DressageCob
Well-Known Member
The people who read the weekend plans threads will already about my little cob’s eye woes but I thought I’d start my own thread.
The story starts almost 2 weeks ago, when my little cob came in from the field with an angry eye. Since you can’t mess around with eyes, I got the vet out, who found an ulcer the size of a 50p piece.
Since I’m lucky my vets have a decent equine hospital, he was taken straight in and a lavage system was put in place on his eyelid to blast the poorly eye with antibiotics, a lubricant and a serum, on a pump system every hour.
The eye didn’t make any progress at all, despite the aggressive treatment. So the practice got their ophthalmologist to have a look (although he was a small animal vet). It was spotted that the cornea was turning cone shaped and so he was rushed to Leahurst to their ophthalmology guys.
When he arrived you could see his eye sinking and it was noted that the cornea wasn’t as solid as it could be. He was put on drops every 15 minutes through the lavage system (thank heavens for vet students). That was the Tuesday.
On Wednesday I received a call that the eye was on the verge of collapse. The cornea was melting into a jelly-like consistency and I was told to prepare for the eye being removed. But first we would try a steroid, an unusual treatment for an eye ulcer.
The day after there had been stabilisation if not marginal improvement. But Albert’s mood had dropped and he was looking like he might colic. As a result of his low mood he was prescribed regular hand grazing. 24/7 stabling is tough on a horse who lives out in a herd normally.
The eye removal was delayed given the marginal improvement. It was also discovered that Albert doesn’t seem to make tears and so there was concern as to the condition of his other eye. So drops to lubricate that eye were commenced and a guardian fly mask required.
Since then it seems that each day the steroid is applied, there is marginal improvement the day after. But not enough.
It was decided to send Albert up to Penrith for corneal collagen cross linking, a new procedure for horses. We went today. The place was in an industrial estate and not very horsebox friendlh, but easy to find. We were shown to a stable with no bedding which looked very new.
The vet explained that Albert’s eye is very poor indeed. It seems that his body has attacked the eye rather than the ulcer and so it is melting. But, the hope was this treatment would work. It involves removing some of the jelly (melted cornea) and then using riboflavin and UV-A light to spur the collagen strands to form bonds across the cornea, solidifying it again.
By the end of the 2 hour treatment Albert’s eye was solid, albeit still a bit saggy at the bottom.
We will know in the next 4-7 days whether it worked. So fingers crossed. If not I think we’ve exhausted all options and it will have been an expensive experiment but the eye will be lost anyway. I know horses adapt but I’m not confident this one will. I’m really praying his eye is saved. Time will tell!
The story starts almost 2 weeks ago, when my little cob came in from the field with an angry eye. Since you can’t mess around with eyes, I got the vet out, who found an ulcer the size of a 50p piece.
Since I’m lucky my vets have a decent equine hospital, he was taken straight in and a lavage system was put in place on his eyelid to blast the poorly eye with antibiotics, a lubricant and a serum, on a pump system every hour.
The eye didn’t make any progress at all, despite the aggressive treatment. So the practice got their ophthalmologist to have a look (although he was a small animal vet). It was spotted that the cornea was turning cone shaped and so he was rushed to Leahurst to their ophthalmology guys.
When he arrived you could see his eye sinking and it was noted that the cornea wasn’t as solid as it could be. He was put on drops every 15 minutes through the lavage system (thank heavens for vet students). That was the Tuesday.
On Wednesday I received a call that the eye was on the verge of collapse. The cornea was melting into a jelly-like consistency and I was told to prepare for the eye being removed. But first we would try a steroid, an unusual treatment for an eye ulcer.
The day after there had been stabilisation if not marginal improvement. But Albert’s mood had dropped and he was looking like he might colic. As a result of his low mood he was prescribed regular hand grazing. 24/7 stabling is tough on a horse who lives out in a herd normally.
The eye removal was delayed given the marginal improvement. It was also discovered that Albert doesn’t seem to make tears and so there was concern as to the condition of his other eye. So drops to lubricate that eye were commenced and a guardian fly mask required.
Since then it seems that each day the steroid is applied, there is marginal improvement the day after. But not enough.
It was decided to send Albert up to Penrith for corneal collagen cross linking, a new procedure for horses. We went today. The place was in an industrial estate and not very horsebox friendlh, but easy to find. We were shown to a stable with no bedding which looked very new.
The vet explained that Albert’s eye is very poor indeed. It seems that his body has attacked the eye rather than the ulcer and so it is melting. But, the hope was this treatment would work. It involves removing some of the jelly (melted cornea) and then using riboflavin and UV-A light to spur the collagen strands to form bonds across the cornea, solidifying it again.
By the end of the 2 hour treatment Albert’s eye was solid, albeit still a bit saggy at the bottom.
We will know in the next 4-7 days whether it worked. So fingers crossed. If not I think we’ve exhausted all options and it will have been an expensive experiment but the eye will be lost anyway. I know horses adapt but I’m not confident this one will. I’m really praying his eye is saved. Time will tell!
