BAEN Message Board

Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!

Posted by AshlandEquestrian on 8/1/2012, 10:29 am

I did take the mare who has just one usable eye. Her injured eye looks pretty gross. The vet who this woman uses is the same one who told me to put my TB filly to sleep because of her obvious neurological damage when she was 100% after getting chiropractic. OOOPS. So I will be pursuing other opinions.

The mare is thin and neglected, her bad eye is goopy. Is there ever a reason to leave the bad eye? I have a friend whose gelding has his eye removed and he has a big gaping oozing hole. I saw that there are prosthetic eyes can that be sewn in and then sewn closed so that the side of the face is more balanced, and not so likely to gunk up. I wouldn't be interested the eye that looks real but has to be removed.

Since so many people mention their horses being in pain, I wonder what the symptoms were? any input is welcome.

I was immediately attracted to her, she is very sweet. I mentioned her to our trainer who rides the former owners reining horses, he responded excitedly (rare for him) that she is really nice, he'd tuned her up every spring for a while and that she could be a good mount for my 8 year old. My take is that the mare was sort of thrown out in the paddock after her injury. Hoping that when her teeth get done she will gain weight and that she isn't a very terribly hard keeper.

Call a veterinary ophthalmologist to look at her

Posted by daniweber on 8/1/2012, 11:13 am, in reply to "Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!"

They do just eyes and do eyes in all species(except humans). If it's just badly infected they may be able to set up an irrigation system and save the globe even if its not visual. But they are the ones to tell you what your options are.

As I live in the middle of a

Posted by AshlandEquestrian on 8/1/2012, 11:22 am, in reply to "Call a veterinary ophthalmologist to look at her"
75.170.15.209

vacuum for quality services, we'll need to get to Corvalis or Davis for a specialist.

Are you in Ashland Oregon?

Posted by daniweber on 8/1/2012, 11:46 am, in reply to "As I live in the middle of a "

http://www.bendeyevet.com/

There's an eye doctor in Bend Oregon that sees horses.

visit this website to find one near you

Posted by Tracy Jan on 8/1/2012, 1:01 pm, in reply to "As I live in the middle of a "
72.160.110.78

This website http://www.acvo.org/ is the main vet eye doctors association. They have a search for members. The one in Springfield is probably the closest in OR.
Living in wet and green Oregon
http://allthecreatures.org my animal blog
http://kingdomofhorses.com my new horse blog

What's wrong with her eye?

Posted by Gail Ivey on 8/1/2012, 11:18 am, in reply to "Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!"
66.245.46.208

Did she get it gouged or something? Or is it diseased in some way?

My old mare had uveitis, which is very painful, but it was cured with acupuncture and Transfer Factor. She eventually went blind in that eye from endothelial cell degeneration because of the years of chronic inflammation. She was not in any pain.

If the eye is held shut and constantly weepy, the horse is in pain.

There is no reason to leave a big gaping hole when an eye is removed, unless the plan is to put in a prosthetic. A well done prosthetic should not cause the horse pain, but most people opt for just sewing the eye socket closed.
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." -
Socrates

We have a mare that poked herself on an apple branch

Posted by firejax1 on 8/1/2012, 11:30 am, in reply to "Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!"
107.1.73.130

After a course of antibiotics and eye ointment, the eye eventually clouded over and went blind. She gets along just find now and you just have to be careful coming up on her right side. Maybe another vet, and a good fly mask that will reduce the light or put her into a dark stall for the time being?
I bust mine...so I can kick yours!!

I've never heard of the eye not being sewn up

Posted by HeyRady on 8/1/2012, 11:51 am, in reply to "Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!"

That would only lead to an infection and a bunch of crud always getting into their socket. I wonder if the stitches tore apart somewhere along the line and they never had it sewn back up?

The two choices after the eye is removed is to put a ball into the socket and sew the eye lids together, so it looks like there is still an eye in there but the eye always looks closed (much more appealing). The second option is to sew the eye lids together, which eventually leads to the skin sinking in and conforming to the inside of the socket. It looks like a hole in the side of their head covered with skin (scares the hell out of any poor child that sees it).

The one horse we had here came to us with her eye already gone but the second horse had to have it removed while he was here. The eye was already really cloudy and the vet said that it was crushed and damaged when the eye socket was crushed by a tree falling on him. We knew he couldn't see out of it but it didn't seem to bother him at first. Then it started watering a lot and it seemed to bother him in the daylight (he was squinting a lot). Once his puppy dog personality turned mean, we knew the eye was hurting him too much and had to go.

