As eyes go, it wasn't too bad - 3 areas of relatively superficial ulceration. Rx of neopolybac, miconazole, atropine, muro, and banamine. And as patients go, he isn't too bad either. He has tolerated the eye meds and has been letting me do IV banamine on my own. As weekends go... pretty crummy one to need to treat an eyeball. However, the GYs and my husband are amazing, so we managed to get q6h eye meds done through the weekend while I worked 3:30P-12A each day and went to a funeral on Saturday morning 2 hours away from work and home. The work hours were actually probably a good thing because FL has had a cold snap this weekend and if I hadn't already been up and outside at 1 AM last night, there would have been no way I was getting out of bed at that time to go outside in 27 degree weather to medicate his eye.
He gets rechecked this afternoon, fingers crossed that it is healed. He is much more comfortable and the surface of the cornea looks nice and smooth to the naked eye. There is some odd white opacity within the eye, almost looks like vitreous or something because it moves a bit when he moves his head. He's stayed nicely dilated on atropine just once a day, which is a relief given the possibility of ileus and colic. I watched a good friend's horse die of a cecal impaction about 10 years ago that coincided with treating for an ulcer. Granted he also ate coastal hay, so it could have just been a perfect storm of things, but it definitely makes me twitchy thinking about it.
I have failed at taking pictures of his eye, but I have been taking pictures of our newly hatched chicks...
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| The one in the front isn't dead, they just sleep like that... |
In other, positive and exciting news, a lease horse is arriving from Virginia tomorrow evening! He's a 12 YO OTTB who has been competing at novice for the past few years. I can't wait to meet him. His trip was my first time arranging a commercial shipper. It was surprisingly cost effective... when I mapped and considered doing the drive myself, it was going to be $400 of diesel alone, nevermind the wear and tear on the truck and trailer and my time. The cost from the shipper? $550! Seems 100% worth it and the shipper came recommended by JT, so I'm sure he will do an awesome job.
ugh i *hate* dealing with eye injuries... glad Yoshi's don't seem too bad and hopefully they heal up quickly!
ReplyDeleteMy first experience with eyes was my trainer's gelding when I was a young teenager. His went badly so he had an SPL put in and she did q2h eye meds on him. Even though he ended up healing, it was a pretty scary introduction to eyes!
DeleteThat eye injury sounds no fun.
ReplyDeletePEEPS!!!
(Unsolicited advice, take as you will: They do a lot better on a flat surface with shavings, if you can bear the mess. It will kick up dust and get on the food/water (I just put mine up on a brick), but gives them the chance to dust bathe and scratch around which is pretty cute. And it's less likely to injure a foot.)
I totally agree! My husband, who is responsible for half the cleaning, has nixed that after previous batches. I did cheat and add a piece of cardboard that I change out daily. At least gives them a flat surface even though they don't have shavings. As soon as it gets a tiny bit warmer they will start going outside during the day in a cage they can scratch and dust bathe in. We actually didn't think this rooster was fertilizing eggs and didn't really plan to have a bunch in January.
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