* Peripheral Cushing’s Syndrome (PCS), while it has many of the same clinical signs as PPID, has a different cause it is believed that PCS occurs due to high amounts of circulating cortisol that originate in the liver and/or fat cells of the intestine rather than the pituitary gland. In PPID, the middle lobe of the gland, or the pars intermedia, can become enlarged due to a benign tumor, over-producing cortisol and compressing adjacent pituitary and hypothalamus structures until they cease functioning. However, in humans with Cushing’s, a different part of the pituitary gland is affected, so many veterinarians now refer to the equine disease as PPID. * Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) has long been referred to as Equine Cushing’s disease. A truly hypothyroid horse might also be abnormally sensitive to cold, have a decreased appetite, be intolerant to exercise, and exhibit swelling (edema) in his hind legs. Some of the signs of a hypothyroid horse, such as coarse hair coat, can also be caused by Equine Cushing’s or similar conditions. * Thyroid Dysfunction is apparently rare in horses as a primary health issue. Running the proper tests and identifying the correct issues is essential. The symptoms typically thought of as hypothyroid (lethargic, overweight, non-shedding) are more often symptoms of other diseases or conditions, not an underactive thyroid. Clinical signs on the outside are often the key to what’s going on with a horse’s internal metabolic processes. The complex nature of the equine endocrine system isn’t completely understood or fully documented, and thyroid symptoms in horses are different from those in people or dogs. When the thyroid is underactive (hypothyroid), the body slows down when the thyroid becomes overactive (hyperthyroid), processes speed up. It’s essentially what controls the pace at which the body operates. Located in a horse’s throatlatch area below the larynx, the thyroid’s job is to produce thyroid hormone, which is needed by every cell in the body and regulates everything from metabolic processes to organ function.
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