Burst eye - any hope?

B

BBP

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 July 2008
Messages
6,587
Visit site
Although my young horse is going well (see other post), I found my old girly with a perforated cornea a week ago. Basically she has punctured her eye and the fluid from inside is leaking out. The vet gave me 2 options: 1: have the eye removed, requiring general anaesthetic and a 5 day stay at vets (she is 39 years old and wouldnt load, travel or stay away from homehappily, let alone survive a general), or 2: have her PTS. I was going to do this last Monday but she was still so full of it I couldnt do it.

The vet gave me more medication to keep her pain free - she is still greeting me with a bellow, little ears pricked, pawing the ground as she always has, licking her bowl clean and is breaking through fences still, basically shes fighting fit.

Has anyone else had a horse who has burst their eye, not had it removed, and survived? the vet said that the pain of the eye collapsing is intense as the nerves are still viable for months, so I am basically waiting for the dreaded day when the painkillers dont work and she isnt happy, when I will call it a day. But is that day inevitable or has anyone elses horse got through it.

I am not keeping her going for me, she just still is happy to be alive, and seems to be gaining, not losing condition. i really cant believe it, I lost my dog a few weeks ago and have had them both for 16 years. Plus my friends horse was PTS at the yard today, her melanoma finally got too much and we found her submerging her whole head in her water trough for seconds at a time, trying to relieve the pain. So sad when yesterday she was still playing with her mate. theres only so much heartache you should have to go through.
 
Hi

Im sorry to hear that.

Im not much help but my old pony got attacked by an other horse in trailer while traveling and it bit his eye and it was so bad that id punctured it and same thing happened but he lost his lense.

But he got it taken out.

I hope things work out for you .
 
you say you're "not doing it for me".....

i'm sorry but this sentence tells me otherwise...

**I was going to do this last Monday but she was still so full of it I couldnt do it.**

the Vet gave you his opinion..and 2 options..at least take his advice...
 
I suspect that the eye will just become necrotic and die, causing a real problem eventually if left totally untreated (i.e some sort of surgery).

Can he not stitch it under heavy sedation??
 
[ QUOTE ]

the vet said that the pain of the eye collapsing is intense as the nerves are still viable for months, so I am basically waiting for the dreaded day when the painkillers dont work

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry but that does it for me. How do you know she isnt uncomfortable?
Some animals dont show they are in pain as well as others, but your vet has said to quote
"The pain of the eye collapsing is intense" so what on earth is keeping you?
She has had a good life so far, let her go while she is relatively pain free and happy!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

the vet said that the pain of the eye collapsing is intense as the nerves are still viable for months, so I am basically waiting for the dreaded day when the painkillers dont work

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry but that does it for me. How do you know she isnt uncomfortable?
Some animals dont show they are in pain as well as others, but your vet has said to quote
"The pain of the eye collapsing is intense" so what on earth is keeping you?


[/ QUOTE ]

Very true. I know it's different but my dog had a cataract in her eye which then turned to glucoma and became ulcerated after being bashed by my younger lab.

Vet said she was probably in a huge amount of pain due to the pressure build up within her eye, but she is that good natured she wouldn't have shown it. He advised getting the eye removed as he said if it burst due to the pressure build up that you couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she'd feel.

She went in the next day and had the eye removed.
 
I understand what you are all saying (and I would say the same to anyone else posting this), I would hate to prolong her suffering, the thing is I spoke to the vet the day he came to put her to sleep (he had given us a weekend of meds so that we could spoil her rotten for the weekend) and he said that the reason he'd advised she be PTS was to stop her suffering but that 3 days later she seemed very well and didnt appear to be suffering. I did say to him that if he had any doubts about giving her more medications, that if his best advice was still to have her PTS, I would let her go. But he had no problem with medicating it, having seen her again and her being so perky. I have spoken to him for a long time to make sure I am not causing her more pain and I would never go against his advice as he is more subjective than I could be.

I know people wont believe me, but I am not going to hold too tight, it has been nice to spoil her rotten and say goodbye - I am prepared every morning that if she shows any unusual behaviour that will be her last day.

Can I ask what a standing enucleation is? I would like to give her a chance if there is something I can do, but if not I know it is time to let go.
 
I will go though any amount of heartache if I know its the right thing to do for my little girl. I just need to know there is nothing else I can do for her first.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Can I ask what a standing enucleation is? I would like to give her a chance if there is something I can do, but if not I know it is time to let go

[/ QUOTE ]

Remove the eye at home under sedation and local aneathestic (SP).
 
