On the up?

After a steep downward spiral, Mysti seems to be picking up again 🙂
Tried halving the dose but she didn’t improve and started drinking/peeing ridiculous amounts so she is now back on the original dose and has turned a corner thankfully!
Much happier, eating up all her feed and every bit of her hay and haylage. She’s eating more than she was before she even got tested for cushings …
Although i wouldn’t say her energy levels are quite what they should be, she’s having a break until spring now just the odd wander inhand round the lanes and learning some more tricks to keep her mind active. So its no big deal if she wants to have an extra snooze, wont be pushing her for more than she wants to give.
6 week blood test to check her ACTH levels is tomorrow so should have the results by the end of the week and will know if the dose is right or needs to be upped.
Been a tough time with all the ups and downs but hopefully the dose is right and by the spring she should be back to her bouncy self 🙂

Rolling downhill

Mysti is bad again, she seems to just be going downhill.

She’s eating her feed but not her hay (although will eat haylage) has the runs and is looking quite uncomfortable through her stomach. I took her to a show on Sunday and she just wasn’t ‘there’ and slept most of the day. Will be trying her on half the dose for a few days to see if she picks up but struggling to stay positive at the moment.

I feel a bit like although she’s standing in front of me she’s lost.

Long time no update!

Sorry its been a while since the last update, been a bit hectic!

Mysti is ok, although starting to go off her food a bit. I’ve had to put her on a high fibre haylage as she had totally stopped eating her hay. Still eating her feed well, we’ve even had a few mad moments this week so her energy is returning which is great to see!!

On the up?

Fingers crossed, Mysti seems t have improved dramatically over the past couple of days!

 

Vet thinks glands/swelling was unrelated to the Cushings, apparently they have seen lots of horses with those symptoms and haven’t worked out the cause yet. Vet did suggest halving the dose of prascend a few days ago but as she has started to pick up now we are sticking with the original dose!

I have to say, the vet has been fantastic throughout Mystis diagnosis and the beginning of treatment. Always on hand if i have any worries. Always happy to answer emails/questions! Also my yard owner who has been keeping an extra eye on Mysti over the past few weeks as well as spoiling her rotten. A good support network makes all the difference!

Mysti seems to have her bounce back too! As well as escaping from the field, she has been preforming her Spanish walk on the yard everytime someone looks in her direction.. Show offs back then!

From bad to worse!

I have a poorly pony today! Hugely swollen glands and she’s clearly very uncomfortable. Haven’t been able to speak to the vet yet (will be phoning first thing in the morning) so unsure if its a reaction to the prascend or something more sinister. Temperature of 36.1, no runny nose or cough so although the glands swollen looks like strangles I don’t think it is that. Still eating up her feed but only picking at her hay.

Little signs

No huge improvement yet, still way too early for that!

 

Today is day four of treatment, Myst is even more dull/quiet and its hard to watch. She’s still taking her tablets but i think she’s starting to work out somethings not quite right so back up plans are ready!

 

The prascend has given her a dodgy tum, which is clearly uncomfortable for her and not helping with the depression either. She’s still eating up her feed but is picking at her hay, she struggles to keep weight on and this time of year she needs all the help she can get, so trying every trick in the book to get her to eat up

First dose – done!

Mysti had her first day on prascend today! Little bit later than planned due to a mix up at the vets.

 

Went down a treat in a bit of apple smothered in honey, waiting to see how long it takes her to work out that there’s a hidden reason for that extra yummy treat!

Distant

No real point in posting an update today, no change yet as d-day (First dose of Prascend/Pergolide) is tomorrow!

But while having a search on the best ways to get the worlds fussiest pony to take her meds, found this picture I took of her back in May. It more or less sums up how she is at the moment. Very distant, keeping her guard up and taking herself away from the herd.

Sad to see her like it really, she’s usually the life and soul of the party and makes her presence known. Hopefully the bouncy full of life Mysti will be back soon!

A little bit of information

Thought i would share some of the information I’ve found about cushings so far that I’ve found helpful!

 

When you think of a Cushings horse you automatically think of horses with very fluffy coats that can sometimes be curly too. You think of laminitis, pot bellies, bulges above their eyes but Mysti has none of these typical signs.

