Cushings disease

[Marmite]

Erm......what is it? sorry to sound silly :o But you'll never know if you dont ask. I've been told before its where the hair goes curly? Anything else? Thanks :o :)

[Marmite]

Anybody???? There was a little pony at my ayrd who went really curly at the end of his days, he was retired once the curlyness had started, and i was thinking maybe he had cushings?

[JOJOBA]

The magic of Google informs us.....


A small benign tumour in the pituitary gland causes equine Cushing’s syndrome. Since the pituitary governs the entire endocrine system, a number of conditions are associated with the disease. Cushing's disease is also referred to as hyperadrenocorticism.
A horse with Cushing’s usually develops the condition in the mid to late years of life (average age, 20 years), although it is sometimes diagnosed in horses as young as seven.

The body produces excessive amounts of cortisol – the body’s natural steroid
hormone.
Its effects can be seen throughout the body. You may have noticed
your horse having:

Increased thirst
Increased appetite
Increased urination
Pot bellied appearance
Loss of topline muscle.
A thick wavy hair coat in the summer – failure to shed its
winter coat.
Chronic laminitis.
Lethargy

Complications of Cushings
Immunosuppression that could cause your horse to be prone to
other diseases especially skin diseases like rain scald.
Laminitis. Signs include: Lameness
Heat in the feet
Increased digital pulses in the feet
Reluctant or hesitant gait ("walking on eggshells")
A "sawhorse stance," with the front feet stretched out in front
to alleviate pressure on the toes and the hind feet "camped out"
or positioned further back than normal to bear more weight.
Rings in hoof wall that become wider as they are followed from
toe to heel
Dropped soles or flat feet




xxx

[Pink's lady]

What she said;)

Cortisol regulates many many things, either directly or indirectly. Which is why cushings has such a huge range of symptoms.

Some a 'classic' though - and any pony with a very long, thick and inapproproate coat should be tested. Cushings can be controlled (although medication is expensive) and the pony can be made a hell of a lot happier.

[Marmite]

Thanks loads, why didn't i think of google??????? *smacks head* duh. Ah well, thansk again!!! :D

[artemis]

There are a lot of sites to help people with cushings horses.

I have a shetland with it. He has had it for 3 &1/2 years now. He is very well controlled on medication & diet, but it does take a lot of effort. This is the best year he has had since being diagnosed. I think it must be the very dry conditions.

[Floob]

We have a couple at the yard with cushings. Honey and Kerry have been tested positive. Melody isn't as bad yet but we suspect that she has it too and Holly we don't know yet but she is old and this year suddenly dropped a lot more weight in winter (has always been a tubby little pony) got a pot belly and took forever to lose her winter coat (but not curly yet).

They are being managed by careful feeding and shoeing to make them comfortable not to correct anything. High fibre diets, but in easily chewable and digestible forms. They do get out to grass seeing as cushings induced laminitis is not caused by the grass or overweight

[artemis]

Unfortunatly my pony had laminitis prior to the cushings so I have to be extra vigilent. During the very hot summer I had to clip him out as his winter coat started to grow. Now it is so cold with horizontal wind & rain that I have had to put a rug on him. You can't win with the British weather.:D

[sheryl]

My last pony had Cushings from about 20 yrs old. He was P.T.S when he was 30 due to the Cushings, and he had such bad teeth that he couldn't even manage to eat properly in the end. He suffered from all of the above symptons that Jojoba mentioned, but luckily he never suffered from Laminitis. I think different horses suffer with it in different ways. Apart from the long coat, which got longer with every winter, my pony didn't suffer at all until right at the end when he suddenly ran out of energy, wee'd a lot, drank a lot, and lost a lot of weight fast. The vet said he had also become diabetic.(apparantly another symptom).
What I'm trying to say is, your pony might be quite healthy still,apart from the long coat, which I'm sure he's not worried about! Just keep an eye on him.
It took my pony 10 yrs to get ill with it, so don't worry yourself too much.
I once read somewhere that all horses would eventually get Cushings if they managed to live long enough. So basically I put it down to old age.

[iluvpin]

hey

well cant really add anything else to what the others have said. but i was just wondering if a horse still sheds its coat a huge amount lol is it possible it could have cushings?? sorry to sound dumb but my horsey has a f airly thick coat but does DEFFINETLY shed out.

thanks lozziexx

[sheryl]

My pony shed his coat every year for a number of years. It was like a snowstorm every year because he was white! Each year his summer coat got a bit thicker as well though. In the last 2 years as well, when he did shed his coat he actually was bald before the new hair grew through. Not attractive on a white pony that obviously had black skin!
I think horses maybe get hairier as they get older anyway, so yours may be fine. Maybe try just rugging him up a bit more. He may just be feeling the cold more. x