Swollen/gunky eye- Flower stuck in it?

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casio

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Hi,

Hopefully you guys can offer me some advice! Yesterday when my horse was brought in her eye was fully closed and swollen, the girl at the yard is great and she cleaned it then bathed with tea bags and found there was a flower/grass thing stuck in there, she managed to get it out but there was a lot of gunk.

I went down an hour or so after and her eye was still really swollen and there was loads of thick, creamy gunk in her eye, and it was open, but not fully. I cleaned it and bathed it again and she seemed perfectly happy, but it did seem sore.

This morning the yard said her eye is still swollen, but it was open, although not fully and there was some gunk, but nothing like yesterday. They've cleaned it and bathed it again... but should I be worried?

I know eyes are sensitive but I don't want to call the vet out unless it's necessary, as it seems to be getting better but don't know if I should wait and see how she is when she comes in at 5pm or if it's a lot more serious than I'm thinking?

Thank you :)
 
I always get a vet out for swollen and/or very gunky eyes as I know I can't tell whether theres been any damage done to the eye or not and want a vet to check, and also in case theres any infection that needs treatment. My mare has had conjunctivitus a couple of times and needed some drops from the vet which cleared it up quickly. I appreciate however that it is a personal choice, but I follow my vets advice with eyes which is to have them looked at straight away. I wouldn't worry though as it probably is something and nothing :) I just can't bring myself not to get it checked!
 
I would always get eye problems looked at by a vet straight away, having ignored my own eye problem and then having to be referred to the hospital to get it sorted out when an early optician/GP appt would probably have cleared it up quickly.
 
I would also ring a vet. Dependant on when he could come out, I would personally toddle off to the supermarket and just get some "general" soothing eye drops to try and help.
 
Vet out, always. I have a pony with one eye, admittedly a vet would never have saved his eye however they are so so delicate I would never think twice about getting one. My pony caught his good eye recently and the thought of not treating it quickly resulting in him losing his only eye is terrifying.
 
casio said:
Thank you for your responses :) I've rung the vet and sent some picture over to her and she's coming out tomorrow
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Good decision. The flower or whatever it was more likely got stuck in the gunk when she rolled or lay down rather than caused the gunkiness.
I am seeing lots of horses with sticky eyes at the minute at work which appear to be nothing more than mild conjunctivitis for some reason but having had a horse with severe awful eye problems its a risk id never take myself.
Its probably nothing that a bottle of drops wont sort out x
 
Glad you've got the vet coming out, but today would be even better...

I've just had the vet out for one of mine who had a weeping eye! She confirmed that there was no damage visible and prescribed a short course of maxitrol antibiotic/steroid ointment. Which can apparently do a massive amount of damage if used inappropriately by well meaning lay people but is fine in this case. She will revisit if the eye continues to weep or restarts after the maxitrol course is finished.

Equine eyes can go very wrong very quickly,they are much more vulnerable to permanent damage than dog's eyes for instance, so always best to get them seen to ASAP.
 
The main worry with eye problems is an ulcer, so if I knew there had been a foreign body in there I would get it checked as it could have scratched the outer surface and cause infection. My small pony is getting gooey eyes at the moment and it was swollen one day, but I bathed it and as it had gone down the next day I just kept bathing it and didn't worry. If it had fully closed I would consider that quite an extreme reaction.

Actually I went camping at the weekend and one of my friends woke up with an eye really puffed up and almost closed! It went down but maybe there are some particular allergens around at the moment!
 
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