Just been diagnsed with Equine Cushings...

[1au12a]

Hi there, I'm a new member and would love to talk to people who have horses with Cushings - in my 20+ years of experiece this is a new one on me and could really use some advise and learn what to expect.

My horse is a 21 year old appaloosa, owned since a 6 year old - he's sound (knock on wood!) fit and still competing, still looks and feels great. He had mild laminitis 7 weeks ago and blood tests were recomended.

My vet reported "The ACTH level is elevated significantly (78.8 pg/ml - normal is less than 47) that is consistent with early Cushing’s disease. We therefore we should look at giving him treatment with Pergolide to bring that back to normal range. It is not unusual to find this at his age and should respond very well to treatment. If untreated, it will definitely lead to an increased risk of laminitis developing. Treatment would be by once daily ‘Prescend’ tablets (probably starting at one daily) and then taking a repeat blood sample after 4-6 weeks to check that levels of ACTH have indeed come back to normal. There should be no other abnormal results from treatment other than feeling very well."

I haven't yet had a chance to speak to my vet as everytime I call he is with a client, so in the mean time I've been terrifying myself by doing my own research on the internet. I understand what the disease is and I realise that it is recommeded that he will need to be on medication for the rest of his life to control the symptoms. I've been quoted £1.45 per tablet per day and I've already read some threads about the cost of this drug and different methods of buying it - I'm sure I will need some advise on that too. But I guess what I'd to know now is what to expect for the future? Is my horse going to deteriate quickly? Can I continue to keep him in work? He loves his work - I am going to majorly paranoid now looking out for signs.

My prescious boy getting old wasn't part of the plan

I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks, Laura

 

[Puddleduck]

My mare is 22 (I've had her from an unbroken 4 yr old) and was diagnosed 2 years ago after getting laminitis. She started on 1/2 a tablet of pergolide daily which is really low and improved rapidly. She did have a few interesting side affects early on - almost as if she was hallucinating on a "high" but nothing long term.

We monitor her condition, manage her grazing and make sure her bloods are tested and her tablets are increased when needed (we're up to 2 a day now).
She's still in full work, is dressage schoolmistress with my sharer during the week and hack/ dressage pony with me at weekends.

I've found if you can get a prescription from your vet you can shop around online for Prascend and often get it cheaper - recently paid 93p a tablet for it

 

[be positive]

I have a 33 year old in the yard he was diagnosed 2 years ago, he has luckily never had laminitis so life has not changed much for him, he can still eat what he wants, gets very light work and has his prascend daily, only 1/2 a tablet.
Initially it took a while to stabilise him, he was off his food and getting rather thin, once the dosage was right he picked up and has been fine since.
He started on 1/2 daily tablets, it can shock the system a bit so better to build up gradually over a period of a few days or a week, then went onto 1/2 twice a day then 1 twice a day after a few weeks before dropping very gradually back down to the 1/2 a day he is now on.
Once you get him down to the correct level he should be fine, no reason to not work him, in fact it would be best to do so for keeping him fit and his weight down, there may be a period when he is a bit down and off his food, often worse if you start with too high a dose in one go but they usually brighten up within a few weeks and get back to normal.
My old boy has not deteriorated, other than what would be expected at his age he still enjoys jumping out of his field and being first in for breakfast in the morning racing his much younger field mate so he can get in first, he brings himself in, the other one has to have a headcollar on.

 

[muff747]

Don't worry, if you get him onto Pergolide, and keep his ACTH down to normal levels, that should keep him symptom free. As the disease progresses, you will probably need to up the dose from time to time but it is usually gradual, over years and at your boy's age, he should live to a ripe old age if he is still competing now.
Best to get him on a very low sugar, high fibre diet. This means studying the ingredients on the feed bags and learning to take no notice of claims of suitability for laminitics! I generally go for less than 10 MJ/Kg DE, I think that is Digestible Energy - and definitely lower than 10% sugar and starch, the lower the better.
Don't worry about him not having enough energy to compete on that sort of diet, there are many hard working, hunting, eventers on a very low sugar diets. I'm not suggesting you take his shoes off but many barefoot working horses are on low sugar diets so you could take a leaf out of their book
PPID horses just carry on as normal when the disease is controlled so don't worry.
You can shop around for the tablets, it's generally much cheaper to get a prescription from your vet and look on the online pharmacies, there are some charging less than £1 per tablet if you shop around.
And don't worry

 

[1au12a]

Thanks everyone for your comments! Obviously my main concern is my horses health and keeping him comfortable is my priority. I can't help also being concerned at the costs for his new medication!

