Cloudy Eye

[Sparklet]

Went up to the yard first thing yesterday morning and my daughters horse had a cloudy eye. It seems more opaque towards the inner part of the eye and spans about 1/2" across the eye.

I immediately rang the vet (on a Sunday

) to get advice and to see if I needed a visit. Eyes really worry me because they can become pretty dodgy very quickly.

He did say he though she had probably bruised it and on closer inspection there did appear to be a mark on her face which would suggest she had banged it on part of the stable so we relaxed a bit - checking to see if it was getting worse/better etc and it seemed to stay the same.

The vet did say it should have cleared up by this morning, so with trepidation we approached her stable this am. It does seem less opaque but both me and daughter felt that the clouding had spread further over her eye.

Daughter went home and range the vet (I had to go to work) and he is going to visit later today.

Pretty worried - wondered if any of you have had a similar experience?

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Friends horse bashed his eye last year in field, it was cloudy, weepy and swollen. Vet gave her drops to put in and he had to be kept in a darkened stable for a week, as he was sensitive to light, but it healed fine, so try not to worry too much.

 

[Sparklet]

Thanks - feeling better already. The only thing is her eye is not weepy..not sure if that is a good or bad thing

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Don't know, but would assume that is good thing.

Beamers stopped weeping after a couple of days of drops, as it started to heal. I suspect Beamer did his during the night, he wasn't checked till mid morning, by which time there were flies all round it (hence the weeping).

 

[dieseldog]

We bought a horse that had a blue cloudy looking eye and the vet said that if it had been treated when he first done it it would have cleared up. So you're doing the right thing and I would think he can cure it.

 

[PapaFrita]

One of the horses at our yard banged his eye and the WHOLE thing turned blue. I was rather pessimistic (another horse has a permanent blue spot) but it cleared up completely so as you've treated your boy so promply I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[Sparklet]

My boy is a girl

but thanks very much for your comments.

The vet is coming out at 12 today so will post after he has gone to let everyone know what he says. The practise is a specialist horse one so I am quite reassured that she is getting the best treatement.

The horse belonging to a friend of mine got hit in the eye by a stone flicked up by a galloping horse in front when out on a hack. She was rushed straight to horsey hospital and put on an eye drip and ever since I have been really careful with eyes.

 

[Sparklet]

Right vet been and I was completely right to be neurotic - she has been given several types of drops and must be kept in a darkened place. The vet is coming back out on Thurs for a check and if it has not cleared up she will be going to horsey hospital to have a catheter fitted.

It all sounds very serious and worrying. Will keep updates coming in on progress.

At the moment daughter trying to rig up covers for her stable as it is an American barn type and lets a lot of light in.

 

[Klaudette]

it is anterior uveitis?
Well done for getting your vet it.

 

[airedale]

are there any racing yards near you that might lend you (or sell you an old set) of racing blinkers ? That would keep quite a lot of light out of the eye - assuming your horse is not the sort to panic about strange kit.

 

[Lorian]

I know its hard but try not to worry too much. A lot of eye conditions can be treated.
On a positive note my horse developed a cloudy eye when he was about 8 years old. I got the vet out and he immediately referred him to an eye specialist at Newmarket and they said they had never seen this problem before. They said it looked like a viral infection and there was a high chance they would have to remove the eye incase it spread to the other eye.
They gave it a week with loads of different types of eye drops and treatment and slowly it started to clear so his eye was saved. My horse is now nearly 17 and although he only has partial sight in that one eye I still do loads of competitions with him and it doesnt seem to effect him at all.
Fingers crossed that your girl is ok.

 

[Sparklet]

Yes there are racing stables nearby but I am a bit reluctant to put anything too near her eye - she is not supervised during the day so I would worry that she would dislodge anything close and making her eye worse - there is always the danger of infection if her eye is discharging too. It is a smart idea though.

There is a stable which is pretty much tucked away and no direct light reaches it. The stable is empty so may move her there. The only problem is she will scream the place down and will end up being incredibly miserable. I think as a first attempt we need to try to screen the stable she is used to if that is possible.

Poor girl....cant do anything else really now except wait and keep my fingers well and truely crossed.

 

[Sparklet]

Have googled that but still not quite sure what it is. I know she doesnt have an ulcer in her eye and the cloudy stuff if fluid behind her cornea which the vet is trying to encourage to drain away.

I will monitor and clean a weepy eye in summer for a day or two but anything else I have always get the vet and if I dont like the look of the weepy eye will do so anyway. You just cant mess with eyes can you?

 

[mandandpaddy]

Paddy had uveitis last Feb and was needed to be kept in a darkened stable, he is in an american barn and we covered the windows and shut the barn doors.

I bought a guardian mask for him which he wore when he was allowed out to cut down the uv and light, I found it very useful as you can also black out the eye piece on bad eye.

Well done on getting the vet in asap they do say getting treatment quickly really does help.

Good luck

Mandy

 

[AmyMay]

How about a Fly mask - but with some material sown on to form an a darkened patch over one eye??

 

[Sparklet]

By gum you lot are an ingenious bunch - I am going up to the yard in about an hour so will have a dig about and see what I can find. The big problem comes when she has her tea time drops because those are the ones that open up the lens to allow the fluid to drain out and the problem is too much light gets in (said the vet!)

