Post by Admin on Aug 4, 2005 14:02:52 GMT 1
Subject : How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 9:06:00 AM
I've just had the blood tests done on Khafif to see if she has Cushings or whether I'm just being neurotic (I don't know which I'd rather it turned out to be) and I wondered if there was anything else I should be doing to manage her if she does have it. She's showing all the signs of early stages of it at the moment but the laminitis is the most worrying.
She's on restricted grazing - two paddocks at the yard are trashed so I'm going to see if I can put her on there in the spring with one of my others - well soaked hay, HiFi Lite (approx 2kg/day), Speedi beet (enough to dampen the HiFi), and Top Spec antilam. I've also got some Hormonise and she has been on that for 3 weeks now. She is prone to laminitis - she's been insulin resistant for several years, if not all her life - and puts weight on very easily.
I think I'm doing everything I should but if anyone has any more tips to make her life more comfortable/happier I'd be very grateful. Come spring, her daughter will be on one of the bare patches with her so she'll have company more often which I'm sure will help, plus the patch is probably 3/4 acre so not too big for her to move around on. At the moment, Khafif is in most of the time but has company for about 18 hours a day as the other liveries are stabled next to her. As long as she has hay she's fairly happy - she has it in a small meshed net so she doesn't eat it all in 30 seconds flat!
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 9:20:00 AM
Have you spoken to JATaylor on this list or on her own list? I followed her advice about my suspected cushings pony and put him on vitex and he is looking so much better this winter. His coat is long but not curly, he's bright in himself and his eyes are not running as they did before. And most importantly he's not had another bout of laminitis.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : marywelsh
Date : 09.02.05 9:29:00 AM
could i just ask some questions about my friends horse it has suspected cushings the vet was supposed to ring back to confirm but never did and my friend has never rung the vet but she has all the tell-tale signs but i never knew about the runny eyes which she suffers from could i ask what causes this
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 9:45:00 AM
Hi marywelsh, I don't know what causes the runny eyes but believe it is a fairly common symptom of metabolic problems i.e. laminitis, insulin resistance etc. JATaylor's own list Metabolic Horse has loads of info about these issues and I think Jackie knows more about these things than most vets.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 10:01:00 AM
Thanks Pen, I've been in touch with Jackie and she's given me loads of advice which I'm following. I guess I just wanted to get other people's ideas too. Khafif's mother had Cushings and it was a very bad few years, I want to do the best I can with Khafif. Jackie certainly knows more about it than my vets do but at least this time around I have a couple of quite young vets who seem keen to learn instead of one near retirement (since retired) who didn't listen.
I can't get onto the Metabolic Horse list from work for some reason, and can't get near my home PC to try there.
How long was your pony on Vitex before he showed and improvement, Pen?
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Val (toons&co)
Date : 09.02.05 10:09:00 AM
It's such a headache, isn't it. As far as I can see, you're doing everything right for the laminitis at the moment and you can only wait and see what the results of the blood tests are and how she reacts to Hormonise/Vitex. There is no point looking into other medicine until you know the above. Good luck - I think once the management is in place things will get easier for you.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 10:31:00 AM
Hi Karon, My pony has been on Vitex for about 18 months. I would say it was at least 6 months before I actually saw an improvement but obviously changes were going on inside him during that time. The improvements have continued as last winter his coat was still a bit curly but this winter it's straight. He's 24 by the way. I am a bit worried about the spring grass this year as there is so much already. But I have a best friend grazing muzzle which he will have on once I start putting him out. During the winter he lives with my other horse in a large yard with a big stone barn for shelter. I'd better go now and do something productive.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 11:03:00 AM
Cheers. So far, Khafif just has a VERY long coat but it's not curly (more like a long haired cat that hasn't been groomed for a month) and she is shedding like mad, growing another "fluffy" coat underneath. Khafif is only 14 so if she's in the early stages, I wouldn't expect her coat to get too bad yet (her mother's was just long for the first 2 years she had Cushings). I'd reckoned at least 3 months before the Vitex worked (must have read it on here somewhere!) but 6 months takes me up to the period when she's not normally in so much danger from the grass which is good.
