Questions for those whose horses have cushings

0ldmare

0ldmare

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Well my poor old mare is crippled with laminitis at the moment and finally we got the blood tests back for cushings, and she has it. So I zoomed over and got the Pergolide and she's had her first pill.

Has anyone else had a horse thats mysteriously gone down with laminitis and then you've found out its got cushings? Did the Pergolide speed up recovery of the laminitis? Do you still have to mega careful going forward re grass if they have cushings? Obviously I will ask lots of questions of the vet, but I didnt think of them when I was on the phone and she's not visiting again until next wednesday so am hoping you lovely peeps have some pearls of wisdom :D

I'm not sure what to think to be honest. Obviously its bad news she has cushings but will the pergolide make a difference to her do you think?
 
chin up you arent alone lol
i had the same thing with my mare 2 bouts of laminitis later and she was diagnosed with cushings. you do have to manage the lami like any other horse BUT the lami is caused by the tumour not the grass so this is where the pergolide comes in
my mare was on one tablet a day but still had another bout of lami so was upped to two a day. she now has no signs of cushings apart from the bulges above her eyes.
my vet has just been out to do her yearly health check and has said i can reduce it again to one when the cold weather sets in and see how she goes
my mare gets turned out at 1pm and come in a 6 with no muzzle and she is fine as the pergolide is controling the symptoms
she was clipped out last year due to her growing a huge thick coat but this year she just looks like any other normal horse
horses with cushings do drink alot and have a low immune system and are prone to mouth ulcers etc so i would make sure your horse is vaccianted up and is seen by a dentist regularly
good luck and hope she recovers well from the lami
 
Mine has never (touch wood) had lami. She's had Cushings since the age of 26, has been on Pergolide for about 18 months & she's now 37. The best way that I could describe it is that it's an anti-ageing pill. Since she's been on it, she's got her character back, has become a lot less listless & more interested in life, & her coat has improved a lot.
 
Hi,

My 23 year old mare was diagnosed with Cushings at the beginning of this year (I had her tested this year as part of her 6 monthly health check as her coat was looking curly and she had been a little depressed and quiet) and so far has not suffered from a bout of lammi **touches wood** even though she is pretty suseptible having suffered a couple of bouts over the many years I have had her.

What I can say is that the Pergolide which in her case orginally prescribed 1mg tablet a day but proved too high, she become almost zombified and lost her appetite completely so the vet suggested 1/2mg a day) which has proved to be a miracle.

Its like the clock has turned back 10 years, she is alert, active, interested in everything, as Catembi said her character and personaility is back full force. Physically she looks fantastic also, normal shiney coat and this year we have dapples for the first time in a few years (she is dark bay) her top line has come back, old age muscle wastage seems to be diminishing, her eyes are bright once more and she well....just looking and hopefully feeling very good :)

I hope that with the daily pergolide and careful management she will stay this way for a long time to come.

Good luck and I hope your girl makes a full recovery.

Sadiemay
 
Oh thanks, I feel quite encouraged by the replies and so hope my old girl responds to it. She's on 1mg per day at the moment - seems so little when you look at a little pill vs big ol' horse!

It does explain why we couldnt get a decent shine on her coat this year - she looked well enough (although is never a particularly good doer) but her coat was always a bit dull. I put it down to her age, but it was almost certainly the cushings

Just to get over this awful bout of laminitus would be fantastic. How long did the pergolide take to take effect?

Thanks :)
 
Hi,

With regard to the Pergolide to take effect I would say I noticed a positive change in her after a week or so but maybe it varies from horse to horse.

Sadiemay
 
Oldmare, search on here. It's why I came on here to start with - advice on GP empyema and then ECS.

The pergolide helped enormously but is not a magic cancellation pill. You'll still have to work hard to nurse her through the laminitis and research all the supplementary care ECS takes, but hopefully she'll turn the corner with pergolide. Be prepared for her to go off her feed (it makes them inappetant and humans nauseous) and it may take up to three months to really have an effect. My pony turned the corner after 14 days.

I wish you well - get onto Jackie J A Taylor's Yahoo group and busy yourself finding out what to do next. Good luck and keep us informed of her progress.
 
