Uveitis/moonblindness

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pixiebee

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Just had my horse diagnosed with uveitis in one eye, the vet was having a manic evening so I didn't want to quiz her too much as I could see she was busy. I am looking on the net for info but what I really want to know is if anyone has any personal experience with it? How often did it reoccur? Did you have to keep a mask on all the time, even riding? Will he be able to be ridden as normal when the flare up eases? Do you give any supplements that help? Will it spread to both eyes? I have had him 5 months and his previous owner a year. I have asked her if he had any issues before and she said no, so could it have gone that long before a flare up? Could he have got it recently? I'm totally gutted and confused.
 
Hi bit of a bummer uveitis

Have a search of threads - the poster Whiskey has not long been through this and there were lots of replies

Personally mine got it when he was 23 (now 25)- why who knows - it started in the other eye but this was under control very quickly.

Mine had a levage tube fitted and was in place for 2 months. Personally if it happened again I would get this fitted quick sharp as mine got pee'd off very quickly at having drops put in - which was half the problem in shifting it

I used a guardian mask last summer during the day i took it off over night just before dark and it was on again by about 6am - mine was rubbing him so I gave him a break - whether it was the mask that has stopped a reoccurance I don't know but I wasn't going to take any chances. I didn't use it last winter and I haven't this winter either. They do however recommend 24 hours a day throughout the year

Touch wood no further problems as yet - but it isn't called equine reoccuring uveitis for nothing.

Good luck - hope your boy gets better soon.

ETA don't bother getting two separate masks you can ride in the field mask
 
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I cant help you with moonblindness as my lass is going blind for other reasons but please call your vet ask them to meet you at yard or surgery and talk to them please as they know best - my only words are dont - as i did - panic but talk to your vet - people on here are brilliant but they are not your vet - book some time to talk - and btw a big hug in my thoughts x
 
I had a pony with it some years ago, in both eyes. When first diagnosed (bad) vet told me i may aswel pts. I went to another vet who was an opthamologist and he was great. It was tough to treat, dark stable, regular drops inc through the night but i got to know it and knew when the pony was bad and when he was ok.
Eventually i did have him pts, but 4 years after that first vet told me to! I had him pts because he was a very nervous little chap and i felt he had reached a point of danger when i found him with blood filling both eyes. I was so scared i would find him in the river one day, so i gave him as much life as i could safely provide and called it a day when i feared he was deteriorating badly. He got to a point that he was scared to come to me as he couldn't see where i was or what was between us. This would freak him out, and he couldn't handle it well. Another horse would cope much better, it's just this boy was a rescue with no trust to start with so losing his sight was a huge problem.
I believe the treatment options are far better these days. (Was about ten years ago.) So much better that if he were diagnosed now, he may haver survived after surgical intervention. I would be quite positive with your horse, especially as he only has it ion one eye. As far as i know there is nothing to say he will get it in the other. My boy was afflicted in both eyes at the same time. I would be looking into treatments, atropine is essential i think and speak to a veterinary opthalmologist about surgical options.
Best of luck
 
I have one with severe recurrent uveitis and I have found maxitrol to be the best eye treatment for him. He is now quite blind and his flare ups are severe but he has has this years so as your horse has just been diagnosed I'm sure it can be kept under control well. I would call your vet to have a chat and put your mind at rest as although it can't be cured it can be treated effectively. also it has not in my case spread to the other eye, he doesn't wear a mask in winter but in spring/ summer he does due to suns strength.
 
I think he is going to be a monkey to get drops in. He is awkward at the best of times. Will look into the tube! Vet coming back out on tues. Have been left with some powder stuff and bute to go in food and some eye drops beginning with c??? Long name! Am hoping he eats his food as he knows when something is in it that shouldn't be and refuses to eat it! Tried disguising it with molasses, not sure if it will work!
 
My horse had flare ups every 6 weeks, the longest je would go was 11. The secret is just to be vigilent and treat as soon as they have a flare up, the quicker you treat it the less damage is done to the eye. I also had Maxitol drops and used to give bute for about 5 days. I used to use a guardian mask in the daytime, I would only put it on at night if it had flared up. But I'm sorry to say i didn't find that it lessoned the attacks. Good luck with your horse.
 
The powder is possibly antibiotics and the bute should help with the discomfort and any swelling. The drops you've been given could be either corticosteroid or a newer drug cyclosporin (sp?) depending on what the actual diagnosis is. As you had the vet come quickly (and well done again for taking this seriously) and have now started treatment then hopefully it will clear up easily. If it is ERU then the chances are this will happen again. If it is just a one-off ulcerated eye injury then it's possible it could heal up without the eye deteriorating at all. You should call into the surgery and ask the vet any questions you have.