I forgot to add I do have a muzzle, similar to the best friend ones, so if we do get a lot of grass she can have that on as well.
Thanks, Val, as well - I've made changes to her management gradually until I've reached this stage and although it's taken a while to have an effect I think it's working properly now. I had few problems last year with her, once she got over her laminitis that started at Xmas 2003, just niggling things that I caught before they developed into anything major, so it looks like I'm on the right lines then!
What a pain - poor Khafif, it's just as well she lives to eat as otherwise she'd be climbing the walls to be let out. That was a problem I had with her mother - she was claustrophobic so her laminitis actually got worse when she was in, from stress.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Veronica F
Date : 09.02.05 11:22:00 AM
Hi Guys,haven't read everything on here, but my April is 33yrs she has not that long be diagnosed with cushings, a few times this winter she was nearly put to sleep as she has been that bad, but she is such a fighter and loves life,so it was suggested to try her on a drug called pergolide,although we are taking each day with her, she is doing so fantastic on this drug
I have found myself and I don't care what anyone else says,I am living with her and see the diffrence that she can "not" cope with "Hi fi lite", I have stopped feeding her that
she can and is coping very well on mark ways horsehage in blue bags though, very well indeed
it might be worth you looking into that drug as its very good although very expensive but worth it love Vxxx
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Val (toons&co)
Date : 09.02.05 11:45:00 AM
It's hard on them I think and sometimes I wonder what quality of life they've got but then, like V, I see how much Jaz enjoys life and it makes it all worthwhile. Jaz is still in the very early stages (perriferal rather than true cushings) and hasn't had laminitis yet (and I'm keeping everything crossed she never will tho I realise it would be a miracle - but it's hard enough to manage her grass intake when she gets so stressed about being restricted she gets ulcers).
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 9:06:00 AM
I've just had the blood tests done on Khafif to see if she has Cushings or whether I'm just being neurotic (I don't know which I'd rather it turned out to be) and I wondered if there was anything else I should be doing to manage her if she does have it. She's showing all the signs of early stages of it at the moment but the laminitis is the most worrying.
She's on restricted grazing - two paddocks at the yard are trashed so I'm going to see if I can put her on there in the spring with one of my others - well soaked hay, HiFi Lite (approx 2kg/day), Speedi beet (enough to dampen the HiFi), and Top Spec antilam. I've also got some Hormonise and she has been on that for 3 weeks now. She is prone to laminitis - she's been insulin resistant for several years, if not all her life - and puts weight on very easily.
I think I'm doing everything I should but if anyone has any more tips to make her life more comfortable/happier I'd be very grateful. Come spring, her daughter will be on one of the bare patches with her so she'll have company more often which I'm sure will help, plus the patch is probably 3/4 acre so not too big for her to move around on. At the moment, Khafif is in most of the time but has company for about 18 hours a day as the other liveries are stabled next to her. As long as she has hay she's fairly happy - she has it in a small meshed net so she doesn't eat it all in 30 seconds flat!
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 9:20:00 AM
Have you spoken to JATaylor on this list or on her own list? I followed her advice about my suspected cushings pony and put him on vitex and he is looking so much better this winter. His coat is long but not curly, he's bright in himself and his eyes are not running as they did before. And most importantly he's not had another bout of laminitis.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : marywelsh
Date : 09.02.05 9:29:00 AM
could i just ask some questions about my friends horse it has suspected cushings the vet was supposed to ring back to confirm but never did and my friend has never rung the vet but she has all the tell-tale signs but i never knew about the runny eyes which she suffers from could i ask what causes this
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 9:45:00 AM
Hi marywelsh, I don't know what causes the runny eyes but believe it is a fairly common symptom of metabolic problems i.e. laminitis, insulin resistance etc. JATaylor's own list Metabolic Horse has loads of info about these issues and I think Jackie knows more about these things than most vets.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 10:01:00 AM
Thanks Pen, I've been in touch with Jackie and she's given me loads of advice which I'm following. I guess I just wanted to get other people's ideas too. Khafif's mother had Cushings and it was a very bad few years, I want to do the best I can with Khafif. Jackie certainly knows more about it than my vets do but at least this time around I have a couple of quite young vets who seem keen to learn instead of one near retirement (since retired) who didn't listen.
