cushings?

mindymoo

mindymoo

New Member
Feb 27, 2007
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kidderminster
Has anyone had any experience of this? pony has been lame but is on the mend now, vet and i both think he has some arthritis and he's pulled himself while he was racing around the field which didnt help. Anyway he's out in a small pen and having half a dose of bute a day and is doing well.
Vet did mention if id ever though about having him tested for cushings as he is very cresty and it never really disappears, he's never had lammi as far as i know but he does hold his weight really well and has to be strip grazed through summer.
My worry is that the actual test for cushings can make him have laminitis, having had experience with it with my mare its something i want to avoid like the plague! he has no fat deposits over his eyes, he does hold onto his coat well but he does shed it in summer. I just don't know what to do for the best. also at the moment he seems to be very sweaty ( he is very hairy) so his coat never seems to dry out? Any thoughts on this????
 
My vet used a test that does not involve the use of steriods, I'm not sure what it is called but a blood sample is taken early in the morning, then frozen and checked the same day for ACTH levels.
 
Yeah it's tested by blood test now for hormone levels. Complicated testing in as much as it requires a lot of kit for vet as sample needs freezing and has to be done at certain tine of day.

Lami tends to one at the later stages of cushings, whereas changes in coat (longer, not shedding, curly), weight loss, muscle wasting, bulging eyes, excessive drinking/weeing tend to be earlier signs. There are no hard and fast rules about what symptoms are experienced. Seems to vary from all to nothing.

The coat would query cushings, though mine ar very hairy this year probably due to cold??

I would Have a look at insulin resistance, as it is often mixed up with cushings - it's essentially diabetes in horses. Crestyness is associated with IR, and the horses struggle to lose weight, carrying lots of fat pockets on the body.
 
Vicky is being tested on Tuesday, but we're having it done by bloods... She has to be starved the night before and the test done early in the morning and its expensive!!! I'll let you know more on Tuesday when I've bored the vet to death with more questions!!! Like you, she's never had lami but had a small crest,...but her pedal bones rotated before Xmas (as you know!!!) We're just trying to get answers to why this happened to the most un-typical case you could come accross!!! Hope all is well with you...x
 
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