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boon
Posts: 2
| Has anyone ever had a horse have a corneal eye ulcer? How long did it take to heal with medication? Any long term affects? Vision impaired? Looking for any information! Thanks! |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
 
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | My one mare had it last fall. I want to say she had it completely closed for about 2 weeks. The vet treatment was an ointment I had to put in multiple times a day (I forget what he gave me and how long it was for my brain isn't working today); I kept vetericyn ophthalmic ointment on it twice a day to help sooth her and try and prevent her itching after her round of meds was up. She healed up very well and has almost full vision. She has a tiny hardly noticeable cloudy spot that you can only really see when she's in sunlight that I think was from her injuring it. It doesn't affect her in anyway though. For a while I thought she was going to go blind her whole eye was white and it worried the heck out of me. It took a good while to get it to where I felt I was looking decent and stopped worrying me. |
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Expert
Posts: 1815
 
| Dealt with that 1.5 yrs ago...........completely gone with no vision loss. You have to be very diligent about treating numerous times a day. Started out with the triple antibiotic eye ointment.......after no improvement within a week, vet switched to Falcon eye drops.........started seeing sm improvements in a few days. Before the spot actually decreased, my horse had less drainage and could open his eye slightly more following the treatment that worked for him. It took over 2 months to finally be done with it. I treated him 5-6x a day for a week, and then backed off to 3-4x the remaining time |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | with any eye injury or ulcer issues we put duct tape on a fly mask over that eye to keep light out and dust etc.. |
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boon
Posts: 2
| Thanks so much for the reply! My gelding has a tiny circle on his eye that is visable to the naked eye. He is being treated 3-4 times a day and I have duct taped the fly mask. He has the eye open and there is very little tearing but so far I haven't seem much improvement I the mark on his eye. I am just scared to death for his vision to be impaired and this marks a first for me! So I appreciate the responses!
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| I battled one with my now 3yo (2at the time). I medicated with antibiotic and steroid 3X day for about 2 months. She now has a small blue line. No vision issues. Expensive to treat. My steroid I had to use was $35/tube but it saved her eye so worth it in my book. I also kept a fly mask on her that was covered with tape on the bad side inside and out to help healing. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 490
| My mare poked something in her eye in early January. It ended up abscessing. Twice. The first one blew and there was another right on it. We started of treating her 5 times a day with 4 different drops and banamine 2x's a day. That went on for 3 weeks. Then we started 4 x's a day to 3x's to twice now its just once. She had 2000cc of banamine in her within 3 months. It was HORRIBLE! I hated it for her. At one point in March he started her on a drop that had DMSO in it. She hated me.
I brought her in weekly to the vet. That was an hour drive one way just so he could check her.
BUT we are managing the small abscess that hasn't popped yet with once a day drops. She tore her shoulder open last Friday and has 100 stitches. I am keeping an eye on that eye because she is stressed right now. I do not need her to flare up with everything else.
Good Luck. My mare has full vision but it was touch and go for awhile. |
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Veteran
Posts: 223
Location: Louisiana | Stay on top of treatment - my gelding is having his eye removed today after an ulcer that developed a fungal infection. It is heartbreaking but I have read that they adjust just fine after the removal |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 387
| I Have had 2 Horses.
First horse had a melting corneal ulcer, treated 6 times a day with 5 different drugs 5 mins apart, he needed surgery as he developed a fungal infection, surgery didnt work. the ulcer and infection came back and took over his whole eye and it had to be removed. He runs 1d/2d time and I run him to his blind eye first!
Second horse also had a melting corneal ulcer, treated the same way through iv. Treatment worked but he has alot of scaring, his has about 50% vision. The scaring is to the front of his eye, and I run him to his bad eye first. He is just starting on the pattern and I think he is going to be a very competitive horse!
Both of my horses have really nice 1st barrels! |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | If I did not see improvement in the first 48 hours of treatment, I would want a culture so that I knew exactly what I was dealing with (bacterial, viral or fungal infection) so that the appropriate and most effective treatment could be started immediately. There is no time to waste where corneal ulcers are concerned. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Agree to everything that has been said.
I'm not a vet and I haven't personally had a horse with an ulcer, but I am an optometrist and treat people with corneal ulcers all the time.
Most important thing: STAY ON TOP OF IT. An ulcer can go south, very quickly. Especially in horses that you can't talk to and explain what it going on so they stop rubbing their eye, and understand why you are torturing them with drops.
