PPID is a common hormone disease of older equines. Assessing the quality-of-life (QoL) of affected animals is undertaken daily by veterinarians during decision-making relating to treatment and euthanasia to optimise animal health and welfare. It is usually subjectively and compassionately inferred by veterinarians and owners. Objective QoL assessment is well established in human medicine, particularly for monitoring the effects of pain, chronic diseases and age-related changes. However, it is relatively new in veterinary medicine and there are no validated tools for horses. Various PPID-associated clinical signs could impact upon QoL including the painful hoof condition laminitis, weight loss and lethargy. However, owners frequently mistake some signs as being associated with ageing and not important enough to seek veterinary advice.
The project aims firstly to develop an equivalent tool for equine PPID. QoL may change over time, for example following treatment or due to laminitis (reported in 50% of PPID cases). The dopamine agonist pergolide can be used to manage PPID but requires life-long therapy and its impact on QoL and laminitis frequency has not been evaluated. Following validation, the tool will be used to monitor QoL in PPID cases that do or do not receive pergolide for up to 2 years.
A new CVS research grant has been awarded to Professor Nicola Menzies-Gow to do an Objective...