negative cushings test, treat anyway???

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Leono

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Hi everyone

My horse is 22 and became laminitic while out on loan last year (he'd been on loan for a number of years). There's no clear reason as to why he got laminitis as he had no history of it and was not massively overweight. It also affected only 1 front foot and the others are fine. He has a slightly rotated pedal bone.
He's recently been tested for cushings using the dex suppression test and it was negative.
He doesn't have the typical long coat of a cushings horse but his mud fever this year has been unusually bad, he wees quite a lot, and has a slight cough. The vet thought the test would be positive because of how cushings affects the immune system causing the above symptoms. He's also still sore-footed despite 6 months of corrective foot trimming.
The farrier has now put special shoes on which have helped but he's still sore. I'm not sure whether to put him on pergolide and see whether this helps. I'm worried that we just don't seem to know why he got laminitis and therefore how to prevent it.

Does anyone have any advice? What does pergolide do in a horse that doesn't have cushings?

Thanks!
 
Does he have a pot belly?

I knew a horse with cushings and the curly coat was the last symptom he had. is your horse drinking a lot?

It is possible to get a false negative and a false positive.

I think it is wise to treat with Pergolide and see how he gets on, if he does not improve, you know to try something else.

I do not know what Pergolide does unfortunately. I think it may stimulate the pituatory gland, but I really do not know. Might be worth googling it.

I hope your horse is better soon.
 
Cushings tests are not always reliable. I look after a pony on long term pergolide who tests negative for cushings. I believe he'd be dead by now if we hadn't tried the drug.

Try it. If it works, great. If it doesn't agree with him, take him back off it again. That's what I'd do anyway.
 
Hi - I am no expert but I did read a report recently - probably from the USA - where one of the conclusions was that it could well be a sensible option to try unresolved laminitic cases that could not be solved by the usual steps on pergolide for a few months to see if it would work as pergolide over a short period was not thought to have any damaging effects if it later proved unneccesary.
Have you thought of trying Vitex or something along the lines of Hiltons CushX ?
There is a lot of dietary advice on the metabolic horse site on Yahoo which could be useful.
 
This sounds just like my 22 yr old TBx mare! Last autumn lamnitis in one foot, no obvious cause, no typical cushings symptoms. Dex supression tast came back inconclusive. Talked about the options with my vet & agreed we would test again in spring. I didn't want another dex supression test as had since found out it does carry a small risk for laminitics, so just had an ACTH test done instead, which tested positive.
We had discussed options before the test & the vet recommended that if the test came back negative or inconclusive again, then we should try Vitex, if positive pergolide. I understand that pergolide can have a negative effect on behaviour if not needed.
My mare has not started treatment yet & still footsore odd days. She has also suffered more wih mud fever & is a bit snotty. I've been using Danilon to help with foot soreness, she has a heartbar on worst foort & is shod every 4 weeks.
From what I have read, a lot of early cushings sympoms can be put down to aging, ( loss of top line, pot belly, lowered immunity, foot abcesses) but when it happens quite suddenly to a fit, albeit aging horse, I think that it is sensible to question it.
Do take a look at the metabolic horse group on Yahoo.x
 
the tests for cushings are NOT 100% positive, so it could still be feasible!

Pergolide does not do anything bad to the unaffected horse, it just helps effected horses, so it might be worth a try just to see if he improves!

GOOD LUCK!
 
Our pony was negative on dex suppression test last spring. Re tested in December last year on ACTH and came back with a slightly raised acth level(66) which is apparently not high. However her symptoms were strong, all except the curly coat. Started Vitex in early Jan and noticed effect in a matter of days. Still on it now and pony much better and having a full pony club life. Sometimes I wonder though if the potency of the Vitex is permanent. In the last few weeks she has occasionally been quieter in herself(I may be over reacting!) It has been hugely noticeable on Vitex that her thirst is decreased and the bedding is no longer soaked. I would question a negative cushings test. We thought our mare had EMS because of this but it still turned out to be cushings. Best of luck.
 
I was advised recently that this is a very difficult time of year to test for Cushings and that the tests are generally a lot more conclusive if taken later in the season.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I spoke to the vet to find out his exact test results and it turned out he was nowhere near borderline having metabolised 90% of the steroid.

He is looking a lot better now anyway and the vet is back to assess him on Friday. I'm hoping he will say I can start riding him as this will obviously help with keeping weight off him over the Summer time.
 
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