[sabrina]

I had to put down a 15 year old Shetland on Friday which was heart breaking. The end of last summer I had him tested for Cushing as he had lost weight and body muscle. He had to be fully clipped in the winter as his coat was so thick he was over heating. I had other concerns, his feet were changing shape and it looked like he was going down with laminitis. As he was only in the paddock an hour a day and the rest of the time he had the run of the yard and barn I could not understand what was going on. My blacksmith found no laminitis but did say he was showing all the signs in his feet he had seen before in a pony with Cushings. I put  him on a supplement to help and his overall body condition improved. Over the summer I was clipping him every 4/5 wks. When I had him tested it came back and said he was borderline. To me you either have something or not. There was a lot of pain in his feet as there was seperation of the hoof wall. My vet looked at him in May and thought he was doing well. I feel I let the wee guy down and kept him going to long. Anyone here had experience of this diease.

[Buttermilk]

I have had dealings with several that have suffered with cushings over the years.  Only one has really picked up and done well with pergolide, the others would not eat it and/or became depressed.  Given the choice I now aim to put down sooner rather than later as they all seem to get laminitis at the worst possible time needing out of hours vets and no knacker men working - weekends/bank holidays!  The joys of RDA having a predominance of older animals.

[Rosemary]

My Shetland type, around 17 years, has Cushing and EMS. He's been on drugs but is stable now. He's quite perky but I've got boots on him as his feet are a bit tender and he's on bute.
I feel for you - it's never an easy decision.
My Highland, who's 21, has COPD which is worse in summer (along with his sweet itch!!!!).

I may decide to let both of them go together - but it will be weird not having any ponies here.

[sabrina]

It is never easy Rosemary. My blacksmith seem to know more about what was going on than my vet.