Foal with eye discharge.

[Helicopter]

Bought the mare and foal 2 months ago. The foal has a discharge from one eye. Vet said there is nothing wrong with the eye and it is just like the sleep that we get in our eyes sometimes in the morning.

Can't describe it very well. The discharge is whitish/creamish, very soft and falls off or is flicked off or rubbed off and them comes again. One minute her eye might be clean next there is a nice blob of discharge or it might be clean for an hour. Vet said not to put anything in it just clean it off with warm water.

This can't be normal. There must be something I can do.

Any suggestions?

 

[Miniv]

If you have unscented baby wipes that don't have alcohol in them, use one to gently wipe the foal's eye daily. OR, in a pinch, take a clean wash cloth, moisten it and microwave it for about 30 seconds to kill germs....

Make sure the foal doesn't have any loose fur around her eye which may be causing the discharge. The fur would likely be coming from her mother's belly when she nurses. To solve that problem you can either shave the fur all around mom's bag or aggressively brush her belly area on a regular basis.

We also keep human eye saline solution for flushing horse eyes, if necessary.

 

[Brooke S.]

I have a mare like that with both her eyes. I think that it is just how her eyes clear themselves. I have tried wiping them away but get the same results that you get. Interested in what other people say though!

 

A "contact lens" saline solution on a gauze or cotton ball should easily wipe it out. Unless it becomes a discharge that smells or looks like goopy infection, I'd just simply wipe them out once or twice a day to keep bugs away, especially in the summer.

 

[Jean_B]

Like the others said, nothing to be concerned about. It's mother nature's way of getting dust or hair out of her eyes.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I'm with you, I'd be concerned. Once in a while, fine. All the time, ?? Vet says, "sleep like we get SOMETIMES".

I would have the vet check to see if there is a problem with the eyelid. Maybe a hair growing wrong? Maybe a hair embedded in the eyeball? Don't know how thoroughly he checked the eye. Sometimes vets, like doctors, need a little nudge to dig deeper.

If there is a physical problem, the sooner you find out, the less chance of permanent damage.

 

[disneyhorse]

Just one eye? I'd be concerned too. I rescued a mini with chronic discharge in one eye. Vet tried to flush it and discovered he was born without a tear duct in that eye. Instead of surgery I just used saline to clean him up daily. Could be something like that?

 

[Danielleee]

Are her eye lashes curled into her eye? I know when my filly was born that was why her eyes were leaking. If so its easy to fix just get some vaseline or something and curl them back out. but if its worse than that then Id get a second opinion.

 

[amysue]

I would ask the vet to look and check the tear duct with fluorescent die to ensure that the ducts flush properly. Id gently flush the eye with saline and check for hair/debris. A little eye ointment or bacitracin will help with irritation. It may be nothing, but it could be allergies and need ointment daily or it could be a duct or lid problem. I had a colt develop a corneal ulcer and the only symptom was watery eye. Left un treated you could lose the eye. Not trying to scare you but eyes are not something to mess with.

 

[Lloydyne]

I think if you don't keep up with the daily, sometimes twice daily, baby wipes the normal discharge gets hard and crusty and causes more problems. I takes a few days but it finally went away