Horse has ulcerated retina

[StarRidgeAcres]

Discovered one of the junior boys, probably because of the rough-housing they all do, injured one of his eyes. He's scratched/poked/something and there's an ulcer that can be seen that's about half the size of a dime. To me it looks horrible and huge! It's pretty disgusting actually.

The vet stained it, etc. Gave me bacitracin/neomycin/ploymyxin (triple antibiotic) ointment to be given 4x per day, atrophine sulfate ophthalmic ointment (what does this do exactly?) and then she drew blood and took it back to the office to make "eye serum?" Never heard of this, but that is to go in his eye 4x per day also. If it doesn't show marked improvement by Monday morning he has to go in the hospital for some kind of device they attach to the eyelid and administers ?? (something?) constantly.

And he's getting 1cc banamine (he's 2 yrs old but only about 26" tall) 1x per day. I'm keeping him isolated. He seems to feel fine, has a good appetite, interest in the girls, etc.

The banamine seems like a pretty low dose so I'm not initially concerned about it since it should be only 3 or 4 days hopefully. She said the eye will probably be scarred. Any experience with this? Anything else I should be doing.

Thanks in advance for our thoughts.

 

[Charlotte]

Keep him out of the sun! You probably are already but the atropine dilates the PUPIL! (not retina. the retina is what gets sun burned. duh. Charlotte gets her eye parts mixed up)and a sunburn in there can destroy the eye pretty quickly.

I sure hate to hear your boy did this to himself, but I've seen really horrible injuries like that heal up with a VERY minimal scar or none that we can see so don't get discouraged with it.

Good luck with him. I hope he's good for you about the meds.

Charlotte

 

[LittleRibbie]

For some reason I think the atrophine dialates the eye...so I was told to administer sparingly. If thats the stuff Im thinking of I also had to make a patch for the fly mask to cover that eye b/c of the suns bright rays. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can help you out. My vet did the blood serum too when a couple of other things failed. Silver Belles ulcer was very small too but after about 3 weeks it cleared up. Good luck with your little one

Heidi

 

[Loess Hills]

We have had this happen in two horses. If the retina is scratched they first need to determine what type of bacteria is involved in the infection. If the antibiotic doesn't clear it up they will hospitalize and treat with an intravenous antiobiotic right in the retina. Sometimes they will have to suture the eye shut to treat. Don't need to tell you it can be pretty serious. Not sure what the "eye serum" thing is, never heard of it!

 

Keeping them in a stall helps prevent further injury, which you're already doing, treating with the antiobiotic, and observing in case it progresses rapidly. Best wishes!

 

[Miniv]

If you can put a fly mask on him? It will be very helpful.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Thank you all very much for the advice. It is much appreciated!

As for the serum, I'm not familiar with it either, but supposedly the blood she drew from him was spun down until it was just "serum" and I don't know if that's like pulling the plasma out or what (I need to research this) but the vet said it has shown to be very beneficial in healing injuries to the eye such as this one. So I will pick up tomorrow the serum and it supposedly is frozen and I thaw parts at a time (and keep what I'm working on in the ice box) and put it in the eye just like I do the medicines. The vet will come back out on Monday and if it's not much improved, he goes to the hospital to have some device sutured to his eye and will administer something around the clock.

Thanks again.

Wait... Did I use the term "ice box"????? Good Lord I'm getting old!

 

[bevann]

Thank you all very much for the advice. It is much appreciated!

As for the serum, I'm not familiar with it either, but supposedly the blood she drew from him was spun down until it was just "serum" and I don't know if that's like pulling the plasma out or what (I need to research this) but the vet said it has shown to be very beneficial in healing injuries to the eye such as this one. So I will pick up tomorrow the serum and it supposedly is frozen and I thaw parts at a time (and keep what I'm working on in the ice box) and put it in the eye just like I do the medicines. The vet will come back out on Monday and if it's not much improved, he goes to the hospital to have some device sutured to his eye and will administer something around the clock.

Thanks again.

Wait... Did I use the term "ice box"????? Good Lord I'm getting old!

If you need to keep him out of light use a flymask with duct tape inside over the eye area.It also keeps the rough texture of the mask from irritating the eye if he rubs since it hurts.

 

[Becky]

Parmela, I'm definitely familiar with eye injuries here!

As Charlotte said, keep him indoors during the day, although he could go outside at night, vet permitting.

Atropine dilates the pupil, so no sun! I had one foal who got corneal ulcers from flies no less and the vet that treated her also made a serum from blood as one of her treatments. I used that in addition to the opthalmic antibiotics. The vet did suture her eye closed for awhile. He also used silver sulfadiazine to treat. The filly's eye did end up healing well and last year she was AMHA World Top 10 28" and Under Yearling Mare and Top 10 Multi Color mares.

So, the main thing is to be very aggressive with treatment and treat multiple times per day. Good luck!

 

[Witts Mini Horse Ranch]

I have been through this a couple of times, never knew how they did it..didn't know flies could cause it. First one I didn't notice until I smelled the abcess

. Luckly he did heal, but it took time and a lot of care and all of the above mentioned...except the serum and sewing the eye shut. Just went through it with a lil pug puppy, must say I think she was harder to treat then the horses

Is this lil Bubby? I love that guy!

 

[MountainMeadows]

I've been there too - I have added SMZ's to your protocol - and it seemed to help things heal a little faster vs not using them - I guess the antibiotic going thru the bloodstream help get to where it needs to go fight the "infection" - careful with the Banamine - I would use Gastroguard along with it. My mare Sonata had an eye injury as a yearling (sounds like it was as bad as yours) and we used Banamine per vet's instructions - don't truly know if it had any impact but you may recall that Sonata has kidney failure and is on borrowed time - the vet's think it had something to do with the use of Banamine in her yearling year but didn't show up until she was nearly 6. Using Gastroguard sure wouldn't hurt tho.

Good luck Parmela - eye injuries are so stressful

Stac

 

[Carolyn R]

Yes, keep him out of bright light, banamine is great for the swelling/inflamation associated with eye injuries, I have never used, but am well aware of the major benefits of making a serum from the blood, it is actually the white cells that are the serum that you will be adding to the eye.

Don't panic if the eye initially starts to haze in the next day or two, it is the body producing the excess white cells that are going to that area to heal the damage, it is only when it looks like the cornea is melting away ir melting into itself that you need to get vet attention ASAP.

I had a premie foaled last year, he was heck on wheels from the start and had two ulcerations in one eye by the time he was two days old.

His eye was healing well but unfortunately he ran into other complications being premature and didn't make it past ten days. He was too young to use banamine, but the vet said it does wonders on older weanlings and adult horses with eye injuries.

Keep us posted Parmela, we'll be routing for him!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Thank you all very much. I really appreciate the advice.

Stac, I will add the gastroguard - you're right it sure couldn't hurt and it would probably help his tummy handle the banamine.

And nope, it's not Bubby, it's Pete my 2 year old sorrel pinto. He's been living in a pasture with 2 yearling stallions and I guess all that "boyness" just was too much for them. They have 3 acres to the 3 of them but they still spend every minute by each other, play fighting, running, being typical boys. I'm thinking it's most likely that he hurt his eye by this rough play, but it could be anything and I'll never know for sure.

Knuckleheads!

 

[barnbum]

One of mine has this issue and the keeping out of the sun was a pain--more upsetting to her to be stalled. So--I stopped the stuff that dilated the eye--vet said it was okay after a few days. But it lasts for days after the last dose--so the dilation will be a while. I found a double nylon piece of material and sewed it over half a fly mask and she could go out. She always had access to the barn if she wanted and she never took that mask off. Thank goodness.