Update on Bailey - one week on, vet just been

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fine_and_dandy

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Just had a call from the vet after having seen Bailey a week after she saw him and found that he had an ulcer on his cornea and has uveitis.

It isn't great news. The ulcer is healing, but more slowly than the vet wants it to heal. She wants to put a lavage system in in order to get more drops in his eye and wants to bring him into the surgery to do this and to keep him in for up to 2 days. She said that when she went to look at him, he did try and evade her as he didn't want her to get to his eye.

I am upset, more than I thought I would be as I thought I had managed to harden myself up to what was going on. I also have a few issues with what I am being told, through worry and I think a lack of understanding, despite being told what is going on by the vet.

I have looked up what inputting a lavage system involves and to be perfectly honest, I really do not like the idea of it. For one, it is a foreign object going through the top of the eyelid and I think that it will be prone to infection. Bailey also likes to rub his face and if he catches the lavage system we will be faced with a bigger problem. I feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

Second, there is the issue of him staying at the vets for 2 days. She would only want him there to keep an eye on him (bad turn of phrase). Again, I have a concern with this. I know my horse and he does not do well in situations where there is nobody familiar with him. I don't know or think that it would benefit him staying at the vets - the stress of the situation would have, I think, a negative effect on him and his recovery.

I'm trying to think of what is best for Bailey and to do right by him, but I have niggling doubts as to whether this really is best for him. I feel quite uneasy about it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, and advice from anyone who has had experience of this to try and help me.
 
No idea about the vetinary side of things but im a great believer in following instincts. If I was worried like you I would get a second opinion from a different vet at the same practice or a different practice altogether. Different Vets tend to prefer different methods in my opinion and you may feel a different method may suit your horse better. If that makes sense!?
 
Just some positive imput - my friend's horse had a similar ulcer and had a lavage put in. He was fine, coped really well and the eye healed brilliantly in the end. He stayed at horse hopsital for a time but came home with it fitted and never had an issue of knocking it out.

I've had both my horses go to a horse hospital and both altho one in particular is sometimes distrusting of strangers when at home, they both adapted really well there and were fine.
 
That's rubbish, poor B. It must be very stressful for you.

I have no experience of this but is it possible to get a second opinion? They may come up with a different solution, they may not.
If that vet returns with the same verdict - that it's best for him to have the lavage system and come in to surgery for a few days - then that is what should be done, I'm afraid. He will be better off at a veterinary surgery with experts watching him, that's not to say that you wouldn't look after him well but they are trained & experienced in this field and personally I would be more at ease knowing that they will know what to do if something goes wrong. Horses are more robust than we give them credit for and, while it might be stressful, for the sake of a couple of days then it is best that he receives treatment. I know you know your horse but I think you might be projecting a little human emotion on to him because you are, naturally, very worried.
You will have to make sure that you do not encourage him to have his usual 'face rubs' and that others are fully aware that it's not to happen. Again, for the sake of his treatment, then you will have to look at what's best in the long run.
 
Hi fine_and_dandy

I am new to this forum (in fact this is the first thing I have ever written on here!) but seeing your post has made me really want to offer you support and wish you all the best with Bailey.

Last summer my mare was diagnosed with uveitis, was very sudden and she has no underlying injury. The vets said I had to put drops and cream in her eye 4x daily (which as I am sure you know is not easy!), it cleared up but then came back a couple of months later and the vets said she had recurring uveitis and they upped the drops etc. A lavage system was never suggested to me but I really wish it had been as I think part of what made the problem return was that I probably wasn't getting enough drops in her eye. So although I can totally understand your concerns I think its very important to make sure that he gets the drops in as much as possible.

Unfortunately, after a couple more bouts of uvetis the damage to my mare's eye was extensive and the vets said she had little or no sight in it and it was causing her pain; so I had to make the difficult decision to have the eye removed. This was done very successfully in February this year and I was back riding her after three weeks and in April she went out and had a double clear round a 2ft9 showjumping class, and seemed a lot more comfortable than before. She is now in foal and her lack of eye doesn't seem to have affected her at all!

However, I think if I had had the opportunity to try a lavage system when the problem first occured we may have been able to save the eye. And I am sure that Bailey will be fine at the vets as in my experience the care is top notch when they have to stay!

I wish you all the luck with him and hope everything turns out well, I am sure that with quick and proper treatment he will make a full recovery and I know exactly how you feel with your concerns. As others have said it may be an idea to get a second opinion just to put your mind at rest!

just realised how long this post is! Sorry, nobody will ever want to read a post by me again!!

Really hope all goes well for you and Bailey.
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Sorry for your troubles, but I too think that you would be better off having it fitted and nipping the problem in the early stages, rather than having to face the consequence of having an eye removed later on
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Merlin hates even being in a stable and he had to cope with 3 days of no contact or even being mucked out.. when he had his bone scan last year!!!

I am sure they will have ways of keeping him safe and happy...

Good luck in an impossible to decide situation
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You may have seen my recent posts in vets forum about having a horse with a lavage system, my horse has been in hospital with keratitis for the last few weeks with a lavage system. He doesn't mind it at all and hasn't managed to dislodge it despite rubbing his face on his stable door etc. Even when a couple of plasters came off and the tube was swinging around on his face, it didn't move from his eye. So it isn't that bad, honestly. (By the way his goes into his eye from underneath so may be slightly different I suppose).
And it sounds great news that vet only wants to keep an eye on him for a short while, then will let him come home again, rather than him having to be in for a long time. Maybe he would be allowed to come home after just one day?
Have my fingers crossed for you.
 
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