Cushings

[MagicMelon]

Would like to know more about this for general knowledge!

Obviously I know that the coat goes curly and they drink more water than usual, but what other effects does it cause? What actually is it? And what can be done?

 

[eventingdiva]

the coat doesnt always go curly, different ponies suffer differently. my pony had laminitis and she was tested for cushings and found that she had it. she used to drink a lot but didnt have a curly coat. she was also only 10, which is young for a cushings pony. there are pills available to help manage it, they cost £2 per pill (or did when she was on them) and she was on 2 per day, but unfortunately they didnt help her, so after 6 month of box rest and treatment we couldnt put her through it any more, so she was PTS.
the pills do work for some, i know a pony who has been on them for about 4 years and he's fine. x

 

[kirstyfk]

Its a tumor on the purtity (sp) gland. My old got it when he was 15. His deteriated much more quickly than most other cases. A month before he was put down he had the 2nd fastest time round a PN. With glen we didn't have time to use medication. We should have realised sooner as we had to clip him through the summer - but it was whispy hairs that he got not a massive wooly coat and he had laminitise a few times. but at 15hh he was just an overgrown pony who liked his food!

Some horses live for years with it. Sadly Glen didn't!

 

[Happytohack]

Cushings is a benign tumour on the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. This can press on the adrenal gland. Horses with Cushings make too much natural steroid. They usually grow a thick curly coat, can have an increased thirst and slightly bulging eyes. Although not all these symptoms will appear in all Cushings positive horses. Usually the first sign of Cushings is repeated bouts of laminitis, often in the winter months. My own pony had a severe bout of laminitis in Jan/Feb 2005. My vet suggested he be tested for Cushings and the test was positive. He did have a thick coat, but as he is an Icelandic pony I just put the coat down to his breed. In January of this year, despite strict management, he came down with laminitis again which was very severe and he was on 10 weeks box rest. He is now on medication for his Cushings which he has to take for the rest of his life. He takes Pergolide which costs approx £1.00 per day. He has imprint shoes (stick on heart bars) as he has slight rotation of the pedal bone and I clip him every 10 days or so. He isn't on any bute. With this regime, he has an excellent quality of life - out in the day with the other horses and in at night. Hope this explains some of the aspects of Cushings for you.

 

[brighteyes]

Everything mentioned above plus a slightly elevated respiratory rate (due to pony being warmer with heavy coat I wonder?) It appears the classic symptoms may be mild or not present for some of the sufferers - in our case, fat pads over the eyes and unexplained bouts of laminitis we couldn't explain. It seems like a bit of a lottery, this Cushing's syndrome.

Has nobody seen my Pergolide post?

In short, I got it easily on a private (written for free) prescription which I had dispensed at a local pharmacy. At a cost of £39, I got 100 x 1 mg tablets (the full strength) which will last my pony 200 days - or almost 6 months. By my reckoning, this is about 20p per day - not £2! However, vets may be unable to supply you with pergolide at this price, which can give rise to them quoting very scary prices.

I didn't have the tests. My pony (at 26) is almost certainly suffering with Cushing's. A chief vet at Leahurst said it was highly likely, just with a casual glance and because of her age. My vet eventually said there were no legal, ethical or medical reasons that she should not be prescribed and given pergolide, on this basis. But I had to push, as they wanted to run £200 worth of tests and have me leave her there over night. If pergolide does the trick, it was Cushing's and if not, it won't have done her any harm. I think I may be too late as I wasn't offered this option (no test and cheap drug trial) earlier. For the cost of less that a call out and flu jab, I was happy to give pergolide a whirl.

Should my vet have suggested Cushings to be the underlying cause of our problems and pointed me in the right direction sooner? Especially as I have pursued two very expensive courses of action/treatment during the summer (with her and them) over seemingly related problems!?! I surely hope not.

Bear in mind, our pony is quite old and your vet may well insist (and rightly) on tests, before putting yours on any programme of drugs etc. I accept vets need to make a living, but occasionally, I would like to think they would tip you the wink over a cheaper alternative as long as it is legal and medically ethical. After all, I have three other potential patients here!

I do wish you luck. I will keep you informed of our progress as we are only on day 3 of our pergolide programme and it takes ages to work.

 

[MagicMelon]

Can I ask WHY your horses who did get it, had to be put down in the end? I mean, whats so bad that they cannot go on any longer?

Im just a little worried about my shetland who has come back from being at a home which didnt work out (she kept getting repeated laminitis even though she'd never had it here in all the 12ish years we've had her). She hasnt been home long but she came off the bute last week and was looking pottery again so Ive put her back on bute again for another week. She IS drinking quite a lot of water, more than she used to drink anyway. She is about 18yrs old. Her coat is thick but always is at this time of year. She does however seem to sweat down her sides which is odd..... Her laminitis isnt severe, like I said just pottery but she is still roaming about her small paddock fine (it is mud, no grass! and she comes in at night again).

She had a blood test last month which showed she had slightly raised insulin levels when she had lami. Would a simple blood test have showed up Cushings if she had it??

 

[eventingdiva]

My pony had to be PTS because the laminitis was so severe. she had been on box rest for 6 months, but although has very slightly improved for a period of time, had got worse again, and was very uncomfortable. it just wasnt fair to keep her going any longer

x

 

[the watcher]

Lost one to this a few years ago when there were less treatment options, only ever had laminitis once, but did have the long coat, and thirst. we kept her very slim and clipped and she was fab until she was 24, then went downhill very quickly. Not with the feet, just lost weight dramatically and had to be PTS.

 

[sojeph]

You should find this useful:

http://www.laminitis.org/cushings.html

 

[TGM]

I think recurrent and severe laminitis is the most common reason for PTS in Cushings cases.

A normal blood test wouldn't show whether a pony has Cushings - they have to have a specific Cushings test.

 

[MagicMelon]

Do you think my girl should have the cushings blood test? Basically she never had lami in all the years we had her until she went on loan and they let her get it (simply too much grass) about 2 years ago. She came home soon after and went to another home a about 2 months ago however has been plagued with lam pretty much the entire time because they have very decent grass - the vet believed it was purely because her grass was too good for my girl even though she wasnt getting much. So she's come home again, been home about a week now. Came off the bute a few days ago but soon become pottery again so our vet said put her on it again for another week and then see how she is. She's in at night and out during the day (in a muddy paddock) with a haynet of old hay at all times to keep her amused and 3 feeds a day of Safe and Sound (again, just to amuse her). I have noticed she is sweaty in the morning when I let her out of the stable - I thought it was just wet from lying down but this morning she was damp all along her sides and under her neck. She is drinking, what I think, is a bit more than usual for her, but then that might be because she's sweating! But she might be sweating because she does have a thick coat (which IS normal for her, she is a sheltie!) and its quite mild right now.......

What does everyone think? Am I worrying about nothing??

 

[TGM]

It does sound like Cushings is a possibility in your pony. What are the depressions above her eyes like? In Cushings ponies, quite often there are fat pads there.

The Cushings test is quite expensive, so you may want to see how your pony progresses before committing to testing. It could be that the lameness now is caused by changes in the feet from the previous bouts of laminitis. However, if she continues to get new bouts of laminitis without access to grass then a test may be worthwhile, but only if you are prepared to consider treatment with medication (which is also quite costly).

Some Cushings cases can be controlled by management only, but as you can try all the management methods without formal diagnosis it is perhaps not cost-effective to test if you definitely would not consider putting the pony on medication.