Forum

Eyes

Posted by Tammy on June 27, 2011 at 8:24am in Health

 

We are having problems with one of our bucklings eyes.  It has quickly turned from slight red to blue covered.  We have used tobramycin, but doesn't seem to be working very quickly.  I am not sure how to determine if it is ulcerated? We have an appointment with the vet at 1:30p, but very concerned.  He has already been exposed to our buck and wether.  They both had drainage in one eye, but has gone away.  Does anybody have any other solutions or advice.  We lost a buckling a few months back from a barber pole worm and we were devastated, so this has caused us to be even more on guard. 

Please help.

Thanks,

Tammy

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Replies

  • Tammy June 30, 2011 at 12:41am

     

    I will be surprised that he loses any weight. LOL  Everytime we check on him, he is eating.  His pupil looks better and he is not in any pain.  The vet gave him a couple of shots that he can have.  His eye is less blue. 


    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

    Odds are excellent that he'll have no permanent vision loss. My Carmen was blind as a bat for about a week when she had it several years ago. She just stood in the corner of the barn, lost a lot of weight, and her milk almost dried up, but her vision totally recovered. I was sure having my doubts at the time though, because she had the worst case I'd ever seen. Hopefully the flies down in your area are not as bad as they up here, so none of your others get it.
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle June 27, 2011 at 10:31pm
    Odds are excellent that he'll have no permanent vision loss. My Carmen was blind as a bat for about a week when she had it several years ago. She just stood in the corner of the barn, lost a lot of weight, and her milk almost dried up, but her vision totally recovered. I was sure having my doubts at the time though, because she had the worst case I'd ever seen. Hopefully the flies down in your area are not as bad as they up here, so none of your others get it.
  • Tammy June 27, 2011 at 5:21pm

     

    We found out today that is does have pink eye.  He is on eye drops and another medicine.  We won't know for a while if he has any eye sight loss.  Hopefully, minimal.

     

  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle June 27, 2011 at 10:32am
    I have never heard of an ulcerated eye. As Rachel said, pink eye in goats is blue. I've never heard of a goat dieing from it. After attending a show about five years ago, a couple of our goats came home with it, and it spread to a LOT of our herd. It is spread by flies going from one goat's eye to another, so if you can isolate the goat with pink eye, that helps. If it is only one eye, it probably happened because the goat got poked in the eye with a bit of straw or a stick or something, which caused the infection. One eye is really not a big deal. If they get it in both eyes, they can be blind, although it is a temporary condition. The problem is that they generally go off feed at that point, so they really have to be babied -- encouraged to eat, led to food, etc -- so they don't lose too much weight. I've read that there does not seem to be much difference between various treatment options and doing nothing, and I've tried various treatment options and doing nothing, and I agree. It seemed to last a week or two, regardless of what we did -- medication labeled for pink eye, injectable oxytetracycline squirted into the eye, and doing nothing. At this point, if it is just one eye, I don't generally treat, and it's gone within a week. I didn't even bother to separate the goat from the others last time that happened a few years ago, and no one else got it. I think it was just a case where he had injured the eye and it got infected. In the case where the goats brought it home from the show, it was probably spread by flies at the show, and goats were infected in both eyes. Bottom line -- it looks a lot scarier than it is, and there is not a lot you can do that's going to speed up recovery.
  • Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres June 27, 2011 at 10:24am
    Pink Eye in goats actually turns their eye "blue" and that's what this sounds like to me. On site I found says this about treatment: "Treatment: Treatment consists of using antibiotic ointment in the e....
    Hope that helps!! Sorry I don't know more about diagnosing whether it's become ulcerated.
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