Uveitis? Experiences/thoughts/vibes please

Dizzykizzy

Dizzykizzy

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My friend's mare has just gone to the local vets to be "aggressively" treated for this dreadful condition. They have been battling for months now and just as it seemed to be getting a bit better she has had a dreadful attack again.
Has anyone direct experience of it? How frequent are the reccurrences and will it need aggressive treatment every time? my friend's bill is over £1K now (had to get a specialist vet to initially diagnose and the potion is £70+ per tube)and sadly she wasn't insured. An implant in her eye has been suggested as a way of delaying the attacks but that is upwards of a thousand pounds too. The money will be found as necessary but can anyone offer any hope of what she might be facing.
Also any spare vibes would be gratefully received. Thanks for reading.
 
The use of a cyclosporine implant has been demonstrated to markedly reduce the recurrence of this and should be seriously considered. It needs to be implanted after an acute attack is under control and is a relatively specialized procedure. I would suggest aggressive control of the current episode then ask for referral for an implant. They don't last forever and it will be expensive but otherwise it will return.
 
You'll be aware that the other term for uveitis is moon blindness because it used to be thought that the regular recurrence was linked to the phases of the moon. Sadly, it does keep recurring. Try searching through the Forum threads for "Guardian Mask". This mask is produced in America and has enjoyed a lot of success. It is sort of a hood with special built in covers for the eyes (look like fly eyes!) that cut out a huge % of uv light. Google Guardian Masks as well - masses of info out there and at a quite reasonable price I'd try it before more invasive solutions. You could post a thread on here asking for owner's opinions on the efficacy of the Guardian Mask. Good luck x
 
Thanks both, will pass the info on Guardian masks onto my friend.
Had a quick search and couldn't find much info on stockists in this country, does anyone know if you can buy them over here or if you have to import from USA and roughly how much are they?
Will update later when I hear how she is.
 
Hi, i have joined to see if anyone has had any similar experiences with uveitis, my cob has just had his eye removed as a result of uveitis that he suffered with for around 4 years. The attacks became more frequent and aggressive and eventually he also suffered with attacks of glucoma and developed a cataract which blocked most of his vision. We looked into all the treatment, but in the end the eye was just too damaged. He had many tests done for research purposes by numerous vets, and by the sounds of it treatment for uveitis has really come on since archie began suffering with it. I would advise to have the implant also, we always knew it was going to come back after it had been relieved through steriods ..but it really surprised us how quickly the condition worsened and the ye became unsavable. Archie wore a UV mask for years, day in day out and i think this helped, and i did look at the guardian mask just before we had to remove the eye, i think (?) i found a stockist in cornwall.. Hope this helps, if you want to know anythin else let me know :) x
 
I ordered the Guardian mask from the USA, only took 5 days to arrive. It filters out 95% of the suns rays. My horse has cataracts and a reoccurring eye condition. Not diagnosed as Uveitis yet. His eye lids swell up and his eyes run. The eye itself has suffered no damage. To be honest the mask has not stopped his coming back.
 
Thanks everyone, sadly my friend's horse has gone blind in her eye and it cannot be saved.
She will be coming home tomorrow. Can anyone give any advice on how to help her get used to being blind in one eye.
 
Is she having the eye removed? Sometimes the condition that leads to the blindness can cause such intense and unrelenting pain inside the eye that it has to be removed. But the end result is the same, ie blind in one eye.

To help a horse that is newly blind, the owner has to sort of "be" the missing eye for a few weeks. You'd be surprised how quickly horses adapt but they do need some help in the beginning. I'd take any corner mangers etc out of the stable and feed from a bowl on the floor, placed well away from the wall. In the early days, the horse thinks that if he can't see anything on one side, then there isn't anything there. So if the feed bowl is close to a wall, the horse will forget the wall is there and if he looks up during feeding he will clonk himself on the wall and startle himself. Whenever the owner or anyone else is handling the horse eg farrier, vet, dentist, talk quietly to him all the time and lay your hand on his shoulder as you move around him so he knows where you are. Be cautious about turning him out with other horses for a while until he works out a different way of knowing where they are if they're on his blind side. After a while it won't matter as he'll get better at listening for clues rather than seeing them. If you lead the horse be aware at all times of his blind side so you don't scrape him into a wall or hedge or fence. If you lead him in a field with other horses in, be extra careful. Petty jealousies can cause another horse to take a swipe at the horse being led away and the first thing your horse will know about it is a sudden bite or worse on the side where he thought there was nothing. He might leap suddenly to his seeing side and you could be hurt. Be aware that your horse may drop down in the pecking order...he may not but just watch out for his welfare for a bit. Out hacking, be aware that he may be suddenly startled by things suddenly appearing out of nowhere and he may spook to his seeing side which might be into traffic or another horse or a ditch. Jumping and dressage - you'd be amazed but after a settling in period, he'll be doing both again just as well as before, although he may need some time to feel comfortable about both reins in the school. Lunging on his blind side might need some lateral thinking as he won't be able to see your body language. If you link what your body is saying to a word, he'll soon get the hang of it. Take care with travelling as he won't be able to see projections on his blind side and nasty accidents can occur in the box/trailer.

