Cushing's

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MyLuckyStar

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Hi all

Has anyone had their horses test positive for Cushing's when they aren't showing any of the signs?

My mare has just tested positive for Cushing's after a bout of laminitis, however has absolutely none of the Cushing's symptons.

This also happened to a friends mare, who was retested by another vets and the test was negative :/
 
Mine has had 2 borderline tests, no symptoms except vague footsoreness, but vet said that all the classic signs only start to show when the horse has had it for a long time, and that there aren't really any obvious symptoms in the early stages.
 
No. My mare did have some signs before a very quick onset last October. Good job you had your horse tested though, as now you know what caused the lami attack and can give your horse the correct treatment. x
 
Cushings can often result in laminitis, so your horse does have one very clear symptom! Mine didn't have any symptoms (or so I thought), but kept getting abscesses...which I soon learned could be a symptom of cushings. She is doing much better now she's on the medication.
 
HashRouge said:
Cushings can often result in laminitis, so your horse does have one very clear symptom! Mine didn't have any symptoms (or so I thought), but kept getting abscesses...which I soon learned could be a symptom of cushings. She is doing much better now she's on the medication.
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Yes other than the laminitis sympton she has no others is what I should have put. However, the laminitis started after we had a bout of frosty/bright sunny starts.

She's never had the long coat, has never had trouble shedding her winter coat, doesn't drink a lot, doesn't wee a lot, doesn't loose weight easily etc.

She's been put on Prascend from Tuesday.
 
Yep, mine has been tested positive with absolutely no signs of Cushings

Vet came out for mudfever and suggested he be routinely tested for Cushings as he is 23. Neither of us thought he would, but actually his results came back at over 140 when should have been under 30 :O

He's been on prascend since January at one a day
 
russianhorse said:
Yep, mine has been tested positive with absolutely no signs of Cushings

Vet came out for mudfever and suggested he be routinely tested for Cushings as he is 23. Neither of us thought he would, but actually his results came back at over 140 when should have been under 30 :O

He's been on prascend since January at one a day
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She will be 17 in April and has also bee prescribed 1 prascend a day to start with, then will be blood tested again 6 weeks after she started them
 
Yeah, Dizzy just had a 2nd blood test last Monday. His levels are now 34, but because they said hd was in such great condition, they wanted to leave him on one a day

Physically I've seen no difference except his coat is incredibly shiny but then that could be because I changed him to top spec comp balancer at the same time :/
 
Cushings disease is a syndrome which is a mis function of the endocrine system resulting from the pituitary gland. By the time physical symptoms appear the body is well on the way to destruction.

It is believed that the pituitary gland is responding to cumulative stresses in the horses daily life. In UK horses inappropreate physical management, and poor feeding, ie sugar loaded cereal feeds, over prolonged periods are the most likely causes of cushings, insulin resistance and EMS.
 
Pale Rider said:
Cushings disease is a syndrome which is a mis function of the endocrine system resulting from the pituitary gland. By the time physical symptoms appear the body is well on the way to destruction.

It is believed that the pituitary gland is responding to cumulative stresses in the horses daily life. In UK horses inappropreate physical management, and poor feeding, ie sugar loaded cereal feeds, over prolonged periods are the most likely causes of cushings, insulin resistance and EMS.
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Due to her breed (welsh cob) she has always been prone to laminitis, hence she has been on a low sugar diet since I've had her and her treats have always been limited. She's always been fed fast fibre and healthy hooves.

She lives out 24/7 and is ridden at weekends in the winter, and more often in the summer. She hasn't had any recent stresses that I know of.
 
MyLuckyStar said:
Due to her breed (welsh cob) she has always been prone to laminitis, hence she has been on a low sugar diet since I've had her and her treats have always been limited. She's always been fed fast fibre and healthy hooves.

She lives out 24/7 and is ridden at weekends in the winter, and more often in the summer. She hasn't had any recent stresses that I know of.
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You don't say how long you have had her. Cushings can be the cumulitive effect of 10 to 15 yrs +

Welsh cobs have a predisposition to IR probably because people liked the cresty look, and bred from very cresty ones in the past.

living out 24/7 is good, providing not alone.

Type of grazing can be detrimental.

Low sugar should be no sugar as far as possible.
 
Pale Rider said:
You don't say how long you have had her. Cushings can be the cumulitive effect of 10 to 15 yrs +

Welsh cobs have a predisposition to IR probably because people liked the cresty look, and bred from very cresty ones in the past.

living out 24/7 is good, providing not alone.

Type of grazing can be detrimental.

Low sugar should be no sugar as far as possible.
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I've had her since September 2009.

She is welsh cross really but we aren't sure of her sire - they think he was a welsh pony but not sure, he was a circus horse! Her mom is a welsh section c


She lives out in a herd of 6 -all ours so no upset from change of herd/new horses been introduced etc.