My Welshie was diagnosed with Cushings last year at the age of 12. She never had laminitis but I suspected from the other usual symptoms. She always had a big belly but no topline and very think coat, drank a lot and a bit depressed. Since being on Pergolide she is a different pony. She is perky, bright, fun, sometimes naughty, shiny coat, topline and people don't recognise her as the same pony. she looked 20 and now has lost 10 years in appearance. I manage her very strictly as a lammy, though, as she has muscled up so much she looks porky and keeps her weight too well!
 
My 24 year old was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year and has never shown a sniff of lami in her life. She did however show the classic cushings coat, dropped back, cresty neck etc signs. She has been on the pergolide for several months now, and the difference in her appearance is amazing. Even though she's never shown any signs of lami I do manage my mare with that in mind. She isn't allowed fresh, rich grass and for spring/summer she's on a bare-ish paddock and I fed her hay instead. She is currently on 'old' stalky grass that would have liked to have had cut for hay and she's fine on that.
 
Thanks I will definitely join the yahoo cushings group

Also thanks for letting me know re going off her food. She has already and had to coax her to eat her pills today :( The only thing she seems to enthusuastic about eating is the post and rails around the school :( :(. Now broken 3 of them :eek: its going to get expensive (like its not already!)
 
Puppy said:
My 24 year old was diagnosed with cushings earlier this year and has never shown a sniff of lami in her life. She did however show the classic cushings coat, dropped back, cresty neck etc signs. She has been on the pergolide for several months now, and the difference in her appearance is amazing. Even though she's never shown any signs of lami I do manage my mare with that in mind. She isn't allowed fresh, rich grass and for spring/summer she's on a bare-ish paddock and I fed her hay instead. She is currently on 'old' stalky grass that would have liked to have had cut for hay and she's fine on that.
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And that is exactly the approach to have! Keeping laminitis at bay once you know that Cushing's is 'there' is absolutely vital and the key to keeping your pony free from that rotten disease. Since the laminitis inducing factors come from the tumour within, you are trying to fight an invisible enemy, so your best plan of attack is a preemptive defence!

Those who find Cushing's to be the predominant reason for the laminitis are already fighting an uphill battle. It's the coat and strange fat distribution/body shape which should ring alarm bells, but even my regular horse vet didn't mention it to me and I'm sure he didn't believe me when I told him she wasn't actully fed much (and I mean that) and was ridden every day. It took a specialist vet looking at her for the empyema to casually mention the Cushing's. The Forum came charging to the rescue with info and anecdotal advice and we had three more years I'm convinced we wouldn't have had thanks to them.
 
And ring round your local chemists to get the best price for Pergolide. Your vet could write you a prescription (£10 'ish) and even taking that into account, buying the tablets from the chemist might still be cheaper than from your vet. Just a tip as the cost of meds can be a big influence as to how long you can carry on treatment.
 
brighteyes said:
And ring round your local chemists to get the best price for Pergolide. Your vet could write you a prescription (£10 'ish) and even taking that into account, buying the tablets from the chemist might still be cheaper than from your vet. Just a tip as the cost of meds can be a big influence as to how long you can carry on treatment.
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That's a good tip, thanks. At the moment everything is covered by insurance, and luckily I had only just renewed. But as soon as that comes to an end I will look into it

Anyone know how long the loss of appetite usually lasts? I've tried googling/searching but can't find much information. Just a bit of a nightmare when I need to feed her danillon etc!
 
Our then 26yr old gelding went down with laminitis last August, he has cushings. He has been ok since up until two weeks ago when the dreaded laminitis returned. Last year it took him about 3 weeks to show much improvement and we decided that if he hadnt improved by that week we would have to let him go. He must have known! This year it was a mild case and he was quick to respond to the drugs. Our problem now is that no matter how we try to hide the pergolide he just wont touch it. The comany that makes it needs to make a paste or a flavour the horses will eat.
 
He got wise to that! Weve triedit in apples, sugar free mints, even mars bar which he loves but he just wont touch anything with pergolide in it. If weput it in his feed he wont eat it. We even tried a bit of cake, bread, sandwich you name it weve tried it!
 
o god i feel sorry for you. my mare only once refused to take it so i ended up putting in her mouth myself inbetween her teeth so by the time shed realised id put it in she had all ready bitten down (please dont shoot me down in flames shes needs to take the tablet)
 
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