One poster mentioned that they were using a steriod drop on their horses eye. While steriods gets results medically, they should never be added until the corneal epithelium has regrown to "cover" the ulcer. And they should very much be used carefully in horses, who are often in contact with vegatative matter (sticks, weeds, grass, etc). If your horse gets a fungus in his eye, and you are giving them a steriod, you will be throwing gasoline on the fire. Often times, because of that risk, a non-steriodal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) will be much safer to use in horses than a steriod, and still provide good healing results.
If the ulcer is at least holding steady with treatment, you should be okay. But if it EVER gets worse, immediately contact your vet. If it worsens, it may mean you don't have the correct cocktail of medication to treat the offending agent.
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Veteran
Posts: 223
Location: Louisiana | zansbeunogal_2268 - 2014-05-30 9:55 AM I Have had 2 Horses. First horse had a melting corneal ulcer, treated 6 times a day with 5 different drugs 5 mins apart, he needed surgery as he developed a fungal infection, surgery didnt work. the ulcer and infection came back and took over his whole eye and it had to be removed. He runs 1d/2d time and I run him to his blind eye first! Second horse also had a melting corneal ulcer, treated the same way through iv. Treatment worked but he has alot of scaring, his has about 50% vision. The scaring is to the front of his eye, and I run him to his bad eye first. He is just starting on the pattern and I think he is going to be a very competitive horse! Both of my horses have really nice 1st barrels!
Relieved to see this post that your horse managed so well after losing his eye. I am at this point today after following a similar treatment regiment with the same results Pistol is having his eye removed today. It is his right eye and he does run a right handed pattern so I am hoping that he adjust fine after recovery. Did you do anything special to prepare your horses for running with only one eye? |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | The above is awesome advice. If you are not giving Banamine, I would ask your vet about it.
We had a bad one two years ago that took three months to heal, he was on banamine the whole time and went through about 10 different types of eye meds. Had to wait for blood vessels to grow towards the ulcer, looked scary but once that happened he healed very quickly. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 387
| SHORTHORSE - 2014-05-30 11:41 AM
zansbeunogal_2268 - 2014-05-30 9:55 AM I Have had 2 Horses. First horse had a melting corneal ulcer, treated 6 times a day with 5 different drugs 5 mins apart, he needed surgery as he developed a fungal infection, surgery didnt work. the ulcer and infection came back and took over his whole eye and it had to be removed. He runs 1d/2d time and I run him to his blind eye first! Second horse also had a melting corneal ulcer, treated the same way through iv. Treatment worked but he has alot of scaring, his has about 50% vision. The scaring is to the front of his eye, and I run him to his bad eye first. He is just starting on the pattern and I think he is going to be a very competitive horse! Both of my horses have really nice 1st barrels!
Relieved to see this post that your horse managed so well after losing his eye. I am at this point today after following a similar treatment regiment with the same results Pistol is having his eye removed today. It is his right eye and he does run a right handed pattern so I am hoping that he adjust fine after recovery. Did you do anything special to prepare your horses for running with only one eye?
both of my horses are so honest on their first barrel! the horse in my pic is the one that missing his eye.
I acutally dont do anything to prepare him, he's a really laid back horse and loosing his eye hasnt affected him in any way! he isnt spooky on his blind side, i do talk to my horses alot but iv always done that!
He is a ratey horse so i ride him hard all the way to my first just as i do with the other barrels, and he just wraps it really nice! i rarely knock, and if i do i rated him, and he doesnt run by it either! He really impresses me! I forget alot of times he only has one eye!
I sent you a pm of some videos! |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| Barnmom - 2014-05-30 11:44 AM
The above is awesome advice. If you are not giving Banamine, I would ask your vet about it.
We had a bad one two years ago that took three months to heal, he was on banamine the whole time and went through about 10 different types of eye meds. Had to wait for blood vessels to grow towards the ulcer, looked scary but once that happened he healed very quickly.
I have a horse with a chronic eye issue. And as part of this he developed an ulcer that abcessed. I agree about talking to your vet about banamine. Ours also had the scary looking vessels growing towards the ulcer thing. And like others have said, stay on top of it. If you are close to an ophthalmologist or a vet school I'd recommend going to them. My local vet was doing a good job of managing my horse, but it wasn't until after an emergency trip to a state vet school that I got an accurate diagnosis. I have been giving daily eye treatments for almost 2 years now. |
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Equine corneal eye ulcer