Goat with swollen eye!

Monday evening I went out and gave all the babies their CD&T shots. About 30 minutes later one of my babies had a swollen left eye.. The eye was almost completely closed with some white discharge. I got on the phone with my goat expert friend and she said it sounded like he poked his eye on something. I could barely see the pupil and iris and from what I could see the eyeball looked normal. Still being new to goats I did not have some of the eye stuff she suggested I use. So we decided it was best if I call the vet.

The vet arrived about 45 min later and inspected the eye. She suspected he scratched, poked, or maybe even got bit by something. She gave me a prescription eye drop and told me to give it to him twice a day.

Tuesday morning it was swollen all the way closed still some white discharge.. I could barely get the drop in.. But managed.. Then put an ice pack on his eye for about 5 min.. and left for work.

Tuesday after work.. it was still swollen all the way closed with the same small amount of white discharge. Called the vet back.. she had me give him 1cc of PenG and some Bute along with the eye drop. She is also having me put the ice pack on 4 times a day. (Good thing Gabe seems to really like the ice pack. He sits quietly and leans into the pack.)

This morning.. Eye is still the same.. I had prayed all night that the PenG would do something..

So.. There is not much information online. I have been told that this does happen sometimes.. My concern is that we are not seeing any improvement yet. I wanted to see if someone else that has been through this knows how long it should be before we see that all important improvement.. and maybe suggestions of other stuff we can do.

Gabe is 9 weeks old.. and about 10 lbs… He is acting normal.. eating and nursing just fine..

I swear.. I think I have had EVERYTHING bad that can happen with goats happen to me in the last 2 years. My goat expert friend said she could write a book on my experiences.. stuff that has taken 25+ years for her experience I get in my first 2!!

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  • For anyone reading this post later as a reference...I have now had at least 2 really swollen eyes- fine one minute and swollen shut the next time I looked.  In our case it always had improved at least 50% in the first day and went away completely on its own in under two days.  We have a lot of hornets on my farm and I know they nest in the tall grass because I have had the misfortune of disturbing them.  I always suspected when the goats were out eating they would browse into a nest and get stung but it could have been a head bonk that missed its target too.

     

    They looked really dramatic but went away immediately with no intervention

  • Great, I am so glad, and thanks for the update. I know sometimes we get wrapped up and don't do our updates but even if they are real late it is nice to hear. At least that is how I feel because often times I find myself wondering about things that happened quite a while back and how things turned out in the end. I have been meaning to do an update myself about Anchovy!

  • Sorry for the late update: His eye was totally back to normal the following week. Vet thinks now that he might have been stung by something. Guess we will never know!!

  • Thank you so much!! This has been a wild last two years since we started with the goats!!! I think there are only a few things left that have not happened to us.. However, I have faith that my goats will be sure to let me experience them!! hehe..

    I did have a talk with them the other night and told them to knock it off for a while. Mom needs a break from all the goat drama!!


     
    Margaret Langley said:

    Sounds like things are going to be just fine. I am tickled pink for you!

  • Sounds like things are going to be just fine. I am tickled pink for you!

  • UPDATE: Thursday Night & Friday Morning

    His eye was open a little more. I was able to see a little bit if his eyeball. It looks normal. Not cloudy and can't see any damage. I updated the vet (She was the one that asked if it looked cloudy). She thinks we are on the right track and will continue the current treatment.

    His eye was even a little more open this morning. Again I can't see anything abnormal. The eyeball still looks like it should. His lids are still obviously swollen. I am hoping by the beginning of next week he will be back to normal. :o)

  • Very true.. Now the specuation is possible bug bite. :o)

    Margaret Langley said:

    Super, I know it doesn't seem like much but every little bit makes you feel a little better. I hope it clears up with what all you are doing and won't require anything invasive once the swelling is gone away. It maybe one of those times when you really never know what happens. Sometimes that is how it turns out, but of course as long as all ends well it won't matter so much what happened, right?

  • Super, I know it doesn't seem like much but every little bit makes you feel a little better. I hope it clears up with what all you are doing and won't require anything invasive once the swelling is gone away. It maybe one of those times when you really never know what happens. Sometimes that is how it turns out, but of course as long as all ends well it won't matter so much what happened, right?

  • UPDATE: Thursday Morning (July 26th) 

    His eye was a minuscule amount better last night (A little less swelling.. it was easier to get the drops in). This morning it was open a minuscule amount more (Still can’t see the eye.. but at least it is open a small amount). So we are seeing some improvement. Vet wants me to keep him on the PenG for a 5 day course (last shot on Saturday). Continue with the Bute (1x a day) and icepacks (4x a day) as well.

    The Vet wants to give it some time and see. At this point with all the swelling anything else we did would be really invasive (draining/cutting the lids, etc.).. I am really happy this morning with the little bit it’s open. Hopefully it will start improving from here on.

  • I think Margaret has an excellent suggestion about the possibility of there being a foreign object in there!

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