Horse appears irritated by his right eye?

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Irishbabygirl

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Hi all, I wonder if anyone can give me any advice?
I've noticed a few weeks ago that one of my horses seemed to be a bit irritated by his right eye. Not constantly, but enough for me to notice and to be concerned by it.
I had the vet up to take a look - he couldn't see anything and suggested it might be an allergy as this is the first spring in our new yard we moved to last summer. The eye is not weepy or red, looks completely normal.
Then we had that dry spell and he didn't rub at it at all so assumed all was well.
We've got rain this morning and he rubbing it on his leg and again, its not weepy or red but looks a bit "teary". This got me thinking it may be a weather related allergy to something as the first time he did it it was raining.
So those of you with any experience of this, have you got any advice or any medication ideas I could suggest with the vet to try? Would a fly mask help for instance? Any herbal supplements or similar?
Any ideas warmly welcomed! Thank you :-)
 
I would have the vet out again or another vet. In the meantime try a mask that has a good UV block factor or try bringing in out of the light and see if this helps. It could possibly be the start of uveitis and imo any symptoms such as this need taking very seriously, better safe than sorry and I hope it isn't uveitis and don't mean to scare you. x
 
The vet spent quite a long time examining it - and checked his teeth too (even though the dentist only came at the end of last year). The eye looks completely normal inside and out. Puzzling...
Hope its not Uveitis! :eek:
 
Irishbabygirl said:
The vet spent quite a long time examining it - and checked his teeth too (even though the dentist only came at the end of last year). The eye looks completely normal inside and out. Puzzling...
Hope its not Uveitis! :eek:
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Great the vet look time. I have a pony that had uveitis and I always think forewarned is forearmed. :) If low light helps then I would be very suspicious, the light causes pain when the eye reacts to it in uveitis.
 
My old pony developed something that sounds similar, with him it's an allergy, it only comes on at certain times and windy weather is the worse, it pushes the allergen into the eyes I think. I use cold tea to soothe it, seems to work ok.
 
He's been out 24/7 since the clocks went back and apart from this morning, its been fine since the vet saw it about a month ago following the first weekend I noticed it. I've just popped back up to check him and he's happily grazing but this morning he seems quite upset about it bless him :(
If it was Uveitis, would the eye rubbing be more consistent would you think?
Thank you for suggesting it - I will get the vet out again. How do they test for it? As I've mentioned, eye looks completely normal.
 
xxMozlarxx said:
My old pony developed something that sounds similar, with him it's an allergy, it only comes on at certain times and windy weather is the worse, it pushes the allergen into the eyes I think. I use cold tea to soothe it, seems to work ok.
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Do you give him anything else or use anything? Do you find its certain times of the year? Its wet and windy up there today - and was wet and windy the weekend around a month ago that I first noticed him doing it.
 
Hi, just the cold tea for my boy. It is always linked to windy weather can be sunny or rainy, tends to be worse in the spring/ summer. He had it badly one year at PC camp in July when it was windy. That was probably the worst and cold tea soothed it.
 
I've never tried TBH, he isn't particularly bothered by flies, and it only happens from time to time, I think he would rather have his face uncovered and me treat it.
 
Irishbabygirl said:
If it was Uveitis, would the eye rubbing be more consistent would you think?
Thank you for suggesting it - I will get the vet out again. How do they test for it? As I've mentioned, eye looks completely normal.
Click to expand...
My pony only rubbed occasionally. She was abroad at livery when she had her first bout and the first sign noticed was a slight cloudyness to the eye and tearing so I was told. It may well be some minor irritation in your horses case but I always think it's good to know about this so it can be caught as early as possible. Vets diagnose after a full opthalmic exam which it sounds like your vet did. Some will refer to a specialist.
It was the tearing and rubbing in one eye of your horse that made me think of it. Here's some info.
http://www.oceanstateequine.com/equineuveitis.html
 
He seems to be rubbing both eyes tonight so thinking more on the side of an allergy. Does anyone have any ideas? Vet again in the morning I'm thinking....
 
No, it was odd - went up there in the eve and decided to bring in as was chucking it down...and he hasn't done it since! Definitely think its more of sn allergy like yours so think I'll monitor it, almost keep a diary, and try the cold tea to sooth next time he does it I guess!
 
Mine is the same - he gets a swollen left eye everynow and then, tears and swelling and he rubs it - vet examined it on two occaisons, as I was worried about uveitis. It always comes on the day after its been windy, I find a fly mask helps him as long as its a shaped one that doesn't sit too close to the eye (equilibrium one is fab) I also bathe it with cold used tea bags, which seems to soothe it.
 
My boy hasn't done it since my original post which puts my possible weather related theory out the window as we've had all sorts since!
Think if he rubs it again I'll try the mask and the cold tea. Fingers crossed he won't though!
 
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