Cushings coats

[The Moo]

Hi there again, I was just wondering what those with Cushingoid ponies did about their pony's winter coats.

Moo has had Cushing's for nearly three years now and has recently had her dose of prascend increased to 1mg so it is a deteriorating condition but by no means beyond hope. I've just come back from 3 weeks hols to find Moo's coat is now pretty carpet like, really thick and holding a lot of dust and dirt, I'm sure some of it must be dried sweat as well.

Last year I managed to give her a good trace clip her in late Sept as we had some warm weather and this worked relatively well throughout the winter with light or medium weight rugs though I was always worried about her being too warm or not warm enough (as you do).

I am a believer in leaving them as au naturel as possible but skin issues can come about with Cushing's coats being so thick and I noticed that she still feels damp even though Ed has dried out.

Sooo - do you leave your ponies with their own heavy coats or clip and rug. If you do clip, how on earth do you get them clean and dry enough to clip, Moo lives out so I can't bath her - too cold and she would take days to dry, and I can brush and brush and she stills feels gritty and clammy. I seem to be in a bit of a catch 22 situation. :-(

[heathera]

When Bonnie reached this stage I asked a friend with really heavy duty clippers to help. She put some cattle shearing blades on and we did the coat in layers, clipping the hair about half way down the shaft first then leaving him for 24hrs so the soggy lower half could dry out before gving a deep groom and then clipping that off too.

[Fi]

can't help much as Sam's stabled partly so does get a chance to dry out before clipping.
However, despite being more 'scurfy' than he ever used to be, I've still found the skin underneath in pretty good condition.
He's also sported some very unusual clip patterns when I've decided to only take certain bits off! I'll often just clip his girth area and between his back legs (ie where he sweats), maybe also a strip along his belly and up the underneath of his neck. My theory being I can always come back and take a bit more off.
However - I've just seen a forecast that we're due to get a really bad November for cold weather and snow..............hopefully just scaremongering.....

[mickey]

I did my friend's mare last year for this reason- she perked up no end as when it was warm she was too warm and when it was cold she was constantly damp. I chose a day where it was quite warm and just did it with fresh blades. Didnt matter if it wasnt perfect.

[The Moo]

Thanks for the replies, it was quite cold at the beginning of the week and her coat was beginning to look normal again but I went down tonight and with it being milder she is all damp and clammy again. I sprayed her chest with coat shine to make it slippery and back combed it and using scissors chopped off any hair that poked through the teeth of the comb. The teeth of the comb prevented me from nicking her skin, it looks a bit moth eaten but will allow her to dry out and feel a bit more comfortable until I can get some clippers on to her.

[harveydales]

I'd forgotten until I read your last post, but I used to go through Winnie's coat with one of those thinning rakes rather than clip because he hated any pampering or interference but could tolerate me removing some of his coat with the comb. It did help and would have made clipping an easier job.

[maggie]

I hadn't thought about a thinning comb, that's a really good idea and got to be worth a try.

For the past 2 years I've clipped Peigi, the first clip (around this time of year) hasn't been easy, but the meaty set of mains clippers with new blades in have coped, although it's been done in stages over a couple of weeks. I've done what Heather suggests and clipped about half way, then went back to finish when the rest was dry. The order tends to be front legs, chest, back legs, belly x 2, so a bit of a pain. The battery pack clippers can then cope with keeping the regrowth under control.

She's been getting sweated up (and therefore permanently damp) for the past week or so, when the coat growth really kicked in, but I need the vet to see and assess her before I clip, but am in a panic worrying about a flare up of the mud fever she got before I started clipping her. She sweated so much, it was running down her legs, so she got mud fever from elbow to knee! We haven't had a recurrence since, so fingers crossed we can hold out until Thursday.

Good luck with Moo,

[NFK Dumpling]

We clipped James on Saturday, after the initial "what the heck!" he stood quite happily. He has been clipped for at least 13 out of the 14 years he's been with me and came to me from a hunting home

His coat was a little sticky on his chest but the rest came off well; he has very long but silky strands of hair - quite different to Musk whose coat is more like felt.

