equine uveitus

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sonnyd

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does anyone else have a horse with the same problem.my horse has had it for nearly 3 months now and i have been told he,ll have it for the rest of his life.i have read up on it and had good advice from the vet.i was told it,s very uncommon in the u.k(moon blind) and was just wondering if any one else could give me advice on how to make him more comfortable.many thanx .sonnyd xx
 
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oh, the poor boy!
my horse has been having eye problems and one of the possibilities initially suggested was uveitus. It didn't turn out to be that in the end, but a friend recommended these masks that have something akin to horsey sunglasses in them and which they have found very good for a horse they know in the US with similar problem - i don't think they're stocked by anyone here yet but you can buy from the US...
http://www.horsemask.com/
Hope this helps!
 
Hi, I hae a horse with recurrent uvietus, hes had it since I bought him, I have had him 7 years.. I keep a mask on my horse which has UV protection, in all days which are bright.If you do this, it stops the horse taking an attack. if he does take an attack, i.e his eyes start to close and gets runny, and watery, I put him in a dark stable for 24 hours..
pm, me if you need more info, as I hae managed my horse with this condition for years with success.
 
The horse that I share just had it - very nasty and time consuming to treat.

Our vets were very proactive, and one in particular was an eye specialist, so we got very good advice.

The horse was treated with v strong pain killers, as the discomfort is huge, then was given atropine, a steroid and antibiotic, via an ocular catheter that looped from the inside base of his eye to the opposite side of his head, so that we could give the drugs with the risk of stabbing him in the eye with droppers. To start with he was getting atropine 3 times daily, and the steroid and antibiotic around 5 times. The treatment was gradually weaned over nearly 12 weeks.

At one point about halfway through, we thought the eye had settled and reduced treatment, but it hadn't and we were back to square one, with the addition of a small cataract that had formed as the lens adheared to ciliary body. The vet was always fearful that the adhesions wouldn't break and he wouldn't be able to dilate his pupil, but the intensive treatment worked in the end.

He has now been drug free for about an month and fingers crossed all has settled down.

We bought a Guardian mask for him that protected his eyes from dust and the light, so that we could turn out while he was being treated with atropine, as obviously the sun could do damage to the dilated eye.

We have been told that if we get 2 years clear, he should be ok.

Do not underestimate how painful it is - really strong meds are needed to stop the pain to start with and to try and stop the ciliary body from spasming.

Our vets were great - it really did make a difference having a specialist opthamologist in the practice. Hopefully you are happy with the treament prescribed by you vet, but the condition is very serious and can lead to the eye having to be removed and there is also the chance that it can become auto immune and also affect his other eye. I would treat it as agressively as you can.

Hope this helps x
 
Tamba said:
Hi, I hae a horse with recurrent uvietus, hes had it since I bought him, I have had him 7 years.. I keep a mask on my horse which has UV protection, in all days which are bright.If you do this, it stops the horse taking an attack. if he does take an attack, i.e his eyes start to close and gets runny, and watery, I put him in a dark stable for 24 hours..
pm, me if you need more info, as I hae managed my horse with this condition for years with success.
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sorry he has been diagnosed wit this, it is a sore thing. A mare at our yard had this. she wore the mask too and was ridden in it too. Same as above, if she got an attack, she was kept in stable. There were 2 creams that she got in on a daily basis that helped too.
 
thank you for your reply,s.i have bought a mask n it blocks out 70 percent of uv rays it seems to be helping but he stands wiv his head the shade still(bless him).i rode him out 2day(with a mask) with my friend for the first time in ages n he was really good.just worried bout getting another attack
 
sonnyd said:
thank you for your reply,s.i have bought a mask n it blocks out 70 percent of uv rays it seems to be helping but he stands wiv his head the shade still(bless him).i rode him out 2day(with a mask) with my friend for the first time in ages n he was really good.just worried bout getting another attack
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I dont know if you have been, but I leave my horses mask on all night, so he has it on, for the early morning sun, as I got caught out, one day last summer, when the sun was up at 5 am, and he didnt hae his mask on, he then took an attack.. So now I leave it on, all night, And only take it off, on days which are dull. A good mask is the key I have found.
Even in the bright snow, keep on a mask, as this is also a time which can trigger an attack
 
Its a horrible condition, our old (30yrs) mare took it for the first time in Feb 09. She had a very bad case so much so the vet said he wouldn't opperate due to her age but if she had been younger he would have removed the eye however if it got worse we would have to PTS. We managed it throughout the summer but she hated being in and lost a lot of weight and condition. It wasn't fair on her and we took the heart breaking decision to PTS last Sept.

I hope your horse gets better soon.

Liz
 
Hi, sorry to hear about your horse :( mine has had it for the last 3 years. Unfortunately it is begining to get out of control and there is a large chance he will have to be put down in the next few months. Unfortunately he does not have it on it's own, it is secondary to a reaction to something that was used in his rig operation (the AHT have confirmed this) meaning he is not suitable for any of the operations and the reason it's getting more frequent as his body can't fight off the infection.
I have found that having the mask on 27/7 and living out has worked best. If you can pinpoint any triggers it always helps to manage the condition and also keep your own record of each flare up - it really is vital! Thanks to keeping a record I have been able to pinpoint several of Pharaoh's triggers and this is also one of the reasons I know its getting worse. We are currently using sarc-ex to see if that can help boost his immune system as we have heard great things about it stopping sweet itch and many other things! PM me if you want, it's always good to hear other peoples methods of treatment.

ets, although Pharaoh wears a UV mask 24/7 we have a back up with a patch covering half the mask that he wears on really bright days and during a flare up. Apart from having time off for the conditon he leads an almost normal life, he has a cataract that gets worse each flare up (as expected) so I have to be more aware but he's still his normal self :)
 
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i have a mask he waers over nite but its not as strong as the one he wears in the day.i,m sorry to hear that so many people have to deal with this terrible illness but happy they have such kind caring owners.i heard that some people dont want the burden of the cost of vets or to have to deal with the after care so have them put to sleep(mainly in u.s).the place i got his mask from is G.J.W they have losts of u.v protective masks for horses and at a good price.i just feel bad cos i have to twitch him every time i put his medication in his eyes(as its in both) he,s still a happy chappy :)
 
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