Cushings Miniatures on Pergolide or similar...

[Mona]

I have a 34.5" mini mare here recently diagnosed as cushingoid. I have a few questions for those of you with similar experience in your minis.

What would a good starting dosage be for this size mini? My vet is thinking .5 but wasn't familiar with it for mini horses, so I told him I'd ask here.

Also, do you use Pergolide, or a compounded formula and why?

What is the approximate cost of Pergolide or a compounded substitute?

Is it a powder, liquid, pill?? Wondering how it is administered?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Trenna]

I've treated 16+ hand horses using a pill twice a day. (1300 lbs or so). Pill dissolves in bran/beet pulp mash easily. I didn't pay for the last horse that was boarded with me but back when my gelding was being treated and I had to buy from a pharmacy using the people drug (now off market, only for animals) it was $300 a month.

Cryprotine (sp) is also used for treating early cushings, might be cheaper. It's a white powder. I use a half a small scoop a day for my mare because of allergies/hives which it also words for

 

[chandab]

I started my mini gelding on .5mg compounded pergolide, now that we are going into the fall rise he needs a slightly higher dose (.75mg for the fall rise). I use compounded pergolide, since its about half the cost of the Prascend. The compounded needs to be kept in the door of the fridge to keep it fresh. I get compounded capsules and he'll usually eat them with a tiny bit of tasty feed (what's tasty to him changes, currently it's a tiny bit of senior feed I have on hand; in the past Safe Choice has worked, sometimes his normal ration works, it changes), sometimes I have to poke them in his cheek (careful to avoid his teeth). Most seem to need increasing doses as time goes on since Cushing's is a progressive disease; so far, mine just needs extra in the late summer through first of the year during the fall rise in cortisol levels.

 

[Mona]

Thanks Trenna and Chanda. Chanda, do you keep your guy out on pasture, why he experiences the seasonal rise?

 

[chandab]

No, I don't. I've learned the hard way that the fall rise in cortisol in him and the fall rise in sugars in the grasses makes him foot sore (grasses do a fall sugar spike to prepare for winter). He can graze for about 6 weeks here after the early spring growth is about done til the summer heat changes the grasses. He will drop weight about this time, I didn't catch it in time this year to increase his pergolide to go with the fall rise (it typically starts about August, some sooner some later), so he dropped weight and currently looks like heck, but shortly after I increased his pergolide he perked up again, but it takes forever for him to gain that weight back (he's on soaked, rinsed beet pulp to add safe calories to his diet). I'm still figuring out the nuances of how Cushing's affects him, I live so rural it's hard to track his ACTH levels with the blood tests, so I have to go on his symptoms, which means I'm always chasing it; but I'm getting there with noticing his behavior changes before they get too severe.

Here he is mid-July this year; shortly before I pulled him off grass, he looked pretty good here, then bam, he dropped weight and looked awful.

 

[Mona]

Thanks Chanda for the additional info. Yes, your guy looked in pretty good body condition in this pic.

 

[chandab]

Glad to help when I can. Right now, poor Jasper looks awful, his topline disappeared. He's back on soaked/rinsed beet pulp and is slowly getting weight back on. I'm learning slowly what he needs, learn more every year.
Beet pulp is a good safe calorie source for IR and Cushing's horses, but it needs to be rinsed, soaked and rinsed again. first rinse is to get rid of surface dirt and sugars, then soak to fluff and then second rinse is to get rid of any residual sugars. All that rinsing and soaking to get rid of the sugars, also seems to take the flavor (the sugar), so even diehard beet pulp fans take a bit to convince that it's ok to eat this way (I used a little sugar-free maple syrup to get him over it this time, and he's eating it plain again, just fine).

 

[SMW]

I had mine on prascend (the dog sized pill), 1/2 tab in the am. But eventually took her off and have been managing it without medication ( my vet doesn't agree but she's doing just fine without it ) I have her on blue seal sentinel performance LS grain, 1 quart each feed ( 4 cups ). NO problems. Most people can't tell she has cushings.

The prascend was $60 for a two month supply

 

[chandab]

You are lucky your horse doesn't need the pergolide, the price is why I'm glad my vet will prescribe the compounded, the Prascend is at least double the cost of compounded. My horse falls apart in the fall without it, doesn't matter what I do for him, he needs the prescription, it does help him.

 

[Mona]

So are Prascend and Pergolide different things? Or are they the same drug, but different names?

 

[chandab]

Prascend is the name brand of the active ingredient pergolide, hope that makes sense. [Prascend is name brand, compounded would be like generic.]

 

[Mona]

Thanks for explaining it Chanda. So what does it cost you a month for the compounded Chanda?

 

[chandab]

Between $20 and $30, depending on summer or winter; he's on a higher dose in fall/winter to counteract the fall rise. [i briefly had two with Cushing's, they had two different vets, the mare's vet decided she would only prescribe Prascend, they are $2.00/tablet, she was on half tablet a day, and likely to need larger doses. I had to euthanize her this spring due to other issues.]

 

[Mona]

Again, thank you.