I can't get onto the Metabolic Horse list from work for some reason, and can't get near my home PC to try there.
How long was your pony on Vitex before he showed and improvement, Pen?
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Val (toons&co)
Date : 09.02.05 10:09:00 AM
It's such a headache, isn't it. As far as I can see, you're doing everything right for the laminitis at the moment and you can only wait and see what the results of the blood tests are and how she reacts to Hormonise/Vitex. There is no point looking into other medicine until you know the above. Good luck - I think once the management is in place things will get easier for you.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Pen
Date : 09.02.05 10:31:00 AM
Hi Karon, My pony has been on Vitex for about 18 months. I would say it was at least 6 months before I actually saw an improvement but obviously changes were going on inside him during that time. The improvements have continued as last winter his coat was still a bit curly but this winter it's straight. He's 24 by the way. I am a bit worried about the spring grass this year as there is so much already. But I have a best friend grazing muzzle which he will have on once I start putting him out. During the winter he lives with my other horse in a large yard with a big stone barn for shelter. I'd better go now and do something productive.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Karon
Date : 09.02.05 11:03:00 AM
Cheers. So far, Khafif just has a VERY long coat but it's not curly (more like a long haired cat that hasn't been groomed for a month) and she is shedding like mad, growing another "fluffy" coat underneath. Khafif is only 14 so if she's in the early stages, I wouldn't expect her coat to get too bad yet (her mother's was just long for the first 2 years she had Cushings). I'd reckoned at least 3 months before the Vitex worked (must have read it on here somewhere!) but 6 months takes me up to the period when she's not normally in so much danger from the grass which is good.
I forgot to add I do have a muzzle, similar to the best friend ones, so if we do get a lot of grass she can have that on as well.
Thanks, Val, as well - I've made changes to her management gradually until I've reached this stage and although it's taken a while to have an effect I think it's working properly now. I had few problems last year with her, once she got over her laminitis that started at Xmas 2003, just niggling things that I caught before they developed into anything major, so it looks like I'm on the right lines then!
What a pain - poor Khafif, it's just as well she lives to eat as otherwise she'd be climbing the walls to be let out. That was a problem I had with her mother - she was claustrophobic so her laminitis actually got worse when she was in, from stress.
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Veronica F
Date : 09.02.05 11:22:00 AM
Hi Guys,haven't read everything on here, but my April is 33yrs she has not that long be diagnosed with cushings, a few times this winter she was nearly put to sleep as she has been that bad, but she is such a fighter and loves life,so it was suggested to try her on a drug called pergolide,although we are taking each day with her, she is doing so fantastic on this drug
I have found myself and I don't care what anyone else says,I am living with her and see the diffrence that she can "not" cope with "Hi fi lite", I have stopped feeding her that
she can and is coping very well on mark ways horsehage in blue bags though, very well indeed
it might be worth you looking into that drug as its very good although very expensive but worth it love Vxxx
Subject : re:- How to manage a horse with Cushings?
From : Val (toons&co)
Date : 09.02.05 11:45:00 AM
It's hard on them I think and sometimes I wonder what quality of life they've got but then, like V, I see how much Jaz enjoys life and it makes it all worthwhile. Jaz is still in the very early stages (perriferal rather than true cushings) and hasn't had laminitis yet (and I'm keeping everything crossed she never will tho I realise it would be a miracle - but it's hard enough to manage her grass intake when she gets so stressed about being restricted she gets ulcers).