Cushings - what signs did your horse show?

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Silverfire

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Those of you who have horses/ponys with cushings, what signs were they showing of having it?
My 20 yr old horses ACTH test result is 91 normal being <29. He has never had laminitis or even been close to having laminitis. He was a good doer but at the moment has lost a bit of weight and doesn't seem to be putting it back on even though he is eating enough for two! His coat is starring and he seems to be feeling the cold more than usual. Other than that he is fine, he has already moulted his coat out and is not drinking anymore than normal and all the extra feed is making him think he is a lively 3yr old!
 
Pony was 30 still in regular work and never had laminitis, he dropped weight started drinking excessively along with constantly peeing and lost even more weight, once on prascend he gradually returned to normal although it took a long while to get his weight back up. He is still not a good doer but is stable, bright in himself and until December was still in light work just no now rider to keep him going, he is now 34 years old.
 
my mare didnt shed her coat properly, was a bit grumpy(not her at all) seemed lethargic, started cribbing in the field (has always cribbed after feed but no other time) her back dropped and she had fat pads over her eyes .she has never had laminitis,fingers crossed!!!!.i had her tested and it came back as 172 and should have been under 47. this was in august 2011 and have had to grqadually increase tablets and is now on 2 1/2 daily.....this winter for the first time ever she has lost loads of weight and has been leaving her hay and feed, so quite a worry...she is now 22 and im hoping that she will pick up when the grass comes through..
 
The only clue was that she kept getting abscesses - she never had any of the other symptoms, so I'd never have suspected if it wasn't for the abscesses.
 
My 31yo didn't really have any of the classic signs other than weight loss and muscle atrophy, and the prascend has really helped.
 
First sign was unexplained mild laminitis (this was 10 years ago so Cushings Tests weren't suggested). She then, over the next 10 years, she developed COPD and longer recovery times from cuts, then in the last year (following a change of livery yard after 14 years) she grew a longer coat, had problems regulating temperature and excessive drinking. Also laminitis if turned out on frosted grass.
Her ACTH result was over 400 when finally tested, so we think the first laminitis attack was due to Cushings - wish I tested her years ago.

ETA - She is 25 and been on Prascend fro past 6 months and all the above symptoms seem to have disappeared (still doesn't get turned out when frosty though)
 
Pony had laminities, Pot belly and curly coat. (Bought in poor state as companion) we had her immediaely tested and she was positive. - bit lethargic.
She is 9 and is on prascend for the last 4 months still has a long coat and is a bit patchy where she is losing it.
New photos of her jumping in my photo album.
 
My results came back two weeks ago at 50 only sign was hairier this year than normal , I used the free cushings test otherwise I wouldn't have bothered !
No other signs at all , he however does not require medication but will be re-tested every 6 months.
Speaking with my vets he did say if you tested every horse or pony over 20 years old he reckoned 90% would come back positive lots of them with no signs at all , it's getting more common but only because more people are testing , vet said cushings won't affect lifespan as long as treated with medication as soon as needed and even better outcome if they haven't had laminitis before.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone. How old is your horse Beau Jangles? I did test my 25yr old mare last November who had grown a very thick coat, her ACTH came back negative at 19! She's the dam of the above 20yr old.
 
Severe recurrent laminitis, hopeless RAO requiring nebulising, thick curly damp coat, repeated lice infestation, low immunity, depression, skin problems, mucky eyes

2-3 months ago it was PTS being considered for my wee driving pony Bramble

This was him leading the runaway last night - like a rocket he is! :):)

IMG00020-20130408-1841.jpg


Never give up on them - if you get a PPID diagnosis the results of treatment can be amazing. And if the blood tests are anywhere near the seasonal figure - then insist on a trial
 
I have a friend who is a barefoot trimmer whose horse was footie in spite of perfect mineral balancing, trimming, work, etc. That was the only symptom. She persuaded her vet to test and against all their expectations it came back positive and with half a tablet a day the horse lost its footiness.

I think there may be an awful lot more of it around than we realise.
 
Interesting thread. My 25 year old companion horse has changed his character a bit this last month or so, he stands on his own all the time now, whereas you couldn't get him away from the other two. He has a slight curly coat on his neck which I thought was just moulting. I don't know if he is drinking a lot as they live out with ad lib haylage so hard to judge. If he is in overnight though he doesn't drink very much and his bed isn't very wet in the morning, but none of them like their stable water as much as the trough.
 
cptrayes said:
I have a friend who is a barefoot trimmer whose horse was footie in spite of perfect mineral balancing, trimming, work, etc. That was the only symptom. She persuaded her vet to test and against all their expectations it came back positive and with half a tablet a day the horse lost its footiness.

