Treating cushings in a performance horse. Help please!

Please do bear in mind that Cushings is caused by a brain tumour. I personally would retire the horse
 
Actually no its not...its the pituarity gland malfunction, a tumour can develop but is not the cause, hence why it has been renamed PPID, please look up on the laminitis site dor accurate info.
 
Cushings by all means is not the end of a horse's ridden career. Although frustratingly the emd of an affiliated career (hopefully something which will change on the near future). People are extremely surprised when told my Welsh/TB pony suffers from Cushings. My main advice would be to keep them as fit as possible, have regular blood tests to monitor levels and change dosage of Prascend as appropriate, be cautious when it comes to Laminitis- my pony had it this spring when very lean so it is not just a fat horse issue! My pony has also has also been slightly anaemic so usually at the start of the summer we notice him becoming lethargic and have to put him on an iron supplement. Got my fingers crossed for you, it does get easier.
 
Thank you FizzyPony, that's good to know! My boy is putting weight on and has a lot more energy so we're finally getting somewhere. Everything rests on the ataxia issue now -reassessing later this week.
 
Fides said:
Please do bear in mind that Cushings is caused by a brain tumour. I personally would retire the horse
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Why would you retire can i ask?
Just because i have a 10 year old diagnosed with PPID and now on 1 prascend a day and i must say he is now the best he has ever been. What a shame it would be to retire him especially now he is feeling so much better.

Also I must add PPID is not caused by a brain tumour. In some cases it can be due to a growth on the pituitary gland but if you do some reading up on it you will find more accurate information.
 
Jsye said:
Why would you retire can i ask?
Just because i have a 10 year old diagnosed with PPID and now on 1 prascend a day and i must say he is now the best he has ever been. What a shame it would be to retire him especially now he is feeling so much better.

Also I must add PPID is not caused by a brain tumour. In some cases it can be due to a growth on the pituitary gland but if you do some reading up on it you will find more accurate information.
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A growth is a tumour, it may be 'benign' in that it isn't going to spread but it is still a tumour that will grow and eventually cause other symptoms, sometimes neurological ones.

I would retire as it is against the rules to compete on prascend and is also ethically questionable IMO.
 
I had a 30 yo PPID mare who on reflection probably developed it at about 7. Anyway she lived a very long time, and never developed any other symptoms other than those of PPID. There is no basis for stating that neurological issues may develop and no reason to retire the horse on the basis of PPID. From competing yes, due to the ridiculous ruling on Prascend, but providing the OP was able to control the PPID then there's no reason he couldn't continue in work. "Tumour" is a catch-all word which covers many growths; there is no need to assume it's the end of the road.

OP I hope your boy has improved, your last post sounded worrying.
 
eventer13 said:
Thank you FizzyPony, that's good to know! My boy is putting weight on and has a lot more energy so we're finally getting somewhere. Everything rests on the ataxia issue now -reassessing later this week.
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Hi eventer13, that sounds more promising that your horse if putting on weight and that he has a lot more energy - fingers crossed for his continued recovery!

Fides said:
A growth is a tumour, it may be 'benign' in that it isn't going to spread but it is still a tumour that will grow and eventually cause other symptoms, sometimes neurological ones.

I would retire as it is against the rules to compete on prascend and is also ethically questionable IMO.
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Hi Fides, I'm keen to understand more about what neurological symptoms can result from Cushings? My horse has been diagnosed for a little over a year - he is 23 and on one Prascend a day. After a bit of a down period when he started Prascend, he's now doing really well. Can you elaborate please on the potential neurological symptoms - I'm keen to know as much about Cushings as possible.

Also, there's no chance of my horse competing any longer, but what are your reasons for thinking that competing on Prascend is "ethically questionable" - I know that many feel that Prascend is not performance enhancing - but is there evidence to show that it is in fact performance enhancing - or when you say that it is ethically questionable, do you mean from another perspective?
 
NH, I think - although I may be wrong - that Fides is thinking of "brain tumour" and making the leap to neurological symptoms as a result. There is information on the laminitis site about associations but the links are not clear and if there are any it is in advanced cases. Many horses never develop any and are more than capable of living a healthy, working life with medication for many years.
 
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