To gauge your horse's response to therapy and monitor his overall condition, ask your veterinarian to check his ACTH level at least once a year, preferably in the spring. In fact, says McFarlane, even if your aging horse doesn't have PPID it's wise to have a full panel of routine bloodwork done annually to screen for abnormal findings. "It's nice to have reference values that we know are specific to that individual animal," she says.
"It's then easier to find out if levels are changing and the horse requires further care or medication." But even if your horse has PPID, she says, there are reasons for optimism. "We're fortunate that we have a very good treatment for PPID that targets the source of the problem. We don't know which hormones or which combinations affect the horse, but we're able to regulate the pituitary so that all of the hormones are close to where they should be. That's our therapeutic goal."
This article originally appeared in the August 2007 issue of EQUUS magazine.
