Eye allergies/Conjuctivitis

[^T-bird89^]

I'm pretty sure Bijou has bad allergies and I just wanted to know if there was something I can do for him temporarily to make him more comfortable until I find a good horse vet in my area (moved recently). A little background info on Bi:

I don't know too much about him, just that I got him for free two or three months ago from somebody not too long after they rescued him from somebody else. Bi is about 15 and had foundered in the past but my farrier and I are still working to correct his front hooves and he is coming along nicely. He only eats bermuda hay as alfalfa makes his founder worse. He is a chocolate palomino with dapples and as far as I know he has no Appy in him. When I got him his eyes were a little puffy and teary but not too bad. It seems like it has flared up a lot more since it has gotten warmer. The lady I got him from told me his eyes get bad and he used to have drops or some other medication for them. I try to keep his fly mask on to help keep the flys from irritating his eyes, but Austin is always taking it off of him.

Anyhow, both his eyes get real red and puffy and teary. They are not cloudy, he has nothing in them at all, and as far as I can tell there are no injuries to the eyes. Ther left one is definitely worse. I think he has bad allergies and the flies make his eyes worse...Or could it possibly be conjuctivitis? Even clogged tearducts? What do you think? My mom's APHA mare gets bad allergies and her eyes get like this and we always gave her benadryl with her feed which helped alot. Does anyone have any experience with eyes like this?

Thanks so much.

*Edited to add pictures and more information. Actually I changed my question too after doing some reading....

 

[krissy3]

I knew an old stallion with this , but it was almost swollen shut. The vet had a creme for the eye that we gave him 2 times a day, and the suggestion was to keep him out of the bright sunlight, it wasnt my horse so I couldnt get as involved as I wanted.

My gelding has allergies also, it is seasonal, and comes and goes. Fly masks help a lot , eye wash , not saliene to rinse the eye and keep it clean helps , and the vat also gave me meds, but said not to give it too often as it can damage the eye if it is given all the time. I had a blocked tear duct, so the vet washed it out with a tube he put in from a small hole inside the nose about 2 inches upper right, and flushed the tear duct. Looking back , it seemed the more we fussed with it , the worse it got . I decited to just keep it clean , keep the grass short so the pollen wouldnt get in the eyes, kept the dust down with stall mats ,and a fly mask on during the day. The eye eventually worked its self out and everything is fine now. Your eye is swollen, there is moon blindness or something to that effect , I think its the same as conjunctivitis, and the eye becomes swollen , and red, I think the vet told us an asprin a day (or half) would help the stallion. ask your vet, when he comes. maybe he has blocked tear ducts from being in a dusty environment before , and just cleaning the eye out will help, tear ducts too. but look into the asprin thing too, I am 100 % sure thats what he said , the eye cleared up on the stallion after a few days , but I am no longer at that ranch so I dont know how he is today.

hope it helps