Cushings

Luci07

Luci07

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Hello

Could you point me to the best sites to find out more on this? my old mare is coming home and has the beginnings of it. I have a diet sheet, I know the basic (ie. symptoms - coat staying, muscle wastage etc) and that they are prone to laminitis. She will be on Periglide which her loaner put her on but the info I can find is not that helpfiul.

My farrier is booked in for Tuesday to put fronts on and my physio/back man is out on Friday to check (mare has arthritis in her neck and muscular problems around her pelvis). YO and I will fully assess my mare when I collect her on Sunday and will decide if I need to have my vet give her a general to ensure I am fully upto date with everything she needs. Loaner has been brilliant with the mare and knowledgable so not saying there is anything lacking in her care - rather that I need to ensure I have my bases covered when I pick up these reins again!

thanks in advance..
 
My shettie was diagnosed with cushings last november at the age of 13, he is also on pergolide. The only problems I have had with him is getting his medication in him as he went off bucket feed completely, no matter how I tried to hide his meds in it he was not having it. He will eat hay and grass, so did not lose his appetite completely, the only way I can get him to eat it is if he is off grass totally his paddock is tiny, I have to feed him his bucket early morning when he is hungry then he has his hay later in the day.
If I fed his hay early I know he will not touch his bucket, having said that he looks very healthy and has had no episodes of lami at all, I still had to clip him this spring and throughout summer. But his water intake and weeing all got to more normal levels. I googled pergolide and found quite a bit of info on it. Good luck.
 
My shetland has been on pergolide for 3 weeks and i have had simular problems, he is totally off his feed so wont take his medication, have tried all sorts of fruit and veg to hide pill in, he no longer excepts any of them, have discovered polos, the tablet fits in the hole if snapped in half, but he still tastes it, so i have to give one polo first, then the pill laden one, then another to take the taste away, its working so far, and i'm using sugar free polos too
 
My mini shetland has been on pergolide for a year and I've spent much of that time trying to find ways of giving her the medication. Tried everything so now I just open her mouth, put tablet on back of tongue as far as I can, hold mouth shut and rub under jaw. She doesn't seem to tast it this way as I think it goes straight down. Much less stressful for both of us!
 
oh eek. My old girl is 16.3 and big! and one very determind lady - I will have to see how her loaner managed it. Luckily, mare has always been very greedy so that might help. One pain will be that she is a pain to clip (sedation needed) so that will be entertaining next Spring. Hope she turns out to be up for light hacking as she always enjoyed going out and has had an enormously varied competitive career. If not, field ornament and pet she will be..
 
Hi:
basically there is not much to know about Cushings. I have a 16.3hh gelding with Cushings who has been on Pergolide for about a year. I also had a 15hh gelding who had it for years - he lived to the ripe old age of 30 but was pts with bad colic. Cushings is not often noticed by the owner until the obvious signs appear - thick, curly coat which doesn't shed etc. Often they become lethargic over a lengthy time which the owner often believes is due to the horse becoming elderly but in fact when put on Pergolide they suddenly find a new lease of life! Cushings is caused by a benign tumour on the pituitary gland, causing an imbalance of hormones. They used to give Pergolide to humans to treat Parkinsons Disease but I dont believe they do now.
Horses with Cushings can be prone to laminitis so you must be sure not to feed sugary foods, including carrots. If your horse won't eat the tablets then just open his lips and push it between the lip and gum and it will slowly dissolve. For anyone else having trouble getting medicine into their horse, I find the best thing is a small bran mash mixed with some apple sauce (bought from supermarket) - you can hide most things in this!
 
Luci07 There is a lot to learn about Cushings! Keeping them balanced can be a nightmare. There are 2 very good sites for Cushings. One is a UK site and one is an american site - also VERY relevant and informative with a specialist at the helm who is very helpful. They will be more than willing to help you with diets etc.

TheMetabolicHorse@yahoogroups.com - UK site
EquineCushings@yahoogroups.com - US site.

Good luck :)
 
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