I think there may be an awful lot more of it around than we realise.
Click to expand...

I'm of the opinion now CPT that whenever there is recurrent footiness or just "failing to thrive" like this then the ACTH test should be routine, and if it is anywhere near "borderline" then a short trial of Prascend.

Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What has surprised me is "all the other things that just got better" as a result of addressing the PPID - including he RAO which has improved massively.
 
brucea said:
I'm of the opinion now CPT that whenever there is recurrent footiness or just "failing to thrive" like this then the ACTH test should be routine, and if it is anywhere near "borderline" then a short trial of Prascend.

Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What has surprised me is "all the other things that just got better" as a result of addressing the PPID - including he RAO which has improved massively.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a surprise to hear about the other things that aren't supposed to be symptoms disappearing too.

A bit like when I put a severely IR horse on a very strict diet and his severe sweet itch disappeared with his waistline.

Good news about Bramble :)
 
No real symptoms he was early thirties with the build of a young horse he just started taking loger to shake off the mud fever and immune system seemed wonky the test came back positive and I lost him a few months later to a mass in his lung... not sure if that was related.:(
 
My mare was always hormonal, always very shiny and smooth coated -no signs to me, got laminitis in January last year, diagnosed with Cushings after testing, was PTS in early March - aged 8 years old..... no other signs, but was not really looking for signs in an 8yr old. Vets were fabulous and did test as a 'it can't be, but will include it in our tests.'
 
Chronic low grade laminitis last summer, with a bit of a stary coat. She is 22 years old. The things I didn't realise that seem to be connected are that she is much less itchy than she has been for years and has stopped craving salt. I think she has had subclinical Cushings for several years now, but was tested twice before and came back negative. In hindsight, I wish I had just tried Prascend anyway, but there were no big clues until last summer, just the less than perfect summer coat.
 
27 year old, never had lami but started loosing top line and kept catching lice off another cushings pony who was carrying them around. He's on half a tablet and levels are back to normal and no lice yay!
 
brucea said:
I'm of the opinion now CPT that whenever there is recurrent footiness or just "failing to thrive" like this then the ACTH test should be routine, and if it is anywhere near "borderline" then a short trial of Prascend.

Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What has surprised me is "all the other things that just got better" as a result of addressing the PPID - including he RAO which has improved massively.
Click to expand...

mine had undiagnosed PPID from around 6 to age 14. Tested negative even then .Cushings was advanced. Total lethargy, rubbish immune system. Skin problems all over. Liked a good and very long dose of anti biotics every couple of years for the most minor of problems. Muscles totally mucked up. Atrophy, wastage. Very ribby, fat belly. Problems peeing (gelding) with a rider on board. Constantly stopping to try, failing, carrying on, stopping again and taking ages to do it. None of that happened without a rider.

These were all the later symptoms.The very first symptom was sore feet. At 4 he had perfect feet and could go at any pace over the worst gravel/stones.
I thought he was the best barefoot prospect I would ever own. A year later he could only walk around the smooth concrete yard in padded boots unridden. Laminitis at 6 for no obvious reason.

Just to make things more difficult the sore feet do improve. Sometimes they improved considerably and he did a lot of work. Then they went back, then they improved again. Always they were the underlying problem. It was like living on a roller coaster with them. All the time this horse was zero grazed so the obvious grass was not the answer.

So, now if I had sore feet in a horse of whateve age and no logical explanation ie diet sorted, not over trimmed or undertrimmed and no other explanation then testing would be very high on my list and pretty quickly.
 
sorry, just wanted to add that after 6 months on prascend he is now flying barefoot around the stone tracks and stoney yard (unridden) downhill and with absolutely no thought to his feet. This was ground that last September he was having difficulty wallking over.
 
My mare at 25 became footy after having v hard feet previously, she became depressed started eating a lot more than usual and losing weight and became pot bellied and cresty. The worst thing was the depression she has always been really sparky. Her ACTH level was 340 when tested last October she is on one Prascend and back to her normal self being ridden and enjoying life again.
 
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