The vet has not long left after coming to vaccinate James and test them both for worms and James for his PPID as she feels that he has quite rapidly lost weight and muscle since July Hopefully an increase in Prascend will be the answer as he's on half a tablet at the moment.She also suggested I increased his rug to the medium weight despite the fact that it is relatively warm here (13 degrees overnight).

I've continued to feed him the same as he has always been, a couple of small scoops of dried grass to mix his multivitamins with and hay, with 24/7 turnout. I've always been worried about him getting laminitis but he never has.

What do you feed your oldies?

PS Its not all doom and gloom as he nearly had me off a week ago Saturday when he got bats in his belfry going through nextdoors yard where there were STONES on the drive (not unusually) and a roll of CARPET on the grass and then he had to get off the grass as my neighbour got hold of his bridle (we aren't normally allowed on the grass but the builder had parked in the drive) and led him past everything, as soon as she let go we shot backwards into her fence then leapt off the grass like it was fenced 

Needless to say an hour later 6yr old Musk meandered through the whole lot like nothing was different..... and the builder had got his cement mixer going too.

[The Moo]

So far i've managed to get a bib clip done and taken excess hair off her armpits, since then it has always rained or she has still been wet but tonight i've put on a rain sheet in the hope that she won't get too but will be dry enough to clip more off.

Why did the vet say to go up to a mediumwieght rug?, I'm trying to reason that her own coat has a higher 'tog' value than a lightweight rug but as she is clammy in her own coat then she must be too hot....... i'm going to start with a 100g and see how she goes.

Feed has been a bit tricky recently, about 3months ago she NO to the joint supplement she had been on for many years, i bought a fresh tub, tried other supplements, mixed it with apple juice and all other known tricks but the answer was still NO so i gave up with it and she ended up with just a handful of Happy Hoof and a cup of HiFibre nuts (with a little moisture to soften the nuts to make it goo together) and her Prasend poked into half an apple, any more than two mouthfuls and she would walk away. Apparently loss of appetite goes with Cushings but she tucks into haylage so she won't starve and had enough energy to do her impression of the Tasmanian Devil tonight.

Oldies are funny, love 'em to bits.

[harveydales]

Oct 22, 2013 18:29:38 GMT -1 The Moo said:

Oldies are funny, love 'em to bits.

Agree 100%. I just love oldies and their quirky ways. So much character.

[NFK Dumpling]

Oct 22, 2013 18:29:38 GMT -1 The Moo said:

Why did the vet say to go up to a mediumweight rug?, I'm trying to reason that her own coat has a higher 'tog' value than a lightweight rug but as she is clammy in her own coat then she must be too hot....... i'm going to start with a 100g and see how she goes.

and had enough energy to do her impression of the Tasmanian Devil tonight.

Oldies are funny, love 'em to bits.

I think she was concerned that my lightweight rug was less insulation than no rug at all - he hasn't sweated under it at all

Luckily James' hips won't allow him to spin like a top anymore but makes up for this by going backwards at speed!!

The farrier came and said he thought he looked less bony that when he last saw him 7 weeks ago. I was just extracting him from another neighbour's lawn after he JUMPED the fence between our gardens when the farrier arrived (I managed to catch hold of Musk before he followed suit). There's certainly nothing the matter with James' memory.

[heathera]

Rose was formally diagnosed as cushingoid last week, no big surprise to any of us. She's currently sporting a high chaser clip and has an unlined NZ rug on. It's waterproof and flattens the remaining coat so she stays cool in these unseasonally warm temperatures. Merlin who isn't cushingoid has the same clip but is in 100gm rug as his back muscles go into spasm if they feel even a whiff of being cold. It's so individual, I'd stick with unlined and then put the rug weight up if she feels cold or even leave her naked if she's only having a bib clip and isn't being worked.

[NFK Dumpling]

James' PPID wasn't the problem after all - he tested fine for that but he has tested positive for worms for the first time in years!