would you remove a horses eye at 22yrs?

J

JJtheJetPlane

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Hi Guys,

Without boring you to much, my old mare has an ulcer in her eye which is proving to be a problem ..Its got to a none healing state its been going on about 6 to 7 weeks and she is very uncomfortable as you can imagine. Her eye is permanently closed and flooding with tears 27/7. My vet has contacted a professor at Liverpool who has made a special ointment to try and get it improving as a last resort. The vet has said that there is a chance we may have to remove the eye if there is no improvement she has a week to go. So ..
Has anyone had there horses eye removed ? If so how old were they how did they cope and what was the reason it was removed ?
 
If the eye problem is making her miserable - definitely go ahead and have it removed. 22 is not that old for a horse nowadays - she could have another 10+ years left! A painful eye is a horrible thing to live with, especially if it has poor or no vision and is therefore useless.

It's not as major an op as you might think and the vast majority of horses do extremely well afterwards, and from a distance it is hard to tell they are missing an eye.

It is generally done under GA but it is possible to do it under standing sedation and local anaesthetic. The eye socket will be packed with a bandage to help stop the bleeding which is removed after 24-48 hours and then the stitches will come out in about 10 days (unless your vet uses absorbable ones). The horse will have pain relief and antibiotics for a few days, but they really seem to be not that bothered by it.

I removed a horse's eye under standing sedation at a client's yard in my previous job. That horse had end-stage uveitis (moonblindness) and was blind in the eye and very miserable. Normally it is a referral/ specialist equine vet job but the lady couldn't afford to refer and the alternative was to PTS as the horse was so miserable. It was a great success and the horse is back in full ridden work and even back jumping again.
 
I've known a couple of horses with one eye and they've been fine. Don't know how old they were when it was removed but I wouldn't hesitate having it done at that age unless the horse had other issues as well.
 
I know a horse who had an eye removed, and is quite happy in her mid to late twenties. It took a few months to adjust but she's happy and healthy and that's what matters.

Your vet wouldn't recommend it if they felt it would compromise her quality of life :)
 
I have a friend with a pony who came to her with an untreated eye infection, which resulted in his eye being removed. He was in his twenties. He did local shows, incl all kinds of fancy dress & an odd gymkhana for several years unitl he retired through arthritus. He's still a happy boy now :)
 
Ok i will answer your question first yes if there was no other option then i would have eye removed we have had tbs hunting up until the age of 27 so your horse could have a long way to go.

But i will throw this in to the ring we have a 15 year old labrador he had a huge ulcer on his eye the vet told us normally they would have taken different action to his treatment but because he has a severe heart condition and is on other medication we would have to take the other route the ulcer was huge but with eye cream has healed over a longer period, it covered most of his eye and vet told us they would have taken more drastic measures if they could have have his eye was so bad to begin with it was totally cloudy and you could easily see with naked eye the ulcer.

He told us as risking treatment with an eye they usually take the most extreme treatment but we couldnt so if you really think your horse would suffer do ask to expolre other options but if it just a case of horse missing the eye then i wouldnt worry horses have raced and competed with one eye, and my parents kept my mums pony from when she was a child even when he was blind and as long as he was in an area he knew with horses he knew he was fine.:)
 
My horse Sunny developed an autoimmune disease in one eye. We tried for 6 months to save it but in the end poor Sunny was in such pain all the time that he'd truly had enough. The eye was removed. This was approx 6 years ago - he was 19 at the time. He positively danced out of the recovery box and back to his stable - at last, no pain! He was back home after 5 days & within a few weeks was back being ridden as before. He needed a bit of help in the first few weeks - not putting feed bowls close to a wall, talking to him so he knew where I was, learning how to interpret sounds coming from his blind side etc etc etc. Up til now, when he's had to be retired for totally different reasons, he was the safest hack going & happily stole prizes at local dressage comps. Your horse would be fine though it's not cheap surgery if you don't have the horse insured due to his age. Good luck x
 
My friends horse had an eye removed due to a tumour. She was 4 and not backed.

She recovered fine with no after effects and went on to be backed without any problems.

The vet was of the opinion that she may have not been able to see with the bad eye for some time, that could be the case with your horse?

Sorry you're having to go through this.
 
JJtheJetPlane said:
Hi Guys,

Without boring you to much, my old mare has an ulcer in her eye which is proving to be a problem ..Its got to a none healing state its been going on about 6 to 7 weeks and she is very uncomfortable as you can imagine. Her eye is permanently closed and flooding with tears 27/7. My vet has contacted a professor at Liverpool who has made a special ointment to try and get it improving as a last resort. The vet has said that there is a chance we may have to remove the eye if there is no improvement she has a week to go. So ..
Has anyone had there horses eye removed ? If so how old were they how did they cope and what was the reason it was removed ?
Click to expand...

