Corneal ulcer

[sandsarita]

so yearling has corneal ulcer. Dx this pm by photos sent to vet. I am md and live in middle of nowhere and am on call with partner gone so can’t haul her out until Friday. Local vets answering service won’t work so can’t get ahold of them.
Dog dx with conjunctivitis and on meds. Saw discharge in eye this am on yearling and though allergic. Esp since horse and dog share fence line

Any tips in getting in eye? Filly doesn’t want me near it to put ointment in. Got it in crease but not actual eye. Hope it will work it’s way in

fly mask or no?

hay always on ground

best way to haul her come Friday? I’ve had her in and out of trailer but she doesn’t tie yet. Have to take other horse to vet Friday am. 1:30 drive. Only trailer I can haul both in is 3 horse slant. Can put her in stud compartment. But has mangers. And she is light on front end. First response to fear is to go up. Judy like her mom

other trailer is 2 horse slant I can convert to stock. If on her own would haul loose in there like I did with Sam as a foal. Issue is that both horses cannot fit in there. Other horse is massive and she cannot fit in slant. Has to be hauled loose as it won’t close. Front or back compartment.

Sorry for questions. Any tips on handling this

[cayuse]

My vet taught me to rest my hand on their head just above the eye as you give the ointment, it steadys the hand so if they zig with their face your hand holding the med will go with them instead of poking them. I stand at their shoulder with my arm going up their neck and hand above eye. With mine I found being more at the shoulder instead of standing sort of facing them helped with their anxiety about having the eye fussed with. Lots of rewards helped, too. I always kept a flymask on if the horse would tolerate it and it didnt encourage rubbing. Last thing you need is for them to rub and make it worse cause they hate the mask. Hope that helps a little bit. Eye problems are a pita. Jingles for quick healing.

[painthunter]

Went through this with my guy this fall (all the way through awesome surgery…).

Yes to the fly mask. I’m no help on med administration- we had to have an SPL line put in immediately. We’d have gotten nowhere near the eye with my horse (maybe once. But not again).

Good luck! These aren’t fun, but we came out the other side 100% fine.

[happilyretired]

I feel for you. My Friesian gelding had a corneal ulcer a year or so back and it was difficult!! The one thing he objects to is having anyone up near his face and he absolutely rejects attempts to medicate his eye. My vet put an SPL line in which was a mixed blessing as it also caused a secondary ulcer. Sigh.

As far as fly mask I would highly recommend that you get a mask with an eye cup if at all possible. That way you prevent the horse rubbing the eye due to discomfort and/or itching and also keep dust, bedding, etc out of it.

Good luck

[sandsarita]

Thanks for the advice guys but she is already in the or. After medicating last night twice I went out and it looked worse. Dx Melting corneal ulcer. Doing debridemebt, graft, and leaving decide in for meds and hospital stay

[painthunter]

That’s the path we went. Good luck. We ended up staying 2.5 weeks at the vet school. Be thinking about you all!

[cayuse]

I went down that path also with one horse who had a fungal infection. Everything turned out alright in the end. We were at the hospital for one week, then she came home and I had to medicate her through the SPL line for about a month. I won’t lie, it was a long haul, but she healed up wonderfully and after about a year the graft itself faded and was not very visible. Jingles on the way.

[ryansgirl]

@sandsarita

Thanks for the advice guys but she is already in the or. After medicating last night twice I went out and it looked worse. Dx Melting corneal ulcer. Doing debridemebt, graft, and leaving decide in for meds and hospital stay

Been there done that. Melting corneal ulcer from hell. Immediately taken to the hospital after my farm vet came out and took one look at it. My mare stayed four days there with the SPL. She was treated every hour then every two hours, etc. during her stay. I then treated her four times a day for another six weeks via the SPL. I can’t remember the meds exactly as it’s been 12 years. The eye vet saved my mare’s eye though she does have decent scar tissue and some vision loss. Another vet said it’s like a big bug on your windshield. You can clearly see the cloudy scar tissue but at least she didn’t lose the eye as that’s where we were headed.

And yes to the fly mask or some sort of protection. I actually bought a racing hood with the cups (only put one in for the bad eye) once the SPL was put it. Made a huge difference and protected her eye. I also made sure she had some type of sheet on with a full neck to protect the SPL tubing.

Hoping for the best for your girl!

[sandsarita]

Thanks guys. Last night was not helped by the farm vet answering service never answering. Doubt it would change anything but it makes me poed.

The surgery went well though. Will be able to get away from work and get down there. Thankfully she hauled well.

Will need to get one of those eye protectors.

Went to put fly masks on all my other horses and of course my accident prone mare had such a big heed I can’t get one to fasten. So ordering for her