Copper Blood work and pergolide adjustments - Dr. Kellon
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Jodie Jensen
Dr. Kellon, I'm hoping you can take a look at this string and offer up any comments. Copper's crest is the worst it's ever ever been and he's now footsore on hard surfaces but fine in boots. I need to update my case history again but the only changes are the symptoms I just gave and I added ALCAR and increased copper and zinc two weeks ago. I'm at a loss. WA 2007 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jodie%20and%20Copper%20-%20Emmy/Copper
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Hi, Jodie - I am at a loss as well. Fran notified me that you haven't been answered yet, so we have sent off an alert to Dr. Kellon. Copper is ..... complicated, and appears to be somewhat unique.
-- Jaini Clougher (BSc,BVSc) Merlin (over the bridge) ,Maggie,Gypsy, Ranger BC 09 ECIR mod/support https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jaini%20and%20Merlin-Maggie-Gypsy
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Jodie Jensen
Thank you Jaini, He is unique :) The good news is that he is only tender over rocks and willing to canter around the field and play so my hope is that the discomfort is mostly from thin soles. He's also become quite sensitive to cold and the last snow was hard on him. I'm hoping Dr. Kellon has some ideas because he has a lot of energy and I'd like have him stable enough to ride this summer. WA 2007 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jodie%20and%20Copper%20-%20Emmy/Copper
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For whatever reason he's obviously not very responsive to pergolide. I'd be tempted to try him on cabergoline, 5 mg, by slow release injection. I'll put a paper in the files on cabergoline effects on prolactin. Prolactin is also dopamine controlled. When looking at prolactin the effect is very rapid. With PPID, since there will already have been some POMC release it may take a while longer for ACTH levels to drop but you should be able to check ACTH in 2 or 3 days to see if it's working. It looks like you can go at least 10 days between injections. Drug is available here: https://vetrx.betpharm.com/products-29/vet-compounds/new-products.html EC Owner 2001
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Jodie Jensen
Thank you Dr. Kellon, I'll pass this along to my vet. Should I keep the pergolide dose the same?
WA 2007 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jodie%20and%20Copper%20-%20Emmy/Copper
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If you're going to try the cabergoline you will stop pergolide. If not, definitely need to increase the pergolide. ACTH should have gone down between your last two samples, not up.
-- Eleanor in PA EC Owner 2001
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Jodie Jensen
Dr. Kellon, I dug through messages on cabergoline and read the links provided. I've shared all with my vet and we both think we should try this since what we are doing is not working. Do we stop the pergolide cold turkey and give the shot or wean him off? What's the timing of the shot if we wean him off? And how fast do we wean? I'm thinking about doing blood work before and again 3 days after the shot.Thoughts? Has anyone else from the group tried this? Did Tina and Rio try? Thank you so much! WA 2007 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jodie%20and%20Copper%20-%20Emmy/Copper
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I think you can just make the switch -give the shot the day after his last dose. 3 days is reasonable.
-- Eleanor in PA EC Owner 2001
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Stephanie Stout
Hi Jodi, Thanks!!
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Jodie Jensen
Hi Stephanie, I don't quite have an answer for you yet. I gave him his third shot on Sunday and he had blood drawn yesterday so I should have results on Monday. His crest is still quite large but his feet are less tender than they were 6 weeks ago. We have been hand walking 20-30 minutes a day for the last 2 weeks (5-6 days a week). I did notice that his crest is harder today after missing the walk Monday, having a shorter walk Tuesday and missing yesterday. We just did a solid 30 minutes today so I'll watch for changes tomorrow. We also had some issues with him not eating after the second shot but he was fine after this last one. Maybe he had a little bit of a bug or something but it seems it will remain a mystery. He's eating fine now. If you saw the last test results, the ACTH went down significantly after the first shot but the insulin was up quite a bit. I'm hoping that was cold related as it was 34 and snowing for that blood draw and closer to 50 for the pre-cabergoline test. Yesterday was back to 50 degrees and I'm eager to get the results. Until then, we will keep on walking and hoping. WA 2007 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Jodie%20and%20Copper%20-%20Emmy/Copper
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