We have Uveitis. I noticed Rascal (arab, bay ,15) squinting with a bit of swelling over his left eye a couple of times in the last 5 or 6 weeks. I'd had corneal tears in a horse or two before, but it didn't look like that. Not much tearing and it has been windy and rainy here in that time frame, and as it seemed to only last a day or two, I thought he bumped it, or got something in it (hay bale),or gnats and flies are starting to hatch... I replaced the 2 big buckets because years ago he would bump his eye on the bucket side handle when he ate--because of the length of the bucket. I switched pastures, noticing he was rubbing on trees because he is shedding. I then put warpaint under their eyes because of the bugs..( the 3rd time I was worried)
The fourth time I called the new younger farm vet , who seems pretty knowledgeable for a young vet .(but he didn't know what MSN was!). For a complete eye check. he said it sounded like Uveitis, but to call while it was inflamed. Well I got him out today.(Everyone gets hurt or dies on a weekend). He dilated and blocked and checked everything. Good news is no retinal detachment. He has a hazy posterior chamber,anterior synchiae?(and I though my handwriting was bad) and reddened upper conjunctiva. He said there are some bars he can see, (typical for this)
I said I noticed he would stop and not come all the way to the barn when I called, which was odd, until I walked closer and talked to him more ,as if he couldn't see well on that side. I connected the behavior to when he was squinting the 4 times this had come up , sure enough he'd be squinting.
I don't like what I am reading about this. We have the swampy stagnant water in an area of our turnout, we have deer that jump in the pasture, we cows in front, bugs everywhere from the cows and chicken manure spread on the neighbors hay fields.
Champ died from complications of a puncture wound in 3 days....I have had two staph infections from fly bites that blew up overnight last year.
So we probably have a breeding ground for the bacteria, lepto....,staph, etc.
I also had been looking at some kind of vit./min supplement because he is on a grass hay diet,(which is now about 6-8 month old hay) just a bit of grass/weeds now in small pastures But everyone is too fat , so I was going to rope off the round bale half the day.... no one needs any feed--- so I wasn't giving the feed supplement with calories, was looking for something to fill in deficiencies of hay /pasture, or boast immune system.
He only has been getting a bit of flax (used to have" itchiness" ) gave up whole BOSS gave him diarrhea. I had been giving him SOURCE this winter, but ran out and hadn't replaced it....
I did put a fly mask on him for comfort and he was hanging in the open barn away from the sun.... but got a rub on his chin, probably because Scout was trying to remove it , and it is one of those double velcro.... So I removed it...>sigh<
Vet said something about a drip levage if I didn't want to medicate 2-3 times a day, I said , the other horse would take it off thru the dutch door or I'd have to isolate him from the other horses, and he rubs things too, (I find mud in his ears and around his eyes and in his forelock) I'd give him, Scout or the donkey about 30 minutes to take it off.
So , anybody got helpful info/experience with this? He lives here so I have freedom to do what I want ... We are in the SE, and it has been rainy every few days for the last month or two. ( boot sucking mud in some places)but they can get away from it into the pasture)
Immune boosting, supplements, management, environmental management-- A eye mask all the time ?(if Scout will stop trying to remove it, course he is supposed to go to the new trainer in May).
I wormed with Quest in FEb.--before that I had lengthen out my worming (concern for overworming?) from my usual 2 month regiment to 4 months when it was so dry the last year...gee I hope that didn't cause.....
Or any new info. Some of the stuff I read is over 10 years old. And my vet is a farm vet not just a horse vet.
He wants me to give Bute for a couple days, 1 gm. then off a couple for a month or so (cause I asked if MSN would be helpful or enough instead of later , did I mention he didn't know what MSN is? And Atropine, and Prednisolone 2-3 times a day (or one is 2X a day and other is 2-3 times a day(the directions are at the barn.) He wants to check him in 2 weeks or so again.
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