human eye drops for horses?

emmanash

emmanash

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 September 2009
Messages
313
Location
Cornwall
Visit site
Hello all,
For the last few days my mare has had a watering eye. I think she may have got a bit of haylage in it as she's just starting being fed out in the field. We have also had strong winds recently so could be this also. I can see nothing in the eye and it isn't puffy, just red in the corner where it's been watering. I've been told that human eye drops can be used on horses and was wondering wether to give it a go. Has anyone used human drops on their horse? If so what did you use and was it effective?
If the eye gets worse I will get the vet out but at the moment I don't think it's needed.

Thanks in advance
 
You could try them but in all honesty if she were developing an ulcer then you would not necessarily be able to see it and it could be so much worse by the time the vet is called
frown.gif


The haylage could still be in there rubbing away at the cornea.....

Is it worth the risk for an eye???
 
I always err on the side of caution and call the vet out for eyes, there are so many things that can go wrong that you would not be able to see. On the positive side the vet can sort out many eye problems quite easily.

Yes, I think human eye drops are fine, my vet suggested them the other day when F was showing some signs of conjunctivitis to see if we could get away with it without having to give him steroid drops.
 
ok thanks for your replies, I think I'll get the vet out tomorrow. I'm usually on the phone to the vet at the first hint of any problems, but i was trying to not panic and give it a few days!
 
If either of our have a gunky eye (and they always seem to get them when they have been over at our friend's place for some reason) we use human eye drops, as advised by our equine vet. They cost about €3, as opposed to a vet call out and prescription drugs. I think they are called Tobradex in the UK and this usually clears it up within three days.

When I first met, what later became, our old mare, about two years ago, she had constantly runny eyes with great tear tracks down her face and when she and FB arrived here we put these drops in her eyes for five days and it all went away. Poor old girl, all those months for the sake of €3
frown.gif
 
My boy gets this every summer because he scratches his legs I normally squirt a bit of saline in it and it clears. This year tho it went gunky. I think I paid a tenner for his eye drops from the vet.

Never had the vet out however if it continued for more than the 7 days of the eye drops I would have.
 
NOOOOOOOO whenever eyes are involved get the vet - even if you only phone them - too dangerous to put anyhting into eyes - dog, cat horse -whetever ...eyes = vets
sorry!
 
As others have said, eyes are far too precious to risk self-treatment in anything other than THE most bog standard eye problems eg strong-wind watery eyes. Take great care administering human eye drops. Most over-the-counter drops only soothe but wouldn't get rid of an infection. And you could easily think you had the problem in hand and miss eg an ulcerated cornea. And anti-bacterial eye drops left over from something else may not be right for the particular infection a horse may have and, again, you could make the situation worse. You need the vet to put dye into the eye to check for ulceration from eg a foreign body (that might still be in there) before prescribing the right medication.

And a word of warning - sorry if everyone's sick of seeing me post this - but do be very very careful putting anything in a horse's eye. One anxious jerk from the horse at the wrong time and you can scratch or even puncture the cornea with the (usually) pointy end of the tube. This can turn a relatively simple problem into a catastrophe (see Sunny in my sig below). Safest way to get cream into a horse's eye is to apply it to the tip of a clean finger and then press your safe and squishy finger into the eye. Drops you have to be more inventive with but the dangers are identical.
 
The products prescribed for eyes for animals are the same products prescribed for humans. The obvious point is that they are prescription medications so a vet has to see the animal and prescribe the right product. The usual antibiotic eye medication is fucithalmic, which is also prescribed for people by the doctor for conjunctivitis.

Chloramphenicol is also a human eye medication for mild conjunctivitis that you can now buy over the counter as Optrex Infected Eyes. I used this on my horse on one occasion when she was living out and found it really effective and easy to administer as I could squirt it without the danger of scratching the eye like you can encounter with fucithalmic like BoF says. It cleared the condition immediately. If not I would definitely have called the vet out.

My dog has ongoing treatment for her eye as she was blinded in one eye by an accident a few years ago, and all her medications are by Allergan, these are products manufactured primarily for humans but used in veterinary surgeries for small animals.
 
AS others have said, do be careful about eyes as can deteriorate quickly but if its only mild runny eye (no gunk/colour in discharge) you might want to have a go treating yourself. I use human Optrex solution to cleanse my old boy's eyes in Summer when the flies bother him and find it works nicely. An old vet also once recommended cold, strong tea for soothing eyes. I even found that applying it using the teabag worked pretty well as you can squeeze it gently into the eye! Good luck
 
When I used to work at the livery yard, we had an old mare with eye problems- the vet prescribed Brolene eye drops for her. These can be brought at most pharmacists, however I would still get vet out as other people have suggested, as it could be any number of things causing the problem.
 
Golden Eye ointment - not for a full blown infection though. You can put some on your finger rather than risk poking them in the eye with the tube. Great stuff. If in doubt, defo call the vet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top