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Discussion on Allergies affecting horses eye?? | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Lmmartin |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005 - 6:19 pm: This might get long but I'm at my wits end with the vets around here.About 3 months ago my mare came up blind. Her right eye was very cloudy and the left eye was fine, or so I thought. Took her to my regulat vet, he said she had a sezuire and that in a couple days she would be fine. So I took her to another vet. The left eye has cataracts and her right eye had been strained from not being able to see out the left. She got better and can see out her right eye just fine now that the cloudyness is gone. Well about 2 weeks ago her left eye with the cataracts became cloudy, lower lid was puffy and eye had some drainage. So we took her to the good vet, and he said it was allergies. He gave her a shot and said she may need another in a month or so. Well the shot didn't work, didn't help, her eye got worse. So I took her to a vet that deals with the eyes, and he too said allergies. He gave her a shot in her eye, gave me bute and told me not to give her any that day because of the shot. So I assume it was bute??? But to give her bute for the inflammtion of her eye, and use it as needed until allergy season was over So afer about 2 days of bute her eye was no longer puffy and no drainage but still cloudy. So I stopped giving her bute, its been 4 days now and she still doesn't need it for inflammation, but her eye is not really cloudy but its hard to see her cataracts, her eye looks kinda dark??!! I don't know how to explain it. But she doesn't seem to be in any pain or anything. Thats not my only horse with this, my one gelding, who is in another pasture, has has on and off again puffyness in his lower lids with both eyes and has gunk in the corners. He also has red blister like things on his urethra(right where the urine comes from) So he went to the same eye vet and he also is said to have allergies. Again just use the bute as needed, if his penis doesn't clear up call him back. Neither horse had blood work done .....from either vet. Neither vet told me what it was from or gave me anything for allergies besides my mare's first shot. I don't know that I'm happy with the vague answers I got, and I feel more should have been done. I have had both horses for awhile now and this is the first time they have ever had this. Does this sound like allergies?? Is it common to happen within the eyes?? Or do I have something else going on? Also worried about the cloudyness in my mares eye, when before this her cataract eye was clear and not cloudy. Thanks I hope I didn't confuse anyone, just looking for some more answers. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Thursday, Mar 17, 2005 - 6:37 am: Hello Lori,I think they believe your mares eyes suffer from Recurrent Uveitis. You will find a explanation of the condition and proper treatment at, Equine Diseases » Eye Diseases » Anterior Uveitis, Recurrent Uveitis, Periodic Opthalmia, and Moonblindness. I believe the injection in the eye was subconjunctival repositol steroid. I am less certain about what may be happening with your gelding's eyes but it does not sound like RU. Is he a Appaloosa or Paint? You frequently see a little irritation around the opening of the urethra. If there are no signs of difficult urination I try to treat it locally with Panalog. If there is difficult urination or abnormalities on urinalysis, systemic antibiotics. Rarely such problems turn out to be a serious cancer: squamous cell carcinoma. DrO |
Member: Lmmartin |
Posted on Thursday, Mar 17, 2005 - 11:35 am: Thanks Dr.O My gelding is a QH he is a buckskin. There are no signs of difficult urination. They don't hurt him either when I touch them. What is "Panalog" Do I have to get it from my vet?I don't know why they would have told me allergies with my mare, if its RU. Would there be any other reason for an injection in the eye?? I will call and ask what the injection was and if they are treating her for RU. But they didn't give me anything other than bute, if it was RU wouldn't they give me ointment for her eye?? Thanks so much for your time, I'm worried now : ) |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Thursday, Mar 17, 2005 - 5:03 pm: Your horse has had symptoms of uveitis (cloudy cornea) and they have recurred. The cataracts in the left can also be a sequela to long standing RU.Recurrent uveitis is a kind of allergy: the horse has developed an allergy to some of the structures of the eye, a autoimmune allergy so to speak. You should speak to the eye specialist to see if you can get a little better description than "an allergy". DrO |
Member: Lmmartin |
Posted on Thursday, Mar 17, 2005 - 5:37 pm: I got the names of the shots both my horses were givin.My mare, got "Buzick": in the eye My gelding got "Depo-MeDrOl" I think I need a new vet this one didn't bother to tell me what the shots were or what they were for. Could you please tell me why they got these shots?? And what the shots do for them? Also my mares eye is better, if I were to take her to a new vet now, would they be able to tell me if she has RU, or do I need to wait until her eye becomes inflammed again?? Thanks so much !! : ) |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Friday, Mar 18, 2005 - 6:35 am: I am not familiar with the name brand "Buzick" Lori. Could you find out the generic name.DepoMeDrOl is a repositol corticosteroid (metylprednisolone) and is used to relieve inflammation and pain. For more on the actions of this drug see,Equine Medications and Nutriceuticals » Anti-inflammatories (NSAID's, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » Overview of the Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs and for more on its use in the eye see, Equine Diseases » Eye Diseases » Anterior Uveitis, Recurrent Uveitis, Periodic Opthalmia, and Moonblindness. Usually an opthamologist can detect chronic signs of RU between the acute episodes but the best confirmation would be another episode. DrO |
Member: Lmmartin |
Posted on Saturday, Mar 19, 2005 - 11:08 am: Hi Dr. OThanks again for the reply, I haven't talked to the vet about another name of the shot, but I moved my mare into a pasture with quite a bit of grass and stopped feeding her hay, yesterday. Today I went a checked on her and her eye was back to normal, no cloudyness, not puffy AT ALL. I think the hay I was feeding her was her problem, long story short, after I put her on a round bale her eye got better, I switched her back to square bales to test the theroy of her allergies to see what it was, her eye got inflammed some again from eating the square bales. So yesterday I put her in the pasture with grass and she is back to normal. Am I wishfull thinking that the hay was her problem?? This is new hay that we started feeding this year, last year we had round bales and had no problems. This year round bales went bad in a flood, so we had to start buying square bales and that seems when all this started, just this year!!! So I hope that she does just have allergies, but if her eye gets bad again she is off to A&M !! |