Experiences with Cushings

[LouMoo13]

I'm after any stories or personal experiences from people who've managed horses with cushings. My horse was diagnosed 4 years ago and it's been managed to date with 1.5 prascend per day. ACTH levels were stable last time he was checked. So far the only signs have been the typical thick curly coat, and increased drinking and urinating. He had a bout of laminitis the summer before last but with careful management survived this year. However this winter he just seems to be showing his age (18 but gets thinks maybe a few years older...) I can't put my finger on what's different. But he is a bit grumpier in general (back and saddle all checked) a bit slower but not overly stiff or lame. Still enjoys his work though... I know prascend can cause a sort of malaise but his dose hasn't changed for a few years.

So... is this typical of what others have experienced and what was the prognosis like? Did you reduce workload or retire?

Typo alert - "vet thinks he could be older"

I have 2 with Cushing's: pony who is supposedly 20, but vet thinks he may be a year or two younger, and 14yo mare, whose younger full brother was diagnosed with both Cushing's and EMS at 10yo. I had her tested at 12yo (although she was showing no symptoms beyond the tendency to turn into a whale every summer, despite bucketloads of exercise), and she got the same diagnosis. They are both still on 1/2 Prascend/day, and (knock on wood) seem to be doing ok. I'm managing them by having them on a track system with hay in the summer, and on grass with no hay in the winter (sort of reversing the usual situation). This seems to have kept the whale-like tendency in check. The mare is in plenty of work, the pony is retired (check ligament injury). I am hoping we can maintain this status quo a while longer, but I'm also aware that Prascend is a management, not a cure. Perhaps you will find that ACTH levels have gone a bit wonky again. I've also read somewhere that there are some other hormone levels that can also be checked, that sometimes paint a different picture than ACTH, but I would need to look it up again!

Has he been tested for Insulin Resistance as well as PPID? IME it causes more problems in combination than just PPID. My 31 year old WB has PPID only and is in fine fettle on mg prascend, but I have seen it progress quickly in others.

Interesting thank you for the replies... he's due a vet visit for jabs and general check so will see what they think and maybe run more bloods.

We took ours off the prascend as it made him unhappy, could you talk to vet about weaning off (we didn't, just stopped without discussion), he was much happier and symptoms haven't worsened in 7 years. Raised eyebrows from vet but the best thing we did for him. Sometimes the meds aren't the answer for all of them. Good luck!

Mine went on prascend but carried on being depressed and "flat". He was also getting fatter and fatter when he shouldn't have been. Vet came out and tested him for EMS which he had, the metformin transformed him back to his cheeked happy self. It was the magic ingredient for him. He's 21 now and on 3 prascend a day and metformin. He's been medicated for several years now, maybe 6/7?

We have a homeopathic vet, Prascend made him so unwell so the vet gave us a homeopathic remedy that we give every day. He's doing so well, beautiful coat is out on grass loving life. Last bloods were down from 1245 to 27.3.

Very interesting to know that prascend isn't necessarily the only way forward. Thank you

I can’t recommend CushCare enough. You can get it at most feed stores, or google it... it has no sugar. And obviously keep off the grass in the spring. That is really important. Lots of hill walks to work the muscles, but lightly. And a good farrier. This is very important. Good luck, it can definitely be managed!

Mine has had her dosage of prascend reduced every time she’s had a check up blood test. Now on 1/2 tablet every other day. Her levels were over 1000 when first tested so a fairly advanced case. I’d be very wary of just stopping it without vet advice but I wonder if it could be lowered on the basis of your last results?
Mine was only discovered after a sudden unexplained bout of laminitis and she doesn’t really have any of the side effects now bar the hair!! Looks like she’s been thatched, not particularly long but about three times the density!
I hope you manage to sort it out, I was so worried when mine was first diagnosed but she’s now 22 and in rude health, sometimes literally as well as metaphorically!

@Mommy77

I use Cushcare too, and it works well for my old lad, but it is a conditioning feed far more than a cushings 'supplement' and is really not suitable for a lot of equines with PPID. I'd be particularly wary using in something that has had laminitic episodes.

It does contain sugar, 3.5%, and has a combined NSC (starch + sugar) of 10.4%, which is just above the recommended 10% level for PPID horses. It also has Crude Protein levels above which many PPID horses can tolerate.

OP - there is a brilliant facebook group called Equine Cushings (PPID) which I would recommend if you use fb. The files on there have collated all of the research on the condition, and the nutritional levels of most of the common feeds.

How is your boy doing just now? Mine is struggling a little with the weather (Scotland) and has dropped a tiny bit of weight, so am playing around with hay replacement combinations as he can't eat long stem forage.

@thelittlestrhino not too bad, we are in the south so weather no so brutal! He's lost a bit of condition and gone off of his feed (chaff with micronised linseed) but this has happened before and he normally goes back to it. I have to balance the risks of giving apples, carrots etc... against the benefits of him getting the linseed for condition! He's happy in his work and normally perks up in the spring, every winter I think he looks bad but then by summer he looks healthy again!

Another feed that can work really well for condition without sugar is Coolstance Copra. When my gelding dropped a lot of weight, that helped get him back to normal safely.

We have 2 24 year old ponies. Both had cushings for a number of years and still on a half tablet a day. Both were only tested when they failed to drop their coat properly in spring.

Touch wood neither has gone lame yet. One has baileys ease and excel as he needs to gain weight and the other is a whale and just has a scoop of mollichaff calmer to stick her prascend in.

I do know numerous ponies with cushings but not on prascend who are also doing fine. One pony became listless and 'depressed' on the prascend and other than needing a clip in spring is doing fine without

I have a native pony , aged 34, diagnosed with Cushings last year. No symptoms other than she had suddenly become VERY itchy, like sweet itch, which she had never suffered from before. She's on 1/2 prascend a day, but I'm not seeing any difference because there wasn't anything to see, other than the itch, which has naturally eased over winter. Does anyone have any experience of this? She seemed to attract flies more than the other ponies too, and then suffer more from the bites. It was the biting black flies which I can only describe as like a smaller house fly, that donkeys also suffer with on their legs.

(Spent a fortune on rugs, creams, sprays, deosect and steroid injection to ease it)

She's otherwise very well, still a good doer, and bright and active.

What are her current ACTH levels? If her PPID is not fully being controlled then skin issues are common (that was the only sign my old lad had).

I don't know, she's only had the 1 blood test so far in sept, the vet said to have another after 6 months so it'll be due next month. Did anything help with his skin?

She's 34, I've just taken her for a walk out in hand, she's jogged and phoned the whole way and now my arm hurts, so feeling very well!

As soon as the prascend was controlling the Cushings, his skin improved. I do clip him out over the winter as if he gets hot and sweaty (he’s a naturally hot horse) his skin immediately gets bad.

May be worth getting levels checked again?
Might need the Prascend dosage adjusting.

I've had 2 with Cushings. I did find initially feeding Agnus Castus (active ingredient in most Cushings type supplements) helpful.

I've got one with Cushings, he was diagnosed 5 years ago. He was horribly grouchy before diagnosis, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable, and it was also one of the signs that he needed his dose increasing a couple of years ago.
Another blood test will tell you if his current dose is controlling the disease or not.