Eyes weeping puss...

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aradiagreen

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My pony has often had runny eyes-clear tears-that I just clean away with wipes. Yesterday I found him with cream-coloured puss oozing from both eyes.

He is well in himself. He lives out & its been a wet wkend. He has no nasal discharge. I did wonder if his ears seemed gummy tho. I only had wipes with me so cleaned him up.

Should I call the vet??? His eyes seem fine & aren't swollen,just a little red. I'm guessing he has conjunctivitus or some kind of infection. I've read on the net that I should wash them out with saline solution.

Do I call the vet? It's just I've never had the vet out!
 
My loan horse had an eye infection, the vet cleaned it as horse wouldnt let me and gave me a little syringe of anti biotic ointment (some people use human ointment but I wanted him to check for foreign body etc) which was not much fun trying to put in each day! It didn't cost much and cleared up in a few days. I also put a fly mask on day and night to stop him rubbing debris into it as he was itchy - I think this what caused it actually.

That does sound more like conjunctivitis than a standard infection so I think defo a vet job.
 
Thanks ever so much for taking the time to reply. I feel so silly for asking. I worry about him and then worry I'm mollycoddling him! Unfortunately our vet is a long way away. How much would the vet cost dya think? Btw the cost makes no difference to whether or not I would call vet out!! I shall give them a call then.
 
Well I've just called vet-its £60 call out plus cost of any drugs on top. &I have to pay the £60 up front (I don't have it). Is it always this expensive? I've never had them out before except for his vacc!
 
Depends on the vets, ours is about £25 call out & they invoice you at the end of the month. Can you not explain your situation to the vets, or see if they would prescribe something for him over the phones, my old vets used to, if you explained the problem to them (provided you were sure what it was).
 
Surely you looked into vet costs before buying? And at the very least you should already know the call out fee from when vaccs were done.
 
The vet's coming tomorrow. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't over reacting by calling the vet out. I'd have done it anyway but I find feedback by other (more knowledgeable!) people comforting.

Our vet is a long way away but often goes to a yard that involves driving through our town. So for routine stuff like vaccs you can arrange it on that day & avoid paying call out!
 
Could you take the horse to the vet surgery to be examined - to save on the call out fee, although there would still be a consultation fee and cost of drugs.

You really can't mess about with eyes, and please don't use human drugs without a vet seeing him. No decent vet would put up drugs for this without seeing the eye first.

Always a good idea to have a little pot of money (bank account that you put £5 a week into) so that when things like this arise, it is not so much of a shock.

Another thought - what wipes do you use to clean his eyes. Most cleansing wipes are too strong for the eye area and that may be irritating it. Best to use clean cotton wool and clear water. Use a clean piece of cotton wool for each wipe of the eye.

Hope your horse gets better soon x
 
Glad you called the vet, you just cant mess around with eyes. My girl is prone to eye infections if I don't keep them clean and use a fly mask. like someone else said, use cotton balls and water to clean them. I make up little sterile pots with them in so I have them handy should her eyes play up, easier than boiling the kettle then waiting for the water to cool down. Vet will want to give eyes a good examination and probably put in drops that will show up any problems, doesn't hurt just gives green tears.
Hope it is quick to clear up x
 
Thanks again for everyones help.

Good point about the wipes-I only used them the once yesterday but was thinking they were handy! I won't use them again. Yep sterile water and cotton wool all the way! I thinly he'll just need some antibiotics...touch wood! Thanks again.
 
A youngster I had a few years ago always had watery eyes in summer with flies. One day hers were starting to run with pus. I immediately started to bathe them with cooled boiled water using separate cloths for a single wipe. I then applied Golden Eye ointment available from chemists off prescription. This ointment is anti biotic so does a similar job to the stuff a vet would apply. Before anyone shoots me down yes I know eyes are precious and was quite happy to fund a vets bill if needed but I sorted the problem within a day. I was meticulus with hygiene and carried on bathing her eyes for a few days after and applying the cream as per directions.
 
Thankyou! I might have given it a couple more days with a similar r,regime tbh but my vet is coming my way tomorrow anyway so my £60 call out is the discounted price!!! So it'd have to be tomorrow or next Wed & I don't want to have to wait that long if it doesn't improve!

I'm really not looking forward to trying to give him eye drops tho. He has mud fever & I can rarely get close enough to his heels to apply the cream! He's great at picking his feet up otherwise I hasten to add!
 
Glad you are having the vet. I hope it is nothing too serious. I use cold tea (no milk!!) for wiping eyes, and the teabags make handy wipes (gently so they don't split). If your pony is grey it ends up a bit stained though.

People using human products for horses, OK if you choose to as it is your risk but please don't recommend it on an open forum. Eyes are not for long range diagnosing and illegal remedy recommending.
 
sounds like conjunctivitus or a cold and vet will probably do a fluorescine stain (green dye comes out) this will show if there is any ulcer in the eye.

my shettie had discharge in his eye and thick nasal discharge 5 days ago, i bought some "bright eyes" herbs from "right as rain" on the net, you give 10g and i soak it in hot water which i then use to dampen down the food and put the rest of the herbs in the food, honestly i couldnt believe it within 2 days everything had gone, even the cob has had nice clear eyes and he usually has a bit of discharge in the morning, really worth a try.
 
Ouch 60 quid is quite a high callout fee, we have free callout on certain days and I think its only 45 or something other days. I've only ever needed free day or emergency callout for which I like to erase the price from my memory, it probably evens out :-)

I have never gone down the human medicine route myself, I don't know if it would necessarily do damage but its important to have someone check for foreign body and non obvious causes I think (a lady I know had a horse go blind in one eye). Also the vet gave it a good rinse and horse was twitched for the first dose of ointment which the vet did, at least getting some in there if he wouldn't let me near (it took a lot of attempts).
 
aradiagreen said:
My pony has often had runny eyes-clear tears-that I just clean away with wipes. Yesterday I found him with cream-coloured puss oozing from both eyes.

He is well in himself. He lives out & its been a wet wkend. He has no nasal discharge. I did wonder if his ears seemed gummy tho. I only had wipes with me so cleaned him up.

Should I call the vet??? His eyes seem fine & aren't swollen,just a little red. I'm guessing he has conjunctivitus or some kind of infection. I've read on the net that I should wash them out with saline solution.

Do I call the vet? It's just I've never had the vet out!
Click to expand...

PLEASE call the vet!!!

I went to a presentation night given by local vets last year and one of the things they talked about was eye problems. Apparantly, they are one of the worst problems because the make-up of the eye means that is infected, it very quickly worsens. I don't mean to be a scare mongerer, but they reckoned that if you saw an eye problem with your horse, you should call immediately!!!
 
I agree you don't mess around with eyes, but they do get gunky with these high winds

Best thing I've found is vetericyn which is now being used to clear conjunctivitis in cattle herds, and unlike the cream you just need to spray into the eye rather than fight with cream

Also available without prescription and doesn't sting
 
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