Our barn is really dull anyway so I am not too worried about night time but day time is more of a problem. I am going to put a rug up so she cant poke her head out of the door and that should also cut quite a bit of light out. My daughter has tried to hang rugs up at the bars but as expected my horse and her other neighbour couldnt resist pulling them about. Last thing I want is a load of rugs and boarding taffled up in their legs to add to the problem.

I will see what I can do....please all keep your fingers crossed for me for Thursday. My vet is about 50 miles away so I have a bit of a treck to take her in if she needs to go in.

 

[AmyMay]

Do you only have the Barn - and not traditional stables where a top door can be closed??

 

[Sparklet]

There is a spare stable which gets no natural daylight and that is certainly an option. It is pretty much tucked out of the way....I suspect she would be pretty miserable but that is maybe where she needs to go.

I am going to do a recky when I get up there - if I can sheild the one she is in I will try to leave her there otherwise off into isolation she goes

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
There is a spare stable which gets no natural daylight and that is certainly an option. It is pretty much tucked out of the way....I suspect she would be pretty miserable but that is maybe where she needs to go.

[/ QUOTE ]
Better she's miserable for a few weeks than loose her eye. Friends horse had an abcess in his and had to be shut up for two weeks - worked though, the eye was saved, despite the initial very cautious diagnosis.

 

[Sparklet]

I think you are probably right AmyMay, cruel to be kind.

Anyway she will suffer less than the rest of us having to listen to her awful whinny for the next few days - she really does have a '20 a day heavy smoker' whinny. You feel like ripping your ears off after 10 mins of her screaming!

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
You feel like ripping your ears off after 10 mins of her screaming!

[/ QUOTE ]
Awful isn't it???

Poor old love

 

[chunk]

this could be a simple case of chataracts i dont think they can be treated, however it could just be an infection of the eye which can be treated with medication supplied by the vet =)

 

[Sparklet]

Update......

I did move her to the dark stable and she screamed the place down for a couple of hours and then settled - there is a window which I covered with feed bags so it is really dark. She has drops in the morning and drops at night and considering how awful it must be for her she has been really good about having them in.

It has been really difficult to see her eye in the dark stable but it looked as though the cloudy mist was spreading over her eye so I was sure that things were getting worse. One of the drops also dialates the pupil so her eye looked really weird anyway but I really thought things were getting very serious.

Anyway much to my relieve the vet visited yesterday and said there had been a slight improvement - the eye is more covered in the mist but it is nowhere near as dense at it was so he was pleased with her progress. He is delaying hospital admission until Monday - he was delighted with the stable and said it was perfect (brownie point to me - thanks to you guys in helping me make my mind up).

He said she could be walked in hand once it got dark - I suggested a fly mask as an extra cover and he thought that was a marvelous suggestion (Amymay thanks for that one).

Fingers crossed she is on the mend - he thinks she has damaged her cornea by knocking it against something hard.

I am so glad I got the vet straight away.

 

[AmyMay]

Thanks for the update. Was only wondering about this yesterday.

I'm glad that the darkened stable has worked out, and that she's settled. I can't remember if i'd said previously, but a friend's horse has recently gone through the same thing.

They did think that the horse may loose the eye, but as a last resort the lid was sown up for a fortnight or so to see if that helped. It did, and the eye was saved (although doubtful if horse has much sight in it). It was an abcess of some sort that had caused the initial problem.

I'm not telling you this to worry you - but just to give you other options if they start talking about surgery.

Good luck, and do keep us posted.

 

[Sparklet]

I have not read about your friends experience so must have missed that one - how awful.

My daughter was pretty philosophical about it all and said the worse senario was that she would lose the eye and although it was not a nice thought we would all cope with it. I wish I had been graced with that amount of sense at 18...well any age really lol

I do hope it wont come to that and it is nice to know they have several options up their sleeve. The vet is back on Monday so I will update again - hopefully with much better news..fingers crossed.

 

[Sparklet]

Another update - not quite so promising. The vet came at lunchtime today and although her eye is clearing up, he had hoped she would be much clearer by today.

He hummed and harred for a bit and then decided to leave her with us until Thursday. He expects the eye to be completely clear by Thursday or into horsey hospital she goes.

Fingers crossed for Thursday.

 

[PapaFrita]

Keeping fingers crossed for your girl!

 

[Sparklet]

Thursday update - this is staring to be a bit of a long story. I rang the vet this morning to day the eye is still not clear and he decided to up the medication rather than take her in to hospital - to review on Mon.

I was all set for the 3 hour round trip to the vets thisafternoon but have a reprieve till Mon.

I did ask the vet whether it was normal that they eye had not cleared yet and he said it could take quite some time and had dealt with another patient whose eye had remained cloudy for a month. At least that gives me some comfort.

We are getting her out of the stable once it has got dark for a run round on the lunge and a bit of in hand grazing but the poor girl looks pretty bored.

I did try to put a rope up with carrott, apples etc strung on it but she just opens her mouth and chomps it all the way down - it last about 5 mins. Might try carrott hide and seek.