very worrid...help

[_Hayley_]

i went to feed my horse earlier and noticed his eye was quite bloodshot and had yellow gunge like sleep in the corner of his eye i have been batheing it with warm water am i doing the right thing.???????

 

[vicijp]

The water needs to be cooled down from boiled, plus clean bits of cotton wool for each eye, each time.
If doesn't clear up within a few days ask the vet for some gel.

 

[ladyearl]

plus add a bit of salt to the water. you could also bath it in cold tea.

 

[archoak]

We had this a few weeks ago - caused by flies feeding on the eye

Cooled boiled water with a bit of salt added did the trick in keeping it clean. I then put in a few drops of golden eye from chemist and used a fly mask in the day. However if it doesn't clear up quickly probably best to call the vet

 

[mattilda]

Cold teabags are excellent for sore eyes. Mt boy tands to suffer in this weather and it will clear his eye up quickly.

 

[Skippydo]

I agree cooled boiled water, be careful only to put a very small amount of salt in though as you have to try an balance the amount of salt in the water with the amount of salt in the eye (tears). My vet even suggested not putting the salt in and just using the water because it's difficult to get it spot on. I must admit that just the water has given me the same results so i just stick to water. (my wee lad only has one eye so i'm a bit over cautious with him).
If you still have yellow stuff coming out in a couple of days i'd call the vet.
Hope he's better soon.

 

[vicijp]

I never use salt - not needed.

 

[Donkeymad]

Agree, as salt can also cause further aggravation an even pain. My vet says to use either plain water or cold tea (without milk or sugar!!)

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Don't use salt! Try this experiment - wait til you've got a sore eye then bathe it with salt water. It will sting. And you face the real danger of teaching your horse to jerk his head away if you need to check/clean/medicate his eyes in the future.

Plain cooled, boiled water. Take care with cotton wool as the tiny strands can separate and get lodged in the eye and make things even worse. I use those gauze pads you can buy for babies. It sounds like conjunctivitis which might clear up on it's own but I'd give it no more than a few days and if it's still as bad, your horse might need some antibiotic drops/cream from the vet. You need to stay on top of it because untreated conjunctivitis can lead to a more serious condition.

One final word, be very careful when you put anything into a horse's eye as one jerk from the horse at the wrong time and you can scrape or even puncture the cornea with the pointy end of the tube. With creams, wash your hands, wipe eye carefully with plain water, add eye cream to a clean finger and squish your finger into horse's eye. Drops are harder: pull the lower lid outwards so you have a little pouch, then add the drops to the pouch. Creams are easy to do on your own. Drops, you might need 2 people.

 

[_Hayley_]

Thanks Everyone for your help let you know what happens

xxxx

 

[kellyeaton]

get the vet asap!x