And above all never, ever, ever, ever, ever pity him and see him as an invalid or let your friends pity him and see him as an invalid. He's the same horse with all the character and quirks he had before. Just love him a little bit more and you'll be fine. And I say this as the owner of a horse blinded in one eye for over 3 years now. If your friend wants any more info, just ask xxx
 
Box of frogs, Fantastic reply, worthy of publication, I wish I had read this 30 years ago when my horse lost an eye .........every word you've written is so, so true, XX
 
I have two horses who have lost the sight in one eye since I bought them (yep, I'm jinxed), and both have reacted very very differently.
My mare is a bit quirky anyway, and losing her sight has made her unrideable - she panics if anything is on her right hand side, and although I'm sure she'd be safe 99% of the time, I don't want to frighten her or have something happen that I wasn't expecting result in an accident.
However, my gelding has coped brilliantly! I have had to completely adjust the way I handle him - as Box of Frogs outlined - and have to be particularly aware of his blindness when we're out hacking, but because he trusts me and is comfortable with letting me be his right eye, we don't have any problems at all. He still hunts, competes, hacks out, and is turned out with other horses. Because I've changed how I handle him so much, and he is so calm about being blind in that eye, people don't notice! They always ask why he has a patch of ice blue in his right eye, and then say "wooow, he's so good!" (including the vet the other day, who said he was a credit to me, which made me SOOOOOOOOO happy and glowy!).
For instance... I know he can cope with cars coming past on his blind side, but I warn him for things like bikes and large lorries - we either turn around so he can see them, or I call back and ask the cyclists to shout that they're coming past. We also do gates in a very different way now, and I can't let him dawdle about on the end of the leadrope in case he walks into the gatepost or a tractor or something!
The only real problems we've had since his blindness are:
1)he does bump into things if he's in a new stable, and if you're not loud enough he'll bump into you!
2) for about a year he would only go onto the 9 horse lorry (not funny when you've only got one horse to move!) because he could see the whole space, but now he's fine about all lorries - even 3.5tonnes!
3) we now have to jump the left hand side of cross poles, and he can't be lunged any more as he panics when he's on the right rein and can't see me, so I long rein instead - consequently I've now got legs of steel and he's got lovely bum muscles. He also can't be led from other horses any more, but is still fine to lead from so that's not a problem either!

As a former puissance horse, jumping is his life and his true love, and I'm amazed that after 21 years of jumping with two eyes, he now, at 24, jumps beautifully with one. Even out hunting!

Losing an eye isn't the end of the world, it does depend on the horses temperament to begin with, but equally on the bond you have with the horse. My mare has always been difficult, and my gelding has always been a saint, so I'm not too surprised that things have turned out the way they have.
Wish your friend luck, and give that horse a big cuddle, if she'd like to talk to a horse who's been there, Roy is available!
 
Thank you everyone, I am going to print this off for my friend, she is very sad and weepy about what has happened and I think these positive responses will give her the hope she needs.
The eye has not been removed, vet said it will just shrink in time.
Wow, that mare on the link, she is amazing to have gone through so much and what a fantastic home she has!
 
Vibes for the poor mare, mine has it and it's not nice during flare ups. Mine was in hospital for a month when the eye was badly ulcerated almost 3 years ago but has never had to go back in again *touch wood*. His flare ups are caused by mainly stress and thought to be auto immune and allergen related. He now lives out 24/7 in a small herd to reduce stress and exposure to rat urine (his biggest trigger) and dust. The Last bill for the flare up was £100 and the one before that was just over £150 as the eye unfortunately ulcerated due to a new vet not knowing his case :( I have to cashel crusader masks, one is blacked out on the bad side and he wears that during flare ups (he is stabled during the day for the first few days of each episode with the mask aswell) and in very bright weather, the rest of the time he wears the other one. Each case varies but once it is under control it is much easier. For instance Pharaoh must go on oral anti-biotics aswell as drops and bute (3 sachets for the first day, then down to two for the next two days, then one a day for 2 weeks etc), now most vets would say this is too strong and that the oral anti-biotics are not needed but there is no way it can be kept under control without them! He is almost blind in his bad eye but Pharaoh still leads an extremely happy life enjoying everything he does although there are times when you do have to think 'is he messing about because he naughty or is it his sight' and what B_O_F has written is very good adivce :)
 
My first mare had this in the 80s but not much known then

i too bought a guardian mask also i am keeping a record of the day time weather, etc in a diary to try pin point the trigger, my current mare also only just been diagnosed with it waiting for vet again now

i bought one from the usa to keep a diary note the weather dust wind snow etc to work out cause i have to horses with it the recent one only had it 1 year and i had her since 15 months old and she now 23
 
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