Ihave just been through this with my 23yr old - eventually he did not have to have the eye removed - i have sent you a pm
 
Not a nice story but my old girl had the same problem last year, an ulcer that developed in april and by August still hadn't healed, despite treating 4 times a day every day. I think it must have caused a big weakness in her eye as one day at the end of August i went up to the stable to find that her cornea had perforated (basically the ulcer had developed to the thickness of the cornea and all the goo that should be inside the eyeball was running down her face). At this point the only option would have been removal of they eye. At 22, or even 32 I would have gone ahead without a second thought, but my girly was 39 years old, getting frailer and the journey to the vets and anaesthetic would have been too much to ask of her, so I let her go with a mouth full of pear.

If she is in good health I wouldn't hesitate to have it done.
 
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If there's no chance that the eye can be successfully treated - then yes I wouldn't hesitate to have the surgery.

If she is well in all other respects, then I think it's the right thing to do.
 
My OH's TB event horse developed a tumour inside the eyelid of his left eye and had the eye removed last December under general anaesthetic. I was soooo worried about him when we took him to the vets on the Thursday morning! He had the op in the afternoon and the vet rang me while he was still in the recovery room to let me know it had gone well and that he was up and about. I went to see him on the Friday evening and fetched him home on the Saturday morning and he was back on the horsewalker on the Sunday morning!!! He recovered so quickly and is fine and happy and still bullies our other 4 horses!!!
 
No experience with horses, but my GSD had her eye removed at 10 years old, and within a few days was totally back to normal. I would be guided by the Prof at Liverpool (is it Derek Knottenbelt?) and if he recommends it and your horse is fit and well then go for it.
 
My old mare when she was about 25 had an eye problem - cannot remember what it was. The vet in this case recommended not to remove the eye but just to leave it (with of course eye drop treatment etc). The eye sort of shrunk back into itself and didn't look very nice but in that instance they felt it was the best approach. She wasn't being ridden and was just seeing her retirement out by then. I imagine every case to itself but I don't think I would let the age be a problem if the vets thought it was okay.
 
Definitely, my great dane had her eye removed at 10 (ancient for a great dane) and never looked back although she did miss loads of rabbits which was a bit of a relief tbh although she didn't really catch many anyhow!
 
If she is fit and healthy then yes I would.

Cairo lost an eye to cancer and at 21, it came back yet again. He was still fit and healthy so he had a general and the cancer cut out and then radiotherapy as we had done three years prior to that.

He came through it fine and it was such a terrible shame that we lost him the following year due to liver failure.

He never had any problems having one eye, did all activities and was not at all spooky. The only thing I had to remember was going through gates that if it closed sharply he would not know it was coming on that side. He also liked to turn his head slightly to one side when jumping, as did another one eyed pony I used to ride.
 
As the others have said - I would do it if the horse is in good health in all other respects. I thought it was possible they could do this under local anaesthetic and thankfully someone has noted that that is possible. I would opt for that if I could as less risky in general.
 
as long as she is in good health and the vet has no qualms about her having an anaesthetic then I would certainly go ahead. I have a 22 year old who's lost a lot of her sight after an accident and she manages very well.
 
Sorry to hear about L.

If it isnt getting any better then it is best removed. I am sure she will cope fine with the proceedsure.

Ax
 
Well thanks for all your reply s
I am a little more positive about the whole thing now. She is retired and pretty sound and healthy , other than this little problem . she certainly still enjoys life so i'm not going to worry about going ahead with the surgery if need be :)
Ill keep you posted xx
 
Have you not had a bandage contact lense fitted? no way would i allow my horse to go for surgery without trying this option - and i would be dissapointed in my vets if this had not been suggested after the ulcer not healing within 10 days or so, or at least showing significant signs off.

If you want any more info - pm me
 
I would be hesitant removing the eye of a horse of that age. Think of the horse first, will it cope after 22 years of 2 eyes? Is it fair to put a horse of that age through the trauma of having an eye removed.

I had a horse with a growth on the eye, it grew very fast and the horse was clearly in pain as she was head shaking more and more as time went by. I had drops/ointment and medication that had to go in the eye x2 a day, which became harder to do as she became wise to the fact she was going to have more ointment in her eye. Was planning to have the eye removed but decided to have put to sleep as she was not coping well with the limited vision and panicking, so didnt want to imagine how she would be without the eye. It was very sad but i knew she would not suffer anymore or have to undergo endless treatment.

As rule i think the vast majority of people who own horses in this country are very "bad" at taking the decision to put a horse to sleep. I dont understand why though? Yes its devistating but the horse needs to come first. And this country is too full of "companion/light hack/unrideble" horses that get passed from pillar to post as people cant do a selfless act of taking a decision to put a horse down. We are responsible for bringing horses into this world, so we need to be responsible for taking them out at the end of their lives.
 
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