Hi all,
I am doing some research on uveitis and potential new treatments. Hoping to gather some information regarding current treatments (likes/dislikes). What are the biggest issues with the standard of care? What would be the most ideal route of administration for treatment? Additionally, how much does a occurrence of uveitis cost per day? If anyone would like to speak more I would be grateful to do an interview.
Thanks!
I think the biggest issues relate to a lack of research. There should be an inexpensive, easy, way to diagnose and treat uveitis. Most od the people I know did not realize their horses had uveitis until damage was done. Then, it was expensive and inconvenient to take the horses several hours away to get cyclosporine implants.
Get in touch with the Vet College at Auburn University. They have done plenty of research. It was because of Auburn (my vets graduated from there) that my Appaloosa mare kept her eyes. She was on 12 human aspirin a day, in a Guardian Mask and kept in a large run in during the daylight hours. That aspirin kept the Uveitis from flaring up.
Thanks! I will reach out to them. Does anyone have any insight on how much treatments like flunixin or atropine cost for a typical flare up? Is medication always purchased through vets who come out to diagnose?
Contact NC State as well. They did a great job with our horse with it. We got our meds from regular drug store I don’t remember the cost, this was 3-4 years ago.
[QUOTE=pbg;8948697]
Thanks! I will reach out to them. Does anyone have any insight on how much treatments like flunixin or atropine cost for a typical flare up? Is medication always purchased through vets who come out to diagnose?[/QUOTE]
Although it has been a few years, I have maintained several horses with uveitis. It is one of the few conditions I would never wish on anyone, nor would I ever take on voluntarily. The horses I maintained were well know to my vet and I had a supply of banamine, atropine and non-steriodal eye ointments at all times. When there was a flare-up I administered those meds, and could often end the flare-up without a vet visit. Those meds were always purchased through my vet, as was the aspirin given daily.
Does the vet routinely check the horses or screen them for eye issues? Who is first person that notices the uveitis? I imagine that acting quickly at early onset is very important but it seems like it may go undetected before it is really bad.
Yes, uveitis is often pretty bad before anyone notices. A good screening test would make detection a lot easier.
Usually, an owner notices that the horse has an uncomfortable, tearing, swollen eye. Often, there is a scratch on the cornea from the horse itching, which makes a good exam of the eye difficult. After treating the scratch successfully, it becomes evident that the eye is still uncomfortable, and uveitis is diagnosed. Often, uveitis recurs. The problem is that the owner has to be present and notice the swollen, tearing, eye, and then immediately call the vet.
[QUOTE=AKB;8963512]
Usually, an owner notices that the horse has an uncomfortable, tearing, swollen eye.[/QUOTE]
That’s the way it went for my horse. The vet found no scratch, so we treated for uveitis right away. It’s been several years, but I don’t remember the medications to be particularly expensive.
I understand they do not recommend the cyclosporine implants any longer. No one in Ontario will do the procedure and when one of my boarders inquired about transporting her horse to Cornell to do the procedure this past summer she was told they don’t recommend either.
So we have our supply of med’s here always ready in the event of another flareup (of course hoping there never will be another). The aspirin regime is interesting…have never heard of that protocol. Nor has our Vet mentioned it. Does anyone have any further information on that? Thanks in advance.
I had two different horses with uveitis years ago, and aspirin was one of those “can’t hurt, might help” things that were recommended at the time. Not sure it would really be enough to knock down a real immune-related reaction; my mare would have flareups related to vaccines (stopped giving them), deworming (did the bare minimum), or when her heaves acted up. The gelding had melanomas that eventually led to his demise, and I’ve always wondered how they might have been related to his uveitis as well.
With my mare, I could drive in the driveway and know her eyes were bothering her by the way she would stand, and by the signs that she had been rubbing her eyes on her knees. The gelding was a little harder to catch early. After a while I could do most of the care myself, as others said, and only needed the vet if it wasn’t responding to treatment or if I thought there was an ulcer. I still have my eye kit and the fluorescin (sp?) strips are my carefully guarded prize possession that has saved me a ton of money on vet calls.
Neither of mine was a candidate for expensive intervention and thankfully, I was never in a position to have to make that choice. We were able to manage them at home or at the boarding barn and there was nothing that the local vet couldn’t handle. I’ve seen other horses who had it MUCH worse than mine did.
What is the best way to know if a treatment regime is effective? I am curious as to what improvements usually are the best indicators that something is working before you switch. I have been reading a lot of research but the result sections aren’t usually cohesive in the endpoints they look at. I really appreciate everyones help. This has helped tremendously for my research project.
If “teary, squinty, and painful” are the indicators of a problem, then improvement in “teary, squinty and painful” would be an indicator of an effective treatment. The time involved in getting there is key – are you treating for a few days, or a couple weeks? Are there secondary problems that happen, or don’t happen, with a given treatment - my guys never really had any, but they certainly exist – ulcers would be one, negative behaviors related to treating the eyes would be another. How much intervention is involved – if your horse is in your back yard, you can treat something every 2 hours, but if you board and don’t have a system in place for that sort of thing, you can’t really implement that treatment on the farm.
The outcome measure for my elderly mare who got around really well despite her decreased vision, and had a flareup about once a year, would probably be different from a young, highly competitive, expensive horse who was intended for resale. To clarify that: both horses need relief from pain and maximum healing in minimum time, but loss of vision and time off work would be more important for a horse with a career.
What is fluorescin (sp?) strips ?
[QUOTE=Cedarwilliams;9026558]
What is fluorescin (sp?) strips ?[/QUOTE]
They are used to stain the eye to look for corneal ulcers. The eye should always be stained, as you do not want to use a steroid on an eye with an ulcer, but topical steroids are standard treatment for uveitis.
When the vet stains the eye to check for ulceration of the cornea, they use a small amount of dye that will show where the ulcer is. The dye is fluorescent green and it comes on small paper strips.
IME, Leptospirosis is one of the major reasons that Uveitis starts in a horse’s eye.
There is now a vaccine for it, and, IMO, every horse who lives where Lepto is present should have the vaccine.
Can’t edit, but treating for lepto if the horse titers positive for it can help stop the Uveitis.
I’ve had a couple of horses who presented with Uveitis and both times the vet eye specialist tested for lepto and found it and treated it. With one horse, it returned, so I had the eye removed because uveitis is horrible for both horse and owner.
Can’t edit, but treating for lepto if the horse titers positive for it can help stop the Uveitis.
I’ve had a couple of horses who presented with Uveitis and both times the vet eye specialist tested for lepto and found it and treated it. With one horse, it returned, so I had the eye removed because uveitis is horrible for both horse and owner. It was only uveitis in one eye, not both.
As to the question, to me the easiest and most effective way to treat any eye disease is the catheter through the eyelid. It’s far quicker than any other method, but it does require the services of a vet, and I’ve always kept my horses in the hospital when the catheter was in.
If someone could invent an eye treatment gadget that could work as well, it woud be an absolute miracle.
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