After his surgery he stayed at the vet for 5 days and when he came home he was wearing what looked like a fly mask with a hard cup over the eye that was removed. I had to take the mask off each day and change the cotton batting that was in the cup to soak up any drainage. He had a little blood drainage out his nose too. I think he only needed to wear the mask for 3 weeks but he only needed it so he wouldn't hit his eye and open it back up. I don't think you would need to wear it that long if there wasn't a ball in there.

If the mare doesn't seem to be squinting a lot or in pain then maybe the eye just has an infection. If it does, and she is put on meds to clear it up, then it shouldn't ooze or be gross anymore and I would think it could stay.

I think that covers it but if there is anything else you want to know just ask
PS - If her eye seems sensitive to the light you can take a dark wash cloth or bandanna and duct tape it to the outside of a fly mask to cover that
eye and protect it from light. I had it taped from the bottom of the ear to the center of the face to make sure that there is minimal light that can get in there.

Lori Finch
Owner & Manager of Paradise Acres Equine Retirement.
www.paradiseacres.net

Get the "Eye Saver"

Posted by Icancan on 8/1/2012, 5:15 pm, in reply to "I've never heard of the eye not being sewn up"

I have a gelding that poked his eye with a tree branch. The owner at the time of injury couldn't do the doctoring So he came home with me to be taken care of

I used a thing called the eye saver. It's like the head gear used on race horses to hold the blinder on. It has a full hard plastic cup protecting the wounded eye. It holds gauze and has soft cotton rings on the inside and a terry cloth towel to absorb the gunk from the eye. It worked excellently!! I am sure it cut healing time down and I let my gelding free range in the pasture. My gelding eye healed clouded over and You wouldnt really know he cant see. The number is 1(800)525-5614

Good luck and all the best!!

we made one

Posted by cjride on 8/2/2012, 7:00 am, in reply to "Get the "Eye Saver""
24.2.38.217

How funny you'd mention that. I had a mare with an ulcerated cornea. We found an old racing mask and pulled one half cup off one side and placed it on the other side to make a full cup. Can't remember how we held to two edges together - probably super glue or duct tape!

Re: we made one - That's so Cool!!

Posted by Icancan on 8/3/2012, 7:48 am, in reply to "we made one"
208.178.57.242

Excellent!!

I was going to make one to then I found the eye saver... I believe it helped speed the healing process and was perfect..

Kendail

get the medical issues

Posted by mary bluepony on 8/1/2012, 5:05 pm, in reply to "Ok, I need my one eyed horse panel advice!"
71.93.164.243

dealt with first. then go from there. sounds like this horse needs some professional care not do it yourself 'cures'.

It's too late to fix it.

Posted by AshlandEquestrian on 8/1/2012, 5:41 pm, in reply to "get the medical issues "

I will posts pics later. She was injured over a year ago, the eyeball is cloudy and sunk into her head. she suffered an unknown injury in a stall. She doesn't hold her eye closed or squint. Her eyeball does moves a little bit, I thought at first that she could see. The fleshy parts that would be held back by a eyeball in the correct space are semi revealed, there has been whitish goop both mornings that she has been here, not a ton, a little. Her eye is hard to look at. The woman who had her, who was going to put her to sleep kept a fly mask on to protect her eye and to not have to look at it. I would love to take the eyeball out, get a prosthetic and sew it shut, just so it doesn't freak anyone out. I breaks my heart to have people say "EEWWW" when they see her.

Steriods? Antibiotics?

Posted by cjride on 8/2/2012, 6:58 am, in reply to "It's too late to fix it."
24.2.38.217

I wonder what a dose of steriods and antibiotics would do? Did the previous owner ever have it treated?

I have seen horses who got an eye injury and were left with a small eye - I guess the eye itself either shrank or receeded or something.

Would love to see photos.

Why on earth

Posted by SH on 8/2/2012, 4:20 pm, in reply to "It's too late to fix it."
209.118.177.189

Didn't the owner ever get the right vet care to deal with this? Makes me very sad.

blind eye options

Posted by Xanthoria on 8/8/2012, 9:34 am, in reply to "It's too late to fix it."

My horse had an injury to his eye. While I was waiting for Davis to give me a quote (they said it wouldn't get worse, and he was on banamine) it healed. Or rather, it stopped being full of blood and hurting.

So, now his bad eyeball is smaller than the other one, and weeps. But according to the vet, doesn't hurt. The vet said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" - we decided not to remove the eye which means surgery - always something to avoid if you can. He's a sassy old guy, and seems very happy 5 years later with that ugly-looking but non painful eye.

By the way the other options per my vet were, in order of preference:

a) leave as is.
b) remove eye and sew shut. Cheapest surgical option, with least risk of infection afterwards, but looks like a furry eye socket when healed.
c) remove eye and add silicone ball to make it look like eye is just closed. Chance of infection from ball.
d) remove eye and install fake eyeball. Best look, but chance of infection and high cost.