eye ulcer and fixed pupil

D

DanielleP

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 September 2006
Messages
442
Location
East Sussex
Visit site
We ll as the post said on sunday my horse was found in her field with a poorly eye i called the vet immediately and they diagnosed a corneal ulcer however the puil was fixed and remains fixed. My mare is also pregnant! She is on chlorophenical (sp) atrapine and ilube which i am administering every 2 hours. Has anyone else experienced anything like this. They have told me it may come to the point when i need to make a decision as to wther the horses eye or the foal is the priority should she need an op. HELP!
 
crikey, that sounds awful, how worrying for you. if the mare isn't ridden any more (just a broodmare) then only having one eye won't worry her, i think. if it was my choice, i'd put the foal first, over saving the eye, but i'd be guided by your vet, obviously. very best of luck to you and her (and the foal).
frown.gif
 
Can't help or offer advice on the eye problem itself , but agree with above that mare will probably cope just fine with one eye if it comes to that. Had pony with one eye and he coped amazingly well, was still ridden and did lots of PC stuff, one of Pammy Hutton's dressage horses only had one eye (Amanti?) and also heard of an eventer with one eye, but I am hoping you don't have to make that decision. Poor mare and poor you.
 
The mare was put into foal by me as i got very attached to her and i orignally got her for a event horse (she was a show jumper) but the dressage wasnt up to scratch, she just loves to go really fast and/or jump! So as she done well in the show ring, is a proven sj and has fab breeding i thought i would get a nice foal out of her, plus i was also hoping it may calm her down, so yes she is rideable (if not a little crazy) but not 'useful' to me as a riding horse. She has specialist at 2pm tomorrow so i will discuss my options then. Thanks for your reply.
 
Yeah i used to know a lovely show jumper with only the one eye, i am sure she would cope i just hate having to be the one to condemn her to the one eye should i have to:(
 
My mare had this, 10 days in vet school with eye drops every few hours. She is fine now with slight grey cloudy bit on eye. Think her vision is still 100%. Think good recovery depends on getting the right medication as soon as poss and as often as poss.
 
Danielle - I lost a 6-month battle to save my hore's eye about 2 years ago. He is totally fine now with just one eye and a fabulous safe hack. Overnight, he developed an ulcerated cornea and the whole thing degenerated into an autoimmune disease, superficial keratitis with uveitis thrown in for good measure. The atropine is to try to stop further damage as the ulceration will cause adhesions to form in the eye. I'm not a vet but I think the fixed pupil may already mean there are adhesions, which may mean it is a nasty infection. I guess the threat to the foal is because if the mare needs the eye removed she will need a general anaesthetic which may cause the foal to abort. Get your vets to tell you EVERYTHING in easy to understand language so you know exactly what's going on so you can make informed decisions on your mare. You also need to insist on an equine eye specialist as it is a VERY specialised field! Wishing you and your horse the very, very best of luck and tons of hugs xxx
 
Many thanks, She has the eye specialist tomorrow so hopefully i will know more then all i can do is continue with the 2 hourly meds and keep my fingers crossed till then!
 
Wishing you all the best with this. Our horse developed an ulcer and we had to administer the 8 times a day medication, the eye was scraped but there was a nasty bug (psuedonomos ?SP). She had a lens fitted for a while and since its removal has been fine (about 18 months ago now). I know nothing about the fixed pupil, but hope you get this sorted - it tool a couple of months for ours to sort out and all of what was done was able to be done with her standing, with local anaesthetic.
 
My friend had a horse with the same problem. The lid was sown shut as a last resort - and did the trick.

Vision is limited in that eye, but he didn't loose it.
 
Danielle - one more point - take HUGE care with administering ointment direct into a horse's eye coz it was that that trashed the small forward progress we had made. Sunny had to have meds administered 4 times a day and as I was working full time, he was in full livery and the staff applied most of the ointment. Without telling me it had happened, somebody managed to stab Sunny in the eye with the pointy end of the ointment that was to stop his body's response to an infection that wasn't there (that's the autoimmune part). Of course, what that did was instantly set up a REAL infection and all the gains we had made were wiped out and it was downhill all the way from there for another 3 months. At that time, the disease totally took over and the only option was to remove the eye. The trick is to hold the tube PARALLEL to the eye, not at 90 degrees to it. If at all possible, its safer to put the ointment on a clean finger and squish the finger into the eye. Your finger can't further damage the cornea...the sharp end of a tube can. I'd really love to know how your girl gets on xxx
 
Sorry can't really remember. But there was secondary uvietis and the autoimmue thing thats been mentioned. Also had the tube through the eye lid as after a week she didn't want drops near her anymore!
 
I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. Ulcers that occur as a result of an injury usually heal quite quickly. Worth seeing a specialist though to make sure the eye gets appropriate treatment.

Was the pupil fixed in a constricted or dilated position? With corneal ulcers it is relatively common to get some degree of secondary uveitis, which would cause the pupil to constrict to limit light in the painful eye. After atropine is administered then it's quite normal for the pupil to be fixed in a dilated position for days after even a single administration.

The specialist might consider changing the medication your horse is on. Gentamicin is commonly used in eyes, and is often chosen over chloramphenicol. Also serum obtained from the horses own blood is very beneficial to healing when applied topically into the eye.

Generally drops are preferable to ointments as they are easier to get into the eye, and there is less risk of damaging the surface of the eye as you administer them. Also consider putting a mask on her as eye ulcers can cause irritation which then results in the horses doing itself further damage as it tries to itch the eye.

Medicating eyes is very time consumming and tedious, but hopefully it will all be worth it and her eye will heal well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top