One step forwards, ten steps back! :(

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 May 2010
Messages
3,396
Location
Manchester
Visit site
Well as some of you know, my p/l mare Kelly was diagnosed with Cushings after on/off lameness and possible lami about approx 2 months ago - the thick coat came rather quickly and the positive results not long after that.

She went onto 1mg Pergolide and has been doing REALLY well - she was still on 1 Danilon a day, as still a little sore now and then throughout the day but was quite happy to wander out of her stable and explore the yard again - we even got to the point of being able to put her out in the back paddock (just behind her stable and not big enough for her to do herself a mischief) with the other mare for them to have a bit of time together (I'm sure they miss each other!). Her coats come gorgeous and shiny, she's looking more conditioned and to look at her, you wouldn't think anything is wrong.

However, on Tuesday, she came bad again - very sore, lay down a lot. Still shouting the odds to anyone who came on the yard, still eating like a trooper still wanting to get out but too sore to do so. The farrier came down on Thursday and said to put sponges on her would make her 10x worse so he reshod her and trimmed her back.

I live away at uni 70% of the time and not due back till next weekend so I've been trying to think of things that could have caused her to come bad again - could it be she's spooked at something and hurt her legs in the stable and is so putting pressure on her feet? Could it be the cold? (Manchester, its been a little snowy and very cold) could it be that she needs more than 1mg of Pergolide? (she's 14.2hh Sect Dx)
I know in dogs it generally takes some time for Cushings meds to settle down and treat them effectively - we are at the end of our tether now and just so worried for our girl :(
K x
 
It has been wickedly cold this winter and the weather bucked up a bit, but like I said was cold again last week. She's 17 now (her mental age hasn't yet caught up :p) so I suppose the cold could cause her to get stiff and have an effect on her feet. I just wish we could have some sort of solid improvement :(

K x
 
Maybe you will have to up her drugs. As I have a young dog Labxcollie and he has fits, so when his body gets use to the dosage, he starts fitting and the dosage goes up and he's ok for awhile, these things are an on going treatment.
 
Yeah that's what I was thinking - 1mg surely isn't a lot for her size and I know they generally start them on 1/2mg but there's a 12hh on the yard who's on 1.5mg! Does anyone know what the 'max' dosage of Pergolide is?
It does seem as though her body has just got used to and its not effective anymore - in a way I'm glad I wasn't at home when she got bad, I don't think I'd have been able to think about it logically it would have just been blind panic!
K x
 
I was going to post much the same title and post yesterday!!! I know how you are feeling. We suspected the start of cushings last year but as no full on symptoms we have just managed it with NAF Cushinaze. However a month ago she came down with laminitis for the first time ever. Not a bad case fortunately but sore on particularly her back feet. Vet came and put her on 1mg pergolide and daniilon. After a week she was off the danillon and could walk across the yard quite easily but still had pulses in her feet. As she was getting stiff in the stable my farrier thought she would be fine going out for 10mins on a 15m mud patch and gradually building it up. The mud would compact in her feet and give her support and she could stretch her legs.
She is on soaked hay no grass and we have built turn out up to about 3 hours but (I did a post about this last night!) her pulses seem to come and go. So I too feel like one day (today we have no pulses) we are one step forward and the next when the pulses are back we are one step back.
Its very fustrating and I am desperate for her to be out more as she is a 24/7 outside girl but I am having to accept that it is going to take time. It sounds much the same for you.
I am also waiting for a cushings test to arrive at my vets so they can do it and see if we have her level right.
Might be worth talking to your vet to have yours retested to see if you have the level right?
 
Yeah, I really feel for you its so hard to know what to do for the best - its a bit of a difficult situation as obviously I'm only her partloaner and her owner is hesitant to ring our vet as he is a very 'gives the very worst scenario possible' sort of vet and I think she is worried about what he will say. He is a very good vet and I think he is only covering his own back by saying it MAY not work but it still worries us!
Kel was the same - she was lame most of last summer we started to ride her again eventually, we even got to have a canter after weeks and weeks, one day I got on her and as we started to walk, she was just crippled. Up till last week, she was quite happily wandering, in and out of feed rooms (trying to nick feed :o) and one day we even found her on top of the bloody muck heap! She turned herself out and even had a play and a trot one day with the other mare - sound for the first time in months. Then one day, she just went again.
I am just hoping with everything I've got that it will take her body a while to settle into it and maybe the dosage needs tweaking. She's such a little fighter and has been through so much already I just hope that things can get easier soon!
K x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top