating, good to know its just a taste thing, I'll continue giving her 2 feeds so I can make sure she's eaten it in the small feed, she will eat the tablet out of my hand with just regular balancer so it's not a huge worry getting it into her.
 
Pidge is coming up for 10 years on Prascend. Going off food is common, and Pidge changed his hard feed entirely as he wouldn't eat the feed he'd been on for over 9 years with no problem. I use the old fashioned hoof picks and poke a hole in either a carrot, parsnip, pear or apple, then push the tablet in. Works well as hole is right size. He does go up and down with his feed, sometimes hoovering it all up and other times just eating his fruit and veg. Re her being a bit fed up, can you retest as the levels vary at different times of year, so she may need her tablet level changing?
 
It's the prascend I dilute the tablet in water and use mint essence you only need a few drops its really strong, its just iver a £1 from the supermarket and just syringe it each day I can do it without a headcollar on.

My horse won't touch the feed if the tablet is in it.
 
My pony wouldn't eat low sugar hard feed he was meant to be having when he was on Prascend. I gave him his tablet wrapped in a scrap of bread which was a treat he never refused. As he had never been laminitis I mixed in a little mollassed feed in with his normal feed and that tempted him to eat it.
 
Pidgeon said:
Pidge is coming up for 10 years on Prascend. Going off food is common, and Pidge changed his hard feed entirely as he wouldn't eat the feed he'd been on for over 9 years with no problem. I use the old fashioned hoof picks and poke a hole in either a carrot, parsnip, pear or apple, then push the tablet in. Works well as hole is right size. He does go up and down with his feed, sometimes hoovering it all up and other times just eating his fruit and veg. Re her being a bit fed up, can you retest as the levels vary at different times of year, so she may need her tablet level changing?
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Thats why I'm thinking drop her to half a tab as the vet said this was sensible when her retest was low 20s but he said to hold off till mid Nov/ Dec and let things settle plus get over the dangerous autumn time. I can always drop her and retest again at Christmas x
 
Pinkvboots said:
It's the prascend I dilute the tablet in water and use mint essence you only need a few drops its really strong, its just iver a £1 from the supermarket and just syringe it each day I can do it without a headcollar on.

My horse won't touch the feed if the tablet is in it.
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OK so mine is clearly odd in that some days she will wolf the whole bucket down, other days she's "meh" and walks off and leaves it lol
 
slimjim86 said:
Thats why I'm thinking drop her to half a tab as the vet said this was sensible when her retest was low 20s but he said to hold off till mid Nov/ Dec and let things settle plus get over the dangerous autumn time. I can always drop her and retest again at Christmas x
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Sounds like a good plan. We don't test Pidge very often now, as we tend to look at his physical signs and test probably once every two years. He's on 1 tablet am and pm, so even if his levels went up, having discussed it with my vet, we wouldn't increase his tablets. He is 27y7m old now. Xx
 
Pidgeon said:
Sounds like a good plan. We don't test Pidge very often now, as we tend to look at his physical signs and test probably once every two years. He's on 1 tablet am and pm, so even if his levels went up, having discussed it with my vet, we wouldn't increase his tablets. He is 27y7m old now. Xx
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I don't test Louis his needle phobic so tries to kill anyone that tries none of the vets have been keen to try again 😆 I just keep an eye on the symptoms his never been footy and he just doesn't shed his coat properly but that's really the only symptom and is on half a tablet as his last test was only borderline.
 
I still test yearly but only because I have to have the vet to enable the prescription to be issued. I don't worry too much about levels though and adjust as depending on symptoms, rather than numbers.
 
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How interesting. My mare has been refusing treats by hand for a while now despite always taking them. The only change was prascend. She will eat it out of a bucket, but not if the meal is in my hand. She will eat the prascend if it’s in the bucket meal. I just have to shove it in her mouth cause she doesn’t get a bucket feed daily.
 
Like many of the above mine won't eat his hard feed after his Prascend. Our routine now is, he has breakfast then comes to me for his tablet in a bit of hollowed out carrot then gets his daily fence move. He went through a phase of being really fussy when he was first diagnosed. He is now happy with his basic chaff and powered balancer.
 
My gelding went off his feed - I basically tried loads of feeds to see if he would eat again. Finally found something!

We (vet and me) recently took him off prascend (after about 7 yrs) - his marker had got very low, and he was starting to look depressed and old. Once he'd been taken off it he perked up again no end.

When we first started him on it, it was 1 tab per day. He didn't react well to it. so we reduced it to half. I still had to change his feed though.

NOTE: I am definitely not suggesting you take your mare off it. Just sharing experience, as he was on it for over 7 yrs
 
HuskyFluff said:
My gelding went off his feed - I basically tried loads of feeds to see if he would eat again. Finally found something!

We (vet and me) recently took him off prascend (after about 7 yrs) - his marker had got very low, and he was starting to look depressed and old. Once he'd been taken off it he perked up again no end.

When we first started him on it, it was 1 tab per day. He didn't react well to it. so we reduced it to half. I still had to change his feed though.

NOTE: I am definitely not suggesting you take your mare off it. Just sharing experience, as he was on it for over 7 yrs
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I'm hearing more experiences like that, given that her retest was low 20s I wonder whether she needs it at all, will drop her to half a tab, retest at end of the year and just play it by ear.
 
meleeka said:
This is very common when Prascend is given and can happen anytime, not just at the start. Try giving her Prascend after her feed, not before. You might be to find another way of feeding it, such as in a Polo mint or carrot. Mine won't have it in her feed at all, or she just refuses all food. We tried carrots, bread, empty pill capsules and all sorts, but now she's happy to have it syringed in a bit of water. She won't eat anything for around 10 minutes though, so it must taste vile.
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My mum mare is 36. Has cushings. On the prascend 1 a day for a year no side affects. Then suddenly she started getting severe diarrhea and lost weight fast. Took her off the meds. Diarrhea stopped. Re started meds next day explosive diarrhea. So stopped them again and it stopped. Horses can also get appetite problems on it.

She's now on cushcare cubes (had lot of teeth out) , ultra senior cubes (started putting the weight back on quickly when started on these) linseed, senior mash, and ready grass.

And she's enjoying her retirement no more upset stomach and loves her grub. We got her on some herbal hind gut powder on violet vet cushings care something as well and she started eating more and perked up within a few days on that.
 
Well vet had said when we did the initial retest that he would advise dropping to half a tab but to wait till after the October frosts (that we didn't get), I dropped her down anyway and she's doing great, keeping the weight on well, is bright and cheerful and polishing off her food again ( although she's off the care and gain as doing so well weight wise so her hard feed is smaller now anyway). Was going to get a retest just to be sure but she seems so well so will probably leave it till I have a reason to call vet out again.
 
I've had three with Cushings all medicated and only one has gone off food at any point, my shetland. She is on 1/2 tab a day and is very fussy over her chaff and haylage but I have been feeding her Cushcare (Dodson and Horrell) this year to keep her weight up and she loves it, doesn't leave a bit. Last year I also had success feeding her Spillers senior super mash to keep weight on and am using it on a different horse with weight issues this year with great success too.
 
Yes the cushcare godson and horrendous is the one of the foods we feed our 36 year old pony. She loves the food and hasn't many teeth and can eat it no problems
 
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