Love
Well-Known Member
My connemara has had an ongoing infection in his left eye since around this time last year.
To look at, somedays it can just be a bit watery, other days it looks ok and others, like today, yellow pus is running out of it.
When we first noticed it last year, we got the vet out who treated it for conjunctivitis with antibiotic drops. Not sure if it was because Kenny was a s*d to get them in and not enough were getting to where they needed to be or they just weren't ever going to work, but the result was not good.
We got the vet back out who sad it might be a blocked tear duct, so he was sedated and his tear duct was flushed - well i have never seen so much gunk! That seemed to clear it for a week or 2 but it then came back so the vet came back out to flush it again. It was flushed about 3 times in total before it was apparent that it was only a short term solution as it was just coming back again after each flush.
Our vet then told us about the possibility of a lavage system - a tube inserted through his upper eyelid and running down his neck so that antibiotics could be administered properly from the neck end. The day she came to fit it she told us she had been in touch with a specialist from another equine vet branch who had said that lavage systems very rarely work and that there was no point trying it, he suggested operating to redirect his tear duct into his sinus hopefully above where it was blocking to cure it.
So we took him in to the other vets to have the operation done.
Got a phone call from the vet to say he had x-rayed his head and that there was no deformity or anything to his tear duct, it was all how it should be. He had flushed it again and put a lavage system in (?!!) despite him telling us that they rarely work. He just said the operation was not needed.
Got him home and we were treating him with the antibiotics how we were told. They ran out and we contacted the vets who inserted it to see what we should do next and they said to leave it in even though it was not being used and get in touch. Bearing in mind with it in he was not able to be ridden or turned out so was getting very down in himself.
A couple of weeks later he then coliced badly and had to be rushed to the emergency vets (a different vet branch to the other 2). He was treated for the colic and we asked them to just take the lavage out as it wasn't doing anything and was really rather gross by this point so can't have been good! Turns out it had been inserted wrong in the first place, so never could have worked! and the worst bit being his eyelid had actually grown over the end of the tube! Poor lad must have been so uncomfortable.
Once the lavage was taken out they flushed his eye and sent of a culture of the pus so they could pinpoint the best antibiotics for him. And they actually cleared it up totally for a few months! He came back into work and was back to his old self again!
But now the infection has come back. The vets are coming out to him and he is still himself, not down or anything. I bathe it daily and put vaseline on the skin underneath so the discharge doesnt irritate his skin.
Just at a total loss as what to do next! Is it likely that it will just need to be flushed say every few months for the rest of his life?
Just looking for some advice really if anyone has any experience at all.
Well done if you made it this far!
To look at, somedays it can just be a bit watery, other days it looks ok and others, like today, yellow pus is running out of it.
When we first noticed it last year, we got the vet out who treated it for conjunctivitis with antibiotic drops. Not sure if it was because Kenny was a s*d to get them in and not enough were getting to where they needed to be or they just weren't ever going to work, but the result was not good.
We got the vet back out who sad it might be a blocked tear duct, so he was sedated and his tear duct was flushed - well i have never seen so much gunk! That seemed to clear it for a week or 2 but it then came back so the vet came back out to flush it again. It was flushed about 3 times in total before it was apparent that it was only a short term solution as it was just coming back again after each flush.
Our vet then told us about the possibility of a lavage system - a tube inserted through his upper eyelid and running down his neck so that antibiotics could be administered properly from the neck end. The day she came to fit it she told us she had been in touch with a specialist from another equine vet branch who had said that lavage systems very rarely work and that there was no point trying it, he suggested operating to redirect his tear duct into his sinus hopefully above where it was blocking to cure it.
So we took him in to the other vets to have the operation done.
Got a phone call from the vet to say he had x-rayed his head and that there was no deformity or anything to his tear duct, it was all how it should be. He had flushed it again and put a lavage system in (?!!) despite him telling us that they rarely work. He just said the operation was not needed.
Got him home and we were treating him with the antibiotics how we were told. They ran out and we contacted the vets who inserted it to see what we should do next and they said to leave it in even though it was not being used and get in touch. Bearing in mind with it in he was not able to be ridden or turned out so was getting very down in himself.
A couple of weeks later he then coliced badly and had to be rushed to the emergency vets (a different vet branch to the other 2). He was treated for the colic and we asked them to just take the lavage out as it wasn't doing anything and was really rather gross by this point so can't have been good! Turns out it had been inserted wrong in the first place, so never could have worked! and the worst bit being his eyelid had actually grown over the end of the tube! Poor lad must have been so uncomfortable.
Once the lavage was taken out they flushed his eye and sent of a culture of the pus so they could pinpoint the best antibiotics for him. And they actually cleared it up totally for a few months! He came back into work and was back to his old self again!
But now the infection has come back. The vets are coming out to him and he is still himself, not down or anything. I bathe it daily and put vaseline on the skin underneath so the discharge doesnt irritate his skin.
Just at a total loss as what to do next! Is it likely that it will just need to be flushed say every few months for the rest of his life?
Just looking for some advice really if anyone has any experience at all.
Well done if you made it this far!
