Cushings

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Kalees_mum

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Can anyone give me some advise on this please?

My 40yr old pony is going over to the vets this afternoon and staying over night to be tested for this and just wanted to know abit more about it...

Thanks x
 
I've just taken on a 22yo who's recently been diagnosed. The main thing for him was to clip him as his coat was very long and he was getting very itchy.

He's on the tablets too, which he gobbles up every morning (good boy!) and this seems to have stopped him drinking quite so much.

The other biggy is laminitis and very careful management of weight and grass intake.

Hope this helps!
 
WOW 40yrs old! Ur doing well!
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Cushings disease is a tumour of the pituitary gland, generally benign, but what happens is there becomes a hormone imbalance. This results in hirsutism (long curly hair coat), excess sweating, excessing drinking and urination, recurrent laminitis, pot bellied appearance due to lack of muscle tone around the abdomen, muscle wastage, and lots of other less common symptoms including fat pads appearing, most commonly around the eyes, penis sheath (in males) and the top of the tail!

It does not directly cause pain or discomfort to the horse, but the symptoms may. Laminitis caused by cushings is the most common casue for a cushings horse to be PTS.

The test (if your horse is staying overnight) is likely to be the dexamethasone suppression test. This is where an injection of dex is given (a glucocorticoid) and then is sampled from the blood in the morning. In a healthy horse the glucocorticoid levels should have decreased to normal, in a cushings horse they will still be high, due to the bodies lack of ability to normalise hormone levels (due to the tumour). This is the gold standard test for cushings HOWEVER it is not 100% accurate (more like 90-99%)

Pergolide is the best treatment (I say treatment, but it is not a curable disease!) it minimises the symptoms better than other drugs. However the symptoms can also be managed by 2 other drugs, or some people rely on just straight forward good care and management such as extra vigilent hoof care, good farriery, clipping to remove excess hair, ensuring there is sufficient water available etc, and giving food LOW in sugars etc...... some of the symptoms such as lami is managable with just diet (give a lami diet even if currently he/she does not have lami, just to help decrease the risk of them contracting it!)

Erm............. ye, cant think of any other general information, if you would like to ask more questions on it feel free! or PM me if you would like. I just did my research project for my vet med course on it, so it will be good to test my knowledge prior to my exams after easter so ask away!

Btw still very impressed your horse is going strong at 40yo!!!! go you!
 
Only just seen this, Thank you very much :-)

Yeah shes staying there over night ( works out cheaper this way ) My vet explained everything to me this afternoon when I took her in but kinda didn't understand it all so seeing this all written down is great I can understand it more now and can send it to my mum for her to understand now! x

Thank you again :-)
 
not a problem! glad to be of help! if you need any more help or anything just write me a pm and il do my best!

good luck with results! let me know what the results are
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