A blind Goat

[Mr Saltine Quackers]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to the site, but I keep goats along with my various poultry and I'm hoping I can ask a question about them here.

I have a goat, who on Friday June 7th was behaving strangely like he couldn't see well. On closer inspection I found his eyes were cloudy and looked inflamed on the edges. I am fairly new to goats, so I called the vet and he told me it was almost certainly pinkeye.

I've been treating him with a terramycin ointment since Saturday June 8th, so it's been nearly two weeks. He also received a shot of Draxin about a week into this treatment.

He does not seem to have improved at all. He seems to find his food and water all right, and goes in at night with the rest of the herd, but his eyes are still just as cloudy and he stumbles around a lot bumping things, as though blind.

Does anyone have some experience with this? I had hoped for some improvement by now, but I'm worrying he could be blinded permanently. What can I expect going forward? Is there anything else to be done?

Any info would be helpful.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I've only experienced pinkeye with cattle, but it was a long, miserable, minimum of a month before any of them healed. They all eventually did, with the longest recovery taking just over four months. And we treated them twice a day, every day.

EDT: Vetericyn spray, in case you're interested. (not a recommendation.) My parents' cows are relatively tame, for beef cattle, but they're not letting anyone stick fingers in their eyes.

EDT2: Just realised you said he was in with the rest of your herd. Pinkeye's actually really contagious; if you can separate him, do.

 

[AlleysChicks]

I had bought a doe kid last month and 2 days later she had crusty eyes. It went away and then a week later I had a pinkeye outbreak in my small herd. I had one doe that had it bad in both eyes. They were clouded over. I tried eye ointment with no improvement after a week so I gave her a shot of la200. It was painful and i did end up buying the non sting version afterwards. 1 shot cleared her up in 3 days. I could see a noticeable difference the next day and it progressively got better.

 

[007Sean]

I, like @sylviethecochin , had cattle with pinkeye that cured up after a few weeks but I never had it with my goats.
You definitely want to seperate them if you can it is highly contagious and humans can contract it too! So be sure to wash your hands after handling any of their equipment, feed troughs, waterers, medications, etc... wearing gloves will help too!
It can make them go blind if the infection progresses far enough with no treatment.

 

[cassie]

The eyes should clear up but it will take some time. If it makes you feel any better, I once had a blind goat. She was able to manage just fine.

 

[CJLR]

Can you get pictures please

 

[MountainGaurdian]

I was delivering fire wood to a guy and noticed one of his horses being kicked out to where she couldn't eat. I pointed it out to him an he informed me that she had gone blind and was having trouble with the other horses due to that. He then told me that he had put sand and honey in her eyes because she had cataracts as her eyes were cloudy and red. So I went and took a look at her and was having trouble not kicking the guys ass for being so stupid. He then mentioned that he didn't quite have enough money for his wood bill and I offered to forgive the wood bill in trade for the horse. He happily obliged..

When I got Eagle Moonshine a registered appy and daughter and grand daughter of a prize winning race horse home I put her in her own corral with her own barn. Now when I say daughter and grand daughter of a prize winning race horse I mean that the father and grandfather were the same horse, there was a fair bit of inbreeding in her pedigree. I noticed right off that she had the really light blue eyes and remembered my dad having some issues with some lighter eyed horses having allergic reactions to the sun. I called my dad up and he was pretty certain it was likely a reaction from too much sunlight exposure.

I kept her in that pen with a good shaded barn to herself for a year and low and behold her eyes cleared right up and she could see again.

Cloudiness in the eyes is often caused by infection but can also be caused by genetic issues making them sensitive to sunlight. By chance does the goat have light colored eyes? Does the goat have a well shaded area to get out of the sun?