 

Lethargy is a big sign, Mysti is the type to trot until she drops but she’s been slowing down considerably recently. Depression is also a sign,

 

 

I found the video on this page very helpful

http://www.prascend.com/AboutPrascend

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always learn to expect the unexpected!

Mysti is a 10 year old Welsh mountain pony. Unlike most Welshies who are tough as old boots, Myst is a drama queen thoroughbred wanna-be who likes to prance around pretending shes the queen ..

I’ve owned Mysti for nearly 5 years now and she has kept me well and truly on my toes in that time, within 6 weeks of her arrival she had a spasmodic colic due to her drama queen tantrums over her new stable (not in the right area of the yard apparently!) I should have seen it as a warning sign but i had already fallen for that cute little face and attitude by then and so the little monster stayed! 

After she had her own special stable built on the main yard (with her best friend next door!) things settled down again. She soon started showing just how intelligent she is, took to lunging like a duck to water and things were great. She couldn’t walk anywhere she had to prance, even if she was just being taken out of the field to the yard she pranced, while squealing like a pig at all the other horses. Many people described her as ‘the pony on blue smarties’ despite her being on a low sugar diet!

A few weeks after she turned 8, on my birthday no less (thanks Myst!) she came in from the field crippled with acute laminitis. She spent two weeks in her stable, on a deep supportive bed with painkillers and meds to reduce the swelling in her hooves. It was touch and go at first if she would pull through, but within two weeks she was totally sound and able to go out for an hour a day again. A very lucky escape for her! 

But it turned out she did have one problem from the box rest – a slipping stifle! After a few weeks of prescribed exercise her stifle joint decided to stop popping out and the muscle had built up around it again and was holding it all in place as it should have been.

After perking back up from the laminitis we had a couple of months before she suddenly dropped a lot of weight and was constantly on edge again. She was permanently terrified and it became clear that the yard was not right for her anymore so we moved 5 minutes down the road to Cranbourne, Mysti absolutely loved it there, huge stable and fields, lots of new friends and a school to show off her moves in. She settled in straight away although we were still having problems with her weight (and the fact that she gave all the people at cranbourne the run around, she was the smallest but naughtiest horse on the yard – oops!) 

Unfortunately things went bad again, she lost yet more weight and went downhill very fast. She ended up being rushed up to Bell Equine Hospital with an impaction and bloods showed a problem with her liver. That was a horrible night watching her being scanned,tubed and then waiting to see if she passed the impaction in the night or if she would need surgery. Luckily she passed it herself and she was able to come home but it was a good week before she was back to normal, lots of late night rushing to the yard to walk her round and round in the pitch black waiting for her to pass some poop!

She had to have a few blood tests after to check if her liver was improving, and luckily it was! She soon put the weight back on and was back to her naughty self.

After a few months it was time to move again as Cranbourne could no longer provide the right home for Mysti but we hit our biggest jackpot yet and found the perfect yard! It was like coming home after all the dramas, and we are still very happy here.

Mysti had been happy, healthy and just full of life since the move but as usual it wasn’t long before something was going to pop up! 

Over the last few weeks i noticed signs similar to her previous liver problems starting again and she suddenly dropped weight out of the blue. So decided to have her bloods tested again on Monday 18th Aug 2014. Last minute I decided why not try a shot in the dark and test for Cushings at the same time as there was a free voucher available. She was showing no obvious signs other than a lack of energy.

Results came in on the Thursday and showed all her liver markers were normal so a huge weight off my mind.

But, she has tested positive for Cushings! 

Her ACTH levels were 71.6 when they should be anywhere in between 5-35. She starts on her medication on Tuesday, starting at 0.5mg of Pergolide (Prascend) a day. It could be a long road to get the levels right, but she will be on this medication for life and her levels will be monitored regularly to ensure she is doing well. 

 

I decided to start this blog as a record so i can look back and see if shes improving and keep a track of everything, i thought it might be helpful too if anyone else finds themselves in this position. Mysti has fought and bounced back from so many battles so far in her life and I am so proud of the little monster. This is one more hurdle to get over but we will!

 

Thanks for reading!