Cushings -anyone had horse go aggressive?

samanthajayne

samanthajayne

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Nov 17, 2015
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I had such helpful comments before on here so I am back :)

I have a 15 year old new forest pony that has been diagnosed with cushings. In the last week though she has become somewhat depressed, lethargic and aggressive. Yesterday was worst day ever. I wondered if anyone else has experience of horses/ponies with cushings and aggressive behavior? I'm concerned we may be getting closer to the end of the road :-( x
 
My Chloe has cushings and is on Prascend which works really well for her (she is 27). Has your vet suggested it for yours? Not all horses respond well to it at first (something I learnt here on NR) but it has worked very well for us.
 
I'm waiting for a call back. I have been maintaining her through diet but in the last week I am watching her deteriorate so want to now put her on. Am worried though. She has become agressive, even to me who she adores and I have read quite a few things online saying it has made them agressive. Was your horse agressive then? x
 
Chloe was not aggressive. But we caught it very early on, she was diagnosed quickly and after starting the medication have never looked back thankfully. We do have on going issues such as her skin condition which looks a bit like mud fever, but it's very manageable.
 
Mine went nuts, she showed no normal symptoms for cushings but turned totally neurotic, was a hormonal mess and would lash out at anyone within reach, I even had to ban the YO (they were on livery then) from going in her paddock to feed her, they had to literally chuck it over/under the fence :eek: this continued for weeks and only when she started showing sore feet did the vet agree to testing for cushings. The first test was borderline positive at 29.6 (she was 9 at the time) and she was immediately started on prascend and I also moved to my current yard as she had been suffering on the ground at the other place as it was very flinty and it also allowed me to manage her myself, her next test 6 weeks later showed a significant drop in her ACTH to 12 and she was back to her normal self.
Jess isn't a lovey, cuddly mare anyway, she is an alpha and a bit stand-off-ish and has always been hormonal, I suspect that is why when these additional hormones went haywire she totally lost the plot.
 
My little madam is grumpy, I find it's actually diet that causes it for her a lot. She becomes hideous on any mollasses feed (even moglo like healthy hooves).

Could she be in pain? Has anything else changed?
 
Vet has called back and am going to now start her on prascend. The tumour is creating a hormone imbalance so add that to a hungry mare she is the extreme end of grumpy/aggressive. It is going to take 6 weeks to get her hormones into a balance and then we shall see bless her. She definitely doesn't do well in the heat I have noticed that too lately but she is just food obsessed, always has been so being on wet hay and restricted grazing and no cereal feeds is not her chosen diet :) So she has Cushings and COPD and takes a lot management but we love her x
 
I feel your pain @Jessey I have 4 mares. Sasha is the most loving chetnut mare ever which is why I have seen her slide in the last week. She has become lathargic, depressed and aggressive. Just hoping now sliding over from holistic management to drug management as I call it will bring the hormones under control x
 
Mine is the same, the only thing she really cares about is her tummy being full and even with the cushings controlled she will still get aggressive if she feels she's not had enough to eat, given she's a porker its a real balancing act. I've found I have to be very careful about the types of grass her hay is made from, what stage in the life cycle it is baled at etc as they affect the starches and sugars so much and she just can't tolerate either in any quantity now, plus if its lower in these I can afford to let her bulk up on it a bit more which keeps her happier.
 
@Jessey I think I spend more time organising her diet control than my own lol. Yes Sasha is food obsessed and can put weight on just looking at grass so I have taken a yard so she spends most of the day in the school so only wet hay, its working with dropping the weight she has piled on but not working for her mood x
 
I actually took Jess off the prascend about 2 years ago as I really didn't want her on drugs for the next 20 years possibly and didn't notice any great change, then last year she went lame and we spent a fortune at the vets trying to figure it out and she went from 5/10 to 1/10 on and off but we just couldn't seem to get that last bit sorted, about 3 months ago it started to nag at me so had her tested again and ACTH was only 15 but it was still nagging so I nagged the vet to put her back on the drugs and hey presto I have had a sound happy horse for the last 2 months :D
I have Jess on a (grass) track system now, it works far better for her than traditional paddock keep or an equicentral system, even with last year basically out of work she didn't get as fat as she has previously when in work and she's much happier out with the boys wandering about, I supplement their restricted grass intake year round with 'low cal' hay so she doesn't feel hungry :)
 
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