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  Discussion on Medicating horses eye
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New Member:
Tparker

Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 7:33 am:

I have a horse with a fairly large corneal ulcer that needs to have three medications put in the eye three times a day. I have several problems. First getting the medication in the eye. My horse is very uncooperative about this (and understandably so when your eye hurts) and I am having trouble getting the medicaiton in. I have had some luck with putting the tip of the tube at the back of the eye and pushing the medication in that way. This appears to be consistent with the method suggested in the tearing eye article. But I am concerned about weather or not I'm getting enough in and becasue the instructions on the tube say not to touch the tip of the tube to the eye or any structure. I have tried pulling down the lower lid and putting it along the lid the way the vet does but my horse strongly protests this and makes it impossible.

My second problem is the three medications. I am giving gentamicin, chloramphenicol, and an antifungal ointment 3 times a day and Atropine once a day. My horse is being kept in a stall during the day and let out for short supervised periods in the evening. I am a little concerned about giving so many medications at once and could they be counteracting each other.

The treatment has been going on for three weeks now and we have done two procedures where the vet debrides the ulcer and are seeing very little improvement. If the ulcer has not greatly improved after the last procedure we are brining an opthomoligist in to take a look.

any advise or help on getting the medicaiton into the eye and weather using these medications together is an issue, is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Taska
Member:
Gafarm

Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 8:34 am:

Taska,
My mare has had moon blindness for the past 14 years so frequent daily applications of eye ointments are second nature now. She used to fight me just like your horse but what I found that worked for us was 10 to 15 minutes of just calmly rubbing her face, lightly running my hand over her eye, and talking to her. She would get to the verge of falling asleep and then I'd slip the ointment out of my pocket and starting at her nose rub my hand (with ointment tube) up the side of her face and then apply it. I had to do this frequently but eventually I was able to just run my hand with the ointment up the side of her face and just apply it with out desensitizing. Very time consuming when you have to do that 3 times a day but it was better than fighting with her and not getting the ointment in the eye any way!
Member:
Ribbons

Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 8:36 pm:

I don't know how sanitary this method is, but when my mare needed eye ointments, I squirted the medication onto a q-tip and then applied to her inner lid. I think that bit of "cushion" helped me to relax as I wasn't so worried about jabbing her in the eye. After a while, we both calmed down and I could just squirt it in right out of tube in seconds.
Member:
Jcsmoon

Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 2004 - 10:01 pm:

When I had to do that treatment to my Appy I used a war bridle. Snugged up tight, he gave no protest to the meds and held still enough for me to medicate him myself. We also were useing the same combination of meds so I would have to think thay are not contradicting or it would not be a widely accepted treatment protocal.
Member:
Bonita

Posted on Sunday, Apr 11, 2004 - 8:50 am:

My method isn't exactly "sanitary" either, but I have successfully medicated countless horsey eyes using it.

What I do is after thoroughly washing/drying my hands, without touching the med nozzle tip to my finger, I squeeze a nice-size blob onto the very tip of my little finger. With the other hand I scratch/rub the horses face, keeping a light hold on the halter, & sort of "sneak" the "med hand" up to the eye & "pop" the blob either into the corner or along the lower lid. Horse blinks, med spreads, task finished.

I never use the tube itself, nor would I try using a Q-Tip, because I'm always afraid that if the horse were to skitz out I would poke him in the eye & make things worse.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Apr 12, 2004 - 9:07 am:

Hello Taska,
Your veterinarian or the opthamologist can install a eye lavage system so you use a syringe and squirt the medication distant from the eye. It greatly eases treatment.
DrO
Member:
Rose1

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2004 - 10:19 am:

Taska,
This method works best with a helper. I rub a sensative area of the horse usually his belly back toward his hind legs. It distracts them just long enough to rub the gel into his eye.
My horse hated the eye medicine but this got the job done with less stress on both of us.
I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for your horse.
Regards,
Rose
New Member:
Bretta

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006 - 1:05 pm:

My horse was diagnosed with uveitis and once a day we are dilating her eyes along with another medication. Question: Can she be taken out on walks with a fly mask on? She is improving every day but wants out of the corral. I usually let her graze with her stall mate outside of the corral. She has a halter and lead rope so she is supervised during this time. Thanks for your reply...Jackie Hannon.....}}.
Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006 - 5:23 pm:

Are you talking about hand-walking the horse? If you have a fly mask on I don't think there would be a problem with you taking her out on a walk, but Dr. O should answer this one in case there is something different with Uveitis as opposed to other eye problems that the horse's eye has been dilated for. And if you want to cut down the light further, you could put on two fly masks.
New Member:
Bretta

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006 - 7:52 pm:

Hey Vicki,
Yes I am talking about hand walking. She is feeling so much better and she wants to get out!!
Thanks for the 2 fly masks solution. It was a little over cast today so I took her out for about an hour, just walking, me on the ground. I took along her stable mate with us. I am still waiting to hear from Dr. O..........Thanks for your reply. I am brand spanking new to horse advice and I find it just wonderful!!! A friend told me about the Web Site and I am thrilled......Jackie.....}}
Member:
Vickiann

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006 - 9:55 pm:

Glad you had an outing, Jackie. I've used the double fly masks with an ulcerated cornea, but only for hand-walking because I could not turn my horse out on his own, or he would grind dirt into his eye under the mask and set back the healing process. It seems like ulcerated corneas never clear up unless the horse is stalled and kept out of the dirt. Many nights I slept in the barn, because I had to put ointment in his eye every two hours. During that time I would turn him out on the grass not normally grazed that was immediately around the barn, where I could be aware of what he was doing. After a few days of dilation, it took an EXTREMELY long time (weeks) for my horse's eye to stop being dilated. The hand walking when the horses are laid up is such a wonderful bonding experience. They so enjoy and appreciate that time. There is nothing better though, than when you can turn them out again! Good luck with the Uveitis.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 27, 2006 - 7:43 am:

I like the 2 mask solution. When dilated the eyes are very sensitive to light. Some have stitched in a solid piece of cloth over the effected eye space to further shade the eye.
DrO
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