I've been quoted:
£1.45 per tablet per day for his first 6 week prescription with a view to repeat blood tests. And then I can purchase 6 months worth at every 6 monthly check up. Apparently by law they have to see the animal every 6 months for a check up.

As per advise in other thread, I asked if I could have a prescription to collect the medication from a Pharmacist. I was advised that they would only prescribe for a maximum of 3 months at a charge of £24 each time! Is this reasonable? It doesn't seem to me that this will be a cheaper option.

Sorry if this an old topic for everyone, I really appreciate any advise!
Thanks,
Laura

 

[fatpiggy]

Thanks everyone for your comments! Obviously my main concern is my horses health and keeping him comfortable is my priority. I can't help also being concerned at the costs for his new medication!

I've been quoted:
£1.45 per tablet per day for his first 6 week prescription with a view to repeat blood tests. And then I can purchase 6 months worth at every 6 monthly check up. Apparently by law they have to see the animal every 6 months for a check up.

As per advise in other thread, I asked if I could have a prescription to collect the medication from a Pharmacist. I was advised that they would only prescribe for a maximum of 3 months at a charge of £24 each time! Is this reasonable? It doesn't seem to me that this will be a cheaper option.

Sorry if this an old topic for everyone, I really appreciate any advise!
Thanks,
Laura

Wow, I worked out how many tablets I needed for 6 months (yes you are correct about the checkups and time limits) then asked my vet for a script (£10) for that many tablets. No problem at all.

 

[Oberon]

First of all, join this Yahoo group and get support from it's many members and peruse their extensive article collection....I can't express how brilliant this resource is. They have an answer for any question you have. The Yahoo group was the bunch that discovered the seasonal rise in ACTH in the autumn.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/

Other things you need to do is look at the diet and treat the horse as if he is a ticking time bomb of impending laminitis .

Nothing molassed or over 10% combined starch and sugar in a bucket. Balanced minerals are also key as lack of copper and zinc in the UK's grazing/forage, complicated by a high iron, will mean poorer control of insulin. And a Cushing's/IR horse REALLY needs to control his insulin. I'll send you a pm about diet, but the advice in the Yahoo group is key.

My 26 year old was diagnosed in April (in hindsight I can track the beginnings in 2010, though ) with a level of over 200. He had no particular symptoms other than my gut feeling.

He started Prascend at 1mg and had bloods tested in June. His level went up to 500

So we went up to 2mg Prascend and had him tested in August.

His level was 172

So we have gone to 2.5mg a day.

I am worrying about what this autumn will bring......

At £1.50 a tablet and packets of only 60, I am struggling with the cost of £3.75 a day......so I contacted the vet and asked for a prescription to buy some online. The vets then rang me to offer me a price of £1.06 per tablet in a box of 160. It does happen that they will often match the online price if you threaten to take your business elsewhere .

I have often worried that Obi is just waiting to crash out into agonising lami...but with the medication and diet - he seems happy enough (despite his blood work) and he can still walk on tough surfaces happily.

I am EXTREMELY proud of this pic. It's been a hard fight so far - but this proves we are OK

 

[seoirse]

I'm still in shock, but my 15yo TBx has just be diagnosed with cushings too. I don't know where to start! Levels are 192. Vet say 1 tab of pergolide a day and we are starting on it today.
I will visit the yahoo group - thanks for that. Any other advise anyone can give is very welcome!!
We only tested as he was unable to shake a fairly minor cough and as the test was free we thought we'd rule it out. I didn't for a second expect it to come back positive.
After losing a horse to laminitis last year I am now more paranoid than ever and scared still that I now have another horse who is more at risk than most.
Off for a lie down now!!!!