Pinkeye, state your experiences please!

[heritagebirds]

I've used colloidal silver on myself...don't know about animals, though. Best of luck, I hope the girls are ok

 

[username taken]

Quote:
You need to patch the eyes. You can buy pink eye patches and glue for cattle, trim them to size, or you can make your own. I have used an old pair of jeans and superglue in a pinch.

Put the terramycin powder in the eye, and glue a patch over it. And keep the affected animal in the shed. Sunlight and dust will aggravate it and I suspect that is why your antibiotic regimen isnt working.

I've had very bad cases resolved using this method. I've never had to have an eye removed from pinkeye - I had one removed because she ruptured the eyeball - poked it on a bit of wire - and for what its worth she gets along just fine with only one eye.

Good luck!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Injectable Duramycin and Shuteye patches.

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
I asked the vet about patching/covering/sewing shut, and he said that while the eye is still discharging, I shouldn't cover it with anything. He said once the discharge stops, I can cover it, or bring them in and he will sew them shut.

I have been using oxytetracycline with them (both systemically and directly in the eyes-this is what BioMycin, LA200, and Terramycin all contain), and it's not working.

Excenel is a different antibiotic (usually used for pnuemonia), I gave the first shots last night. Vet said give it a week and if it doesn't start clearing up, I need to bring them back to try something else.

The two with really bad pinkeye have been in my shed, in the dark for two weeks. No dust, no wind, no sunlight. And their eyes are like white marbles. Looks like there's no "real" eye left. They aren't just cloudy, they are SOLID WHITE.

 

[farrier!]

We had the same problem, 2 girls went totally blind. Vet was not encouraging at all...

We went with an injectable antibiotic (not fun, the shot was painful) but it cleared up and even the blind ones are fine. I cant remember what we used. Pink or reddish colored and it only was about 3 shots per goat.

 

[ksacres]

farrier! :

We had the same problem, 2 girls went totally blind. Vet was not encouraging at all...

We went with an injectable antibiotic (not fun, the shot was painful) but it cleared up and even the blind ones are fine. I cant remember what we used. Pink or reddish colored and it only was about 3 shots per goat.

I'd like to know what it is you used.

I'm going by the vet's suggestions for now, but if the Excenel doesn't work, I'll be looking for other options soon.

The vet said even if the eyes are permanently damaged (and the does therefor permanently blind), there's no imminent need to remove the eyeballs.​

 

[cutiepieacres]

I had it sweep through my herd last year the flys brought it in from somewhere and I tried the LA 200 and terramycin ointment but it failed on all of them. I heard from rabbit breeders just to get some Pen G flush the eye with it, for the ones not so bad off it worked in a day some of the others took longer but it cleared out.

 

[gapeachy]

we have had pinkeye outbreaks in goats...mostly the pygmies.....state vet quarantined my pygmies so when we got them well my husband made me get rid of them......it is very easy to treat....but takes along time to clear up....most of the time both eyes will turn blue...but they will be ok.....we used LA-200....I am thinking 10cc on each goat for 3 days.....but took like 2 weeks to fully recover....it is a very common disease in Goats and cows.....our boer goats has never had it.....

 

[mekasmom]

At the first sign of any eye infection, I just draw up PennG, take off the needle, then squirt a few drops into the eye. I do it 3-4 times a day. I have never had it spread or blind a goat.

I did buy a bunch of baby rabbits at auction, and one had conjunctivitis that had obviously not been treated. I washed the eye, held it open, and did the PennG squirt. Within a couple of days, the infection was under control, but she was blind in that eye. If I had her when it started, she would have been treated much earlier. Usually only untreated conjunctivitis results in blindness or conjunctivitis that is treated with an antibiotic that it is resistant to.

I can't imagine having to take the eye out unless you just cannot cure the infection. At this point, I would be injecting them and putting antibiotics into the eyes, if I were in your predicament.

I hope your goats heal up well.

 

[username taken]

I'm surprised to hear about the vet not wanting to cover the eye while it is discharging. That is usually the first thing we do, regardless of discharge/no discharge.

I've never heard of stitching the eyelids together for a simple case of pinkeye, seems a little extreme to me although I understand in this case you wouldnt want to stitch when the eye is discharging.

It does sound like you've got pretty severe cases and I've had some at that stage fully recover, and some stay blind.

Honestly I wouldnt worry about having the vet remove the eyeball. Worst case scenario is that they will fall out of their own accord. Quite a few years back when we had cattle out on range, we didnt treat pinkeye cases at all. We only saw the cattle once every few months. You saw a cow with pinkeye, and next time you saw her she only had one eye. So its not a huge deal, it rarely kills them, the only time I really get worried is when they get it in both eyes.