My dog had a congenital eye condition which meant the cornea would break down and an ulcer form, the vet said the pain she was in would be awlful, on one occaision we were told the ulcer was a bad one and could result in the eye popping, and the fluid leaking in which case she would need the eye removed, but as she had other problems would not survive the GA, the vet said if this happened she would be in immense pain and we would need to PTS immediately.
Thankfully the eye didn't pop, but we had to have her PTS because of her other problems.
If your horse is 39 she has had a good innings, don't you think, if it were me I would have her PTS now before I ended up in the position of an emergency call to the vet for a horse that is suffering, far too distressing for you and the horse.
 
My mare poked herself in the eye on a twig in the hedge. Fortunately it didn't go quite all the way through. She had two ops under local anaesthetic and sedation in her stable. I don't know if an eye can be removed like this.

The thing I was going to say though was I could tell when she was in pain and it was bad so I think you would know if she was suffering.
Good luck whatever you decide.
 
Have you known it done in horses? I thought there was a big blood vessel they have to tie off that would make it too risky to do at home. Feel like all hope is lost in the last few minutes, maybe as everyone else has said what I know in my heart.
 
she's 39, i'd go for option 2. Then if she's in not much pain and "normal" then this is cool as you can remember her as the happy horse she is. It's better than having to see her go downhill from the inability to eat/survive in general or have a heart attack or something...39's pretty damn good going for a horse!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
You're right. Im going to go hug my pony, have a cry and talk to my vet.

[/ QUOTE ]


well done.....
 
there are a couple of people on here that have had horses with eye problems that i would PM and ask if i was you. they are Box_of_Frogs (i think thats how she spells it.) and Fine_and_Dandy............they will happily share with you their experiences.
 
Im afraid that at 39 with an injury as serious as hers seems i would rather get her pts while she is still fairly bright and remember her that way rather than wait until she is in pain and 'dull' before doing it. I know thats what I would want for me, PTS before the pain starts.
Hope it all goes well speaking to vet
x
 
QR
Please for her sake pts.
15yrs ago my eye burst due to glucoma.
I cannot begin to tell you the sheer agony of it.
After removal I spent 6wks in pain and out of it on dyhydrocodine whilst the muscles behind the removed eye healed.
My pony had cancer and never showed he was in pain, I know your pony is in pain from experience.
Horses don't show pain otherwise they would be picked off in the herd.
So please as hard as it is, and I've been there last Nov with mine , make the right decision for her!
Very sorry!
 
Good luck with your decision. I've called it both ways on ops on aged pets (I'm assuming that pony isn't still working at 39). It is all a fairly awful game of probabilities - don't be afraid to ask the vet to give you an estimate of pony's chances under a general/of recovery/expected lifespan given general health/whatever.

Sometimes reducing it to numbers can help you make a more objective decision. Something like
Expected happiness with PTS=0days (or however many she has left before you need to make the decision)
Expected happiness with op = (% chance of recovery)*(life expectancy in days) - (% chance doesn't survive op)*(1 day of op) - (% chance survives in pain)*(life expectancy given poor recovery)

And of course ignore all of that if it isn't a good way for you to think!

Best of luck.
 
It is really difficult making a decision like this now based on what you know will happen in the future.
My boy damaged his extensor tendon in his hock and lost all joint stability. Although we could keep him comfortable on box rest and with antiinflammatories I had to accept that if he went out in the field again that one day I would find him with a broken hock. He was in very little pain the day he was put to sleep, we dosed him up and the silly old sod even jogged out to the field, all be it on 3 legs as his bad one wouldn't work properly.
It broke my heart making that decision but I would not change anything about what I did.
Your little guy is lucky to have some time free of discomfort but if the eyeball is bound to collapse without surgey than you need to make a decision before it happens. Whether you risk surgery or opt to PTS is really down to what you feel is best but a decision either way is a must and I'm sure that you will do what is best for your pony.

My thought are with you.

Sqip
 
I agree with all the other posters who said PTS and I hope you have found the courage to go through with it.

She's had a good run, let her go while she's still happy and full of beans. If you wait until she's in pain you will regret it.
frown.gif


(((hugs)))
 
Aww KatPT hugs to you and your pony. I'm sorry, but I agree with the others, let her go whilst she's still happy. Sadly my friend's are going through the same thing at the moment. I was away this weekend and when I got home heard that their old gelding (think he's late 20's) punctured his eye. The vet doesn't think his other eye is great anyway due to his age. His constant companion is devestated as he's been taken to the vet's. It's so hard to comment since I've thankfully not been in that situation, but I feel sad for him that he's going through all this pain, and being taken away from home and his friend. I've not managed to speak to my friend's yet as they were out visiting him when I went to the stables. I talked to the gelding's friend I nearly cried, it broke my heart that she didn't know where he had gone
frown.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top