If your horse is picky with his feed then I'd forget about putting any medication in it as you risk him not ingesting it. I would put the bute and powder in a syringe with a little water, shake it and then syringe it into his mouth.
 
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One of our ponies was diagnosed with uveitis recently, but it eventually turned out to be a viral eye infection which had triggered the uveitis. So the initial treatment for the uveitis (steroid drops and cream) actually allowed the viral infection to really take hold. This has now been treated. So worth keeping an open mind at this early stage. The eye had tiny little pockets of infection which were visible on the cornea, even without staining.

Good luck.
 
It might be Chloramphenicol (or similiar??) which we had for our mare? We had it as drops and also as a cream, I found the cream was easier to administer - she was a naughty patient.

Our vets helped as best they could but I would highly recommend the vets at Leahurst - i went there with her not knowing what was going on really, and my vets didnt truely know what was going on either - but they have eye specialists there, I came home with her with a plan of action and loads of help and information which helped my vets too.

Good luck x
 
Mine had it when he was younger from trauma to the eye, he is now 7 and in full time work competing etc and living a normal life, I'm always aware and conscious about his " bad" eye but if you manage him well fingers crossed it shouldn't be recurring.
 
I have two experiances for this one was a friends horse itrecovered quickly never suffered again .
One was mine and after a long and awful saga he was PTS please get in touch with the vet and get her to explain it all clearly to you so you understand it fully it's potentially very serious and you need to understand exactly wants going on call them out again tomorrow if you are not happy .
Good luck I'll be thinking of you.
 
As a poster above has mentioned, ERU seems to be a catch-all with some vets these days, so it may not be definite at this stage that your horse has ERU. One further point I'd make (in case you're not experienced with this sort of thing) is DO NOT take the eye drop/ointment to the eye, put the ointment/drops on your finger and take your finger to the eye (keep one finger with a short nail so as not to stab the eyeball).
 
Spring Feather said:
g) is DO NOT take the eye drop/ointment to the eye, put the ointment/drops on your finger and take your finger to the eye (keep one finger with a short nail so as not to stab the eyeball).
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Your finger isn't sterile, the top of the bottle of drops is normally rounded so it won't hurt if it does touch the eye, if you insert drops into the conjunctiva - the inner corner part of the horses eye and work the bottle on an angle rather directly into th eye, you shouldn't have any trouble with inserting the drops- get someone to help for the first time if your not sure.
 
I found that the best way was to fit his headcollar quite snug then put my hand inside the headcollar cheeks while pulling the lower eye open with that hand. Then i had some control of his head, though ideally you want three hands!
My boy suffered badly with uveitis. I tried all the old wives tales for him too, and had a 'healer' who didn't make any difference. I was cvlutching at straws as back thern, treatment was limited. I thought i read recently that an implant can greatly reduce the frequency of attacks.
One thing I learned for sure was to get a specialist involved asap. The eye is a very coplex and fragile structure and vets don't know enough to supervise such a serious problem. My original vet wasted 3 months of the ponies life, and spent hundreds of pounds of my money experimenting with the pony. He blatently used the case as an opportunity to learn, without really caring for the patient or the client. I watched him chase my pony into a wall one day when he wanted to see how blind he was. I was screaming, 'he can't f@kin see!' but he didn't listen to me. It was soon after that he reccomended pts as he couldn't treat him. ****** forgot to tell me there was a veterinary opthalmologist not 5 miles from my home! Went to Robert Pontefract who was excellent. Cared for the pony and the outcome, and helped me learn how to manage ther condition. I believe he gave my pony another 4 years of good life before I had to make the decision.
Get a specialist involved, sooner rather than later.
 
I have the vet back out on tuesday for a checkup. I am going to ask her about that implant thing. In the meantime I am giving him some bute, anti-inflammatries and putting the eye drops in. After a 10 minute battle with the tube nearly poking his eye, I decided to put a glob on my finger and squidge it in his eye. Not the most tactful method but at least it went in his eye!
 
Yes, My daughter's beautiful pony suffers from it. I read everything i could and terrified myself when he was diagnosed in reality he's a normal youngster.
He is already 95% blind in the affected eye so i dont have the panic of saving his sight. The biggest problem is he is quite spooky sometimes but the actual uveitus is relatively easy to deal with. He gets the off flare up and instantly i drop him and put on his mask- He has equilibrium rather than guardian ones as i just couldnt afford the Guardian and he seems fine in the Equilibrium one.
Its not the end of the world, the sooner a flare up is treated the better and i found i can instantly spot the slightest change in ours and treat straight away
 
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