Vets!

[rosieted]

Hi
I was just wondering how many of your horses have had conjunctivitis in the past and how the vet treated it?

My mare had a bit of a runny eye a few weeks ago and i called the vet to see if he could give me some fucithamel cream. He said he had to come out to see her because we had recently registered. My dad met him there as i was at uni and the vet sedated her, dyed the eye, it showed up that there was no scratch, he then injected her eyelid so it swelled up to the size of a tennis ball and then gave us the cream i asked for in the first place. Then he prescribed painkillers.
Just seems like a massive over reaction to me and now she has had a 3 inch needle stuck in her eye she wont let me near it with the cream. Also over a week later the swelling has hardly gone down.
Im going to ring thm tomorrow to make sure its ok that its still swollen but im pretty p**ssed off tbh!

 

[jewel]

i had the same a few weeks ago, i'm also in cornwall. i wondered if it was the same vet pm me if you like

 

[berry]

My mare always gets gunky and runny eyes in the summer if she has'nt got her fly mask on. Instead of getting the vet out all the time and paying silly prices I buy Optrex golden eye drops from the chemist and do her eyes with them twice a day works a treat x.

 

[carthorse]

Don't talk to me about vets .Called one because our horse had a bit of a cough and wanted some ventipulmin ,also wanted passport sketch and jabs for new pony and teeth rasp.Never bought rasp ,was too scared to take temp.had to use calculater for dose which was very easy and I worked it out, couldn't spell iron grey and asked us and got us to find whirls. Charged £180 and was rubbish .

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

RTMS - of course I don't know the whole story and I certainly don't want to alarm you but my ned came to me with chronic conjunctivitis that his previous owners had never attempted to clear up. After just 3 weeks belonging to me, something unknown happened and the conjunctivitis flipped over into a very, very nasty auto immune disease. This needed crisis, emergency treatment at a specialst equine centre. Back and forth my poor boy went for 6 months while his eye got a little bit better then a little bit worse etc etc. Me and ned and the vets struggled with this until finally we all had to agree we had lost the battle and ned had to have his eye removed. So please, please everyone...NEVER take conjunctivitis lightly. It may seem that your vet is being overly aggressive with treatment but I know what under-treating it can do.

 

[brightmount]

That does sound like an over-reaction to me. I have used Optrex infected eyes on my horse in the past, which is chloramphenicol, and works a treat. I know Goldeneyes is also effective.

I take BOF's point about complications, they can occur, and one pony I used to have has poor eye irrigation from an old injury and occasionally has to be flushed out through the nose.

Ultimately, it's down to common sense.

Anyway, another example of vets doing unnecessary and ridiculous investigations, one of my horses kicked herself in the stable and went lame. She had a 2 inch open wound and a lump on her leg. Despite this, the vet insisted on digging for an abcess, nerve blocking in three places up the leg, and after 2 hours, he concluded the lameness was probably due to the cut on her leg.

She was better the next day and I had a bill for £200.

 

[rosieted]

Thanks for your replys and i appreciate what you are saying box of frogs and that is why i called the vet in the first place. I have rang the vets today and he hasnt got back to me. I got a 2nd opinion from another vet and he said he would have treated it 4 conjunctivitis on the first visit and given the cream, if that didnt work he would have sedated and dyed the eye, then if the dye did not show up a scratch there is no need to inject the eye. I dont know whether to complain and risk sounding like a know it all or just pay the bill and change vets!

I will definatly be using optrex or something from the chemist in the future!!