Equine Uveitis

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Cripple101

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Hi just posting for a friend whose mare has just been diagnosed with uveitis. As soon as she comes off bute the eye is flaring straight back up again. What are people's experiences with this? And mainly, what treatments have you tried that have had some success? She's on various eye drops at the moment and the vet is coming back out on Wednesday but we don't know what route the treatment is going to go down if there's no improvement by then.

Any positive outcome stories also greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance :)
 
My experiance with this condition was a nightmare and ended in the horse being PTS
I hope your is luckier .
 
My gelding started about 6 years ago with uveitis in one eye. It was controlled with steroid drops but over the years it affected both eyes and the attacks became more frequent and much harder to control. In the end he was on such high doses of flunixin that I had to beg the vet to give it to me or the horse was in so much pain and couldn't open his eyes. As he gets it in both eyes removal wasn't an option. In the end he had cyclosporine implants put in both eyes at Leahurst. This was done under a general anaesthetic and the horse was there a couple of days before coming home. He tolerated the operation really well and the implants lasted about 3 years and massively reduced the number and severity of attacks. He went back in to have them replaced recently but they could only get the implants in one eye this time so he is now on 1 Bute a day permanently to keep the other eye from flaring up. The implants were expensive at approx £800 per eye but they were worth it. The horse is 18 now and it has definitely improved his quality of life. He is still ridden regularly. Someone I met recently had uveitis with her horse but as it was only in one eye she opted to have the eye removed. Her horse seems to have tolerated this well.
 
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I know a horse who had this in one eye, after a few years the pain was bad enough he had the eye removed and had a new lease of life.

He is now around 30 years old!
 
Cripple101 said:
Hi just posting for a friend whose mare has just been diagnosed with uveitis. As soon as she comes off bute the eye is flaring straight back up again. What are people's experiences with this? And mainly, what treatments have you tried that have had some success? She's on various eye drops at the moment and the vet is coming back out on Wednesday but we don't know what route the treatment is going to go down if there's no improvement by then.

Any positive outcome stories also greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...
Loan horse had Uveitis and cataracts, the horse developed a strong trust in the owner to the point the owner used voice to let it know any obstacle, the horse lived till its 25th year, when it had some kind of stroke and was pts, little known about it in the 80's but horse enjoyed life.


2011 My horse developed uveitis she bought a Guardian mask, kept a record of weather, winds, and such to find any triggers and wrote down any warning sign(the horse began to shake her head like a fly buzzing) and immediately put atropine in and then called vet. He kept very close eye on it (If you excuse the pun). Also wore a ride on fly mask and fly mask in the stable, every check up from the vet was reported very little damage and horse lived till 25 and during their last 6 months the Uveitis just disappeared no attacks where as before one a month.


What I would say to them is:

1. Keep a diary if there is sun - snow- winds-flies etc
2. The day the attack started and finished
3. what treatment was given
4. get a good relationship with vet so they can trust owner with immediate atropine to dilate the pupil to reduce the damage
5. Report in diary what the vet says
6. Have bute handy

Like any disability or horse ailment - Monitor and acted on quickly the horse can suffer little damage and lead a normal life. Every case and horse is different but this is just my experiance
 
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ILuvCowparsely said:
Loan horse had Uveitis and cataracts, the horse developed a strong trust in the owner to the point the owner used voice to let it know any obstacle, the horse lived till its 25th year, when it had some kind of stroke and was pts, little known about it in the 80's but horse enjoyed life.


2011 My horse developed uveitis she bought a Guardian mask, kept a record of weather, winds, and such to find any triggers and wrote down any warning sign(the horse began to shake her head like a fly buzzing) and immediately put atropine in and then called vet. He kept very close eye on it (If you excuse the pun). Also wore a ride on fly mask and fly mask in the stable, every check up from the vet was reported very little damage and horse lived till 25 and during their last 6 months the Uveitis just disappeared no attacks where as before one a month.


What I would say to them is:

1. Keep a diary if there is sun - snow- winds-flies etc
2. The day the attack started and finished
3. what treatment was given
4. get a good relationship with vet so they can trust owner with immediate atropine to dilate the pupil to reduce the damage
5. Report in diary what the vet says
6. Have bute handy

Like any disability or horse ailment - Monitor and acted on quickly the horse can suffer little damage and lead a normal life. Every case and horse is different but this is just my experiance
Click to expand...

As above really, Owner /carer needs to be able to recognise early signs and deal with aggressively; strong pain relief, atropine and steroid. Our current field ornament ( he has other issues ) is prone to it but fingers crossed have not had to deal with an attack for maybe nine months. . He wears a mask in sunny weather- not sure if that helps but it makes me feel I am doing something.
 
My horse had uveitis in one eye when he was 13. He has lots of eye drops and it would keep it at bay until the eye drops stopped then it would flare up again. We were referred to an eye specialist who suggested a cyclosporine implant in his eye. We went down this route as we wanted to save the eye but months after the op there was no improvement. In the end we decided to have the eye removed and we had to retire him as he was dangerous to ride on the roads.

I hope you have a happy ending!
 
we have one that had the eye removed, he is doing great, pain free and working well, there is an international showjumper with one eye
 
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