Hi Everyone...my Cushingoid horse Domino is still experiencing a
mild laminitis after 8 weeks of treatment. Yesterday's x-rays didn't
show any rotation or changes to the bones of the feet. We're trying
different shoeing...reversed the front shoes and left off the pads.
I hope this helps.

My vet has also had me double the pergolide/Permax daily dose from
1/2
to a whole tablet(sorry, I forget the mg.)Domino's only real
indication of Cushings, at present, is the laminitis. Have any of you
done this? We didn't repeat the dexamethasone suppression test
because
of the currentlaminitis, but blood work showed normal blood glucose.

This current laminitis bout was likely triggered by a stressful event
which occured about 10 weeks ago.

I'm also interested in what you all do to help keep your horses'
stress minimal. My guy gets stressed much quicker these days than
years ago, before the Cushings. Has anyone else noticed this?
Thanks,
Kay in AK

Hi Kay

My friend has had to adjust the permax dose frequently
with her pony, I haven't started my horse on permax
yet but am about to consult with a vet to evaluate her
for meds.
I reduced my horses stress as over the past few years
she gets more anxious than usual. First I retired
her, then I moved her to another farm which wasn't an
ideal place but better, lastly I just moved again to a
place I'm renting so can manage her more carefully.
She had always lived in a big group 24/7 with a shed.
The last few years she was unable to hold her own in
the group, get to the hay or shelter. Now she is with
my other horse and no one else. They've been together
for 13 years and never fight, I'm not sure who is the
boss since they get along so well. She also has a
nice stall she can go in and out of. I don't feed
them together and have their hay seperate in 2 stalls
so she can get as much as she likes. Right now the
pasture is so good she just stays out, but there is no
longer any competetion with aggressive horses. I
still ride her but it's light riding, mostly walks
around the area. She is a good trail horse and enjoys
going out since she's normally very busy , I have
noticed some personality changes with her, she's less
sure of herself, less assertive, she used to be very
nonchalant about new things but has a hard time now, I
spent the summer taking her on trailer rides to get
her ready for a 10 hour trip. I was very worried
about the big move here but she loves it here, she's
looking less worried, not frantic at all.
My horses are leading a very quiet life now, the last
place had a lot of horses coming and going, trailers,
showing, they got moved around from field to field, so
now I'm trying to keep everything in a routine and
consistent.
Linda

--- "Kay H." <akkray@...> wrote:

Hi Everyone...my Cushingoid horse Domino is still
experiencing a
mild laminitis after 8 weeks of treatment.
Yesterday's x-rays didn't
show any rotation or changes to the bones of the
feet. We're trying
different shoeing...reversed the front shoes and
left off the pads.
I hope this helps.

My vet has also had me double the pergolide/Permax
daily dose from
1/2
to a whole tablet(sorry, I forget the mg.)Domino's
only real
indication of Cushings, at present, is the
laminitis. Have any of you
done this? We didn't repeat the dexamethasone
suppression test
because
of the currentlaminitis, but blood work showed
normal blood glucose.

This current laminitis bout was likely triggered by
a stressful event
which occured about 10 weeks ago.

I'm also interested in what you all do to help keep
your horses'
stress minimal. My guy gets stressed much quicker
these days than
years ago, before the Cushings. Has anyone else
noticed this?
Thanks,
Kay in AK

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Hi Kay,
My horse suffers from laminitis with her cushings, this past winter she had
a particularly bad attack my vet had me double her dose of cyproheptidine.
Darby was also on isoxaprine and 3 grams of bute. We came a hairs breath
from loseing her.
Darby is 40 something, she was my daughters first horse and she was old
when we bought her.
Right now she is outside galloping around like nothing happened but it has
been a challenge for me to nurse her back after this last episode and it
took a few months.
After a couple weeks on all the meds she stopped eating and drinking. I
took her off all meds except the cypro, I put her on devil's claw root and
I have her on Nu- flex maximizer with ester-c. I have her feet trimmed
making sure her heels are low and that the farrier does not pare her sole
at all (she stays barefoot) she founders if she gets her sole pared, the
first time this happened was 3 years ago, she had 7 degrees rotation in her
right front and 5 in the left. The left front shows no rotation at all on
her last x-ray, right front shows 5 degrees. It's always that right front
that is more prone to trouble.
It wasn't long after I got her off all meds except for cypro that she
started eating and drinking again, and moving. At the time my vet had told
me we would have to think of putty her down if we couldn't improve her
quality of life, so I had nothing to loose and everything to gain. The
other really important thing I did was soak her feet in epsom salts.I would
soak them for about half an hour but it would take me twice that long to be
able to pick her feet up and get them in the feed tubs I did this 3 or 4
times a day. At first she would only stand very hot water then as her feet
felt better we used warm. I did this for about 3 weeks.....it was a very
intense time.
Darby is doing very well now I keep her on the cyproheptadine, devil's
claw, and the Nu-Flex for her old joints.
I wish you the best for your horse.
Sue

Susan and Linda, thanks so much for sharing your stories. It is so great to
be able to 'talk' with people who actually know something about Cushings,
instead of me always being the 'expert' by virtue of being the only one
who's dealt with it. Of course, I wish no one had to deal with it at all...

It was interesting to hear that you have also noticed a lessening in your
horse's resistance to stress, Linda. Mine has always tended to be a worrier,
but things that never bothered him before, do now. I have also moved
recently and now have him and my new Icelandic at home. The two get along
superbly, although the bonding has caused a problem I never had
before...Domino gets very stressed whenever Kjarkur leaves his side. In his
old boarding stable home he never minded when a neighbor horse was gone. Our
home stable environment is usually very calm and consistent, which is
great.

I'll see how it goes with the new shoeing and Permax dosage...these
Cushingoid horses sure keep you on your toes, don't they?! Good luck to you
both and all the rest hanging in there with challenges. Kay in AK