Cushings disease and wonky hair growth

[Carrie Wind]

My 15 year old mini was diagnosed with Cushings disease last fall and has been on 1/2 tab of Prascend ever since. I body clipped her winter coat off in April just before a hot spell here in the northeast and her hair coat has only now begun to grow back (June) BUT, it's only the whiskery guard hairs that are coming in. She looks like a balding man with whispy hairs SO, I feel I need to clip it again so she has an even hair coat for the show season. Does anyone have experience with this? Will the coat begin to grow in normally at some point? I have never seen her pretty chestnut coat look so bad. So sad. Thanks!

 

[Abby P]

Hi Carrie, you might want to move this thread to the main forum and hopefully you'd get more replies!

My understanding is that if the dose of Prascend is right the coat growth should normalize but I'm not sure how long that should take. Was it confirmed with bloodwork that the dose she's on is right for her? This might be a question to take to your vet.

 

[Carrie Wind]

Hi Carrie, you might want to move this thread to the main forum and hopefully you'd get more replies!

My understanding is that if the dose of Prascend is right the coat growth should normalize but I'm not sure how long that should take. Was it confirmed with bloodwork that the dose she's on is right for her? This might be a question to take to your vet.

Thanks Abby. I think additional blood work is in order. I am new to this site and thought I was posting to the forum. How can I move this post to the greater view? Thanks again.

 

[Abby P]

I am not sure! I looked back at a thread I had started and didn't see any obvious way to move it. Maybe the moderators have to do it?

 

[1roadtoad]

Hi Carrie, you might want to move this thread to the main forum and hopefully you'd get more replies!

My understanding is that if the dose of Prascend is right the coat growth should normalize but I'm not sure how long that should take. Was it confirmed with bloodwork that the dose she's on is right for her? This might be a question to take to your vet.

I don’t know much about Cushings and how the Prascend works, butI also had my little mini on it for years. She was 34”, about 250 lbs ( or so) and she was only on 1/4 tab. It was so tiny, I used a pill cutter to make sure each quarter was exact. She wasn’t fond of taking the little tab, so I would drill holes into her treats (with my battery operated drill), drop the little tab into it. She ate it every time, never knew the Prascend was in her treat. On this dose, her coat always came in when it should for winter and then I would shave her in the spring. I also think additional blood work might have you make an adjustment in meds. Good luck.

 

[Carrie Wind]

Great idea about the hidden meds in the treat! My Scarlet will eat it in the grain but it sometimes gets missed so that idea may help. I will have to get her blood work completed again to be sure she is on the right dose. She is 35 1/2" and a CDE competitor. I need to be careful of her sugar intake as well so she is eating a ration balancer in lieu of grain. Since she gets so little anyway, this helps her to get the minerals and vitamins that a competition horse should have. I guess its working as she has had many blue ribbons and championships along the way so far!

 

[MartysMom]

Great idea about the hidden meds in the treat! My Scarlet will eat it in the grain but it sometimes gets missed so that idea may help. I will have to get her blood work completed again to be sure she is on the right dose. She is 35 1/2" and a CDE competitor. I need to be careful of her sugar intake as well so she is eating a ration balancer in lieu of grain. Since she gets so little anyway, this helps her to get the minerals and vitamins that a competition horse should have. I guess its working as she has had many blue ribbons and championships along the way so far!

I had a similar problem with Marty & his pergolide - he likes to knock his grain onto the ground to eat it so we weren't sure he was getting the meds. I made a batch of this soft dough to wrap around the med. For one mini and a half tab of pergolide this recipe would last forever. I didn't even bother to preshape the treats, I cut the dough into portions and left one ball in the fridge to pinch off a little each morning and froze the rest.

https://jacksonsjob.com/bingos-surprise-horse-treats/

 

[candycar]

To get mine to take the pergolide I use an oral syringe(5mil about 1/2 full) and molasses or honey water to dissolve it.
(Put the pill in the syringe 1st, reassemble, suck up the water mixture) I make a weeks worth dry and don't have to fuss with it everyday. If your vet has an online pharmacy service you can order them from that. $5 for 20 syringes and they last a while before needing replaced.
Got the idea from the info pages in the meds. A tsp or2 of molasses will sweeten about a 1/2 cup of water. Not enough to affect their sugar intake.
After a few days of haltering, "showing it to her nose" first before giving it, Jelly bean now stands for it and thinks it's a treat!

 

[Carrie Wind]

To get mine to take the pergolide I use an oral syringe(5mil about 1/2 full) and molasses or honey water to dissolve it.
(Put the pill in the syringe 1st, reassemble, suck up the water mixture) I make a weeks worth dry and don't have to fuss with it everyday. If your vet has an online pharmacy service you can order them from that. $5 for 20 syringes and they last a while before needing replaced.
Got the idea from the info pages in the meds. A tsp or2 of molasses will sweeten about a 1/2 cup of water. Not enough to affect their sugar intake.
After a few days of haltering, "showing it to her nose" first before giving it, Jelly bean now stands for it and thinks it's a treat!

Thanks for this. The only caveat is that I have to be careful with this particular minis sugar. She began presenting with signs of insulin resistance so I had to switch h her off the miniature horse & pony feed (which was labeled as starch & sugar controlled) and use a ration Balancer instead and that has really helped. She eats the pill but her coat was growing in very slowly and weird! I added a tiny bit of Omega-3 oil and that has helped.