She has the odd carrot or half a carrot in winter in her feed but no sugary treats in Summer and is muzzled from Spring through till Autumn.
 
Pale Rider said:
Cushings disease is a syndrome which is a mis function of the endocrine system resulting from the pituitary gland. By the time physical symptoms appear the body is well on the way to destruction.

It is believed that the pituitary gland is responding to cumulative stresses in the horses daily life. In UK horses inappropreate physical management, and poor feeding, ie sugar loaded cereal feeds, over prolonged periods are the most likely causes of cushings, insulin resistance and EMS.
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I thought that would be the reply. My question was aimed at your comment and view of what you mean about de-stressing the horse. Most of us have a reasonable understanding of what cushing's means, but, yet again, your response is mis-leading and has prompted one comment to say their horse has not been stressed recently. They have understood your comment to mean a horse that has been upset or frightened in some way.

Many equines, will have cushings in later life. Ponies who have never been fed cereals or been allowed too rich grazing may develop the disease. Old age brings problems to all of us, horse and human.
 
AdorableAlice said:
I thought that would be the reply. My question was aimed at your comment and view of what you mean about de-stressing the horse. Most of us have a reasonable understanding of what cushing's means, but, yet again, your response is mis-leading and has prompted one comment to say their horse has not been stressed recently. They have understood your comment to mean a horse that has been upset or frightened in some way.

Many equines, will have cushings in later life. Ponies who have never been fed cereals or been allowed too rich grazing may develop the disease. Old age brings problems to all of us, horse and human.
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Nice to see that you understand what others understand by my mis leading comments, I think you understand very little, but I can understand that.
 
MyLuckyStar said:
I've had her since September 2009.

She is welsh cross really but we aren't sure of her sire - they think he was a welsh pony but not sure, he was a circus horse! Her mom is a welsh section c


She lives out in a herd of 6 -all ours so no upset from change of herd/new horses been introduced etc.

She has the odd carrot or half a carrot in winter in her feed but no sugary treats in Summer and is muzzled from Spring through till Autumn.
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What is her feed? I'd forget carrots, really bad for sugar.
What do you think triggered her lamanitic bout?
I know this is hard, sometimes any grass or grazing can cause all these problems. Some horses have such a low tolerance it's untrue.
 
Pale Rider said:
What is her feed? I'd forget carrots, really bad for sugar.
What do you think triggered her lamanitic bout?
I know this is hard, sometimes any grass or grazing can cause all these problems. Some horses have such a low tolerance it's untrue.
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She doesn't have carrots on a regular basis - just half a carrot when she needs to be loaded for shows etc, she doesn't have them in her feeds.

I think it may have been triggered by the frosty mornings/bright sunshine we had recently after the snow
 
MyLuckyStar said:
She doesn't have carrots on a regular basis - just half a carrot when she needs to be loaded for shows etc, she doesn't have them in her feeds.

I think it may have been triggered by the frosty mornings/bright sunshine we had recently after the snow
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Frost will do it.

Trailer loading and showing can be stressful as well.

Does she have cereals in her feeds?
 
Pale Rider said:
Frost will do it.

Trailer loading and showing can be stressful as well.

Does she have cereals in her feeds?
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She has always been shown whilst with me and has never shown any signs of stress when either loading or at shows, sometimes she can be stubborn and not want to loan but doesn't stress her self out. In fact she falls asleep when she's at a show.


She was fed healthy hooves and fast fibre, but is now only on fast fibre
 
MyLuckyStar said:
She has always been shown whilst with me and has never shown any signs of stress when either loading or at shows, sometimes she can be stubborn and not want to loan but doesn't stress her self out. In fact she falls asleep when she's at a show.


She was fed healthy hooves and fast fibre, but is now only on fast fibre
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The stress they talk about in terms of cushings is not what is commonly recognised as overt stress, where the horse becomes visibly upset. Some horses exhibit introvert behviour when stressed. It is the constant stressing triggering the over production of hormones which is causing the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol, this becomes cyclic for both glands.
Cushing’s was often misdiagnosed as the normal aging process since it is seen in large numbers of elderly equines, thats how common it is. Obviously you feel that something is having an adverse effect, it's just being aware that the causes can be very diverse and difficult to pin point, and are probably the result of a number of different factors.
 
For what its worth, 'stress' was a huge factor when our old pony was initially diagnosed with cushings - anything could 'stress' him - slight change in his routine, or the other ponies routine, change in the weather, vaccinations were a nightmare, even the variances between bales of hay (got round that one by soaking everything!) - you name it! It was only when we had the cushings well under control that these variances became tolerable to him - it will always be a fine line, be we wobble much less now!
 
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