Hey all,

I was hoping someone could give me some ideas . .  .  I'm caring for a friend's horse which has been diagnosed with chronic uveitis in his left eye.  I was given some eye drops and a tube of neomycin, polymyxin B, sulfates and dexamethasone to put in his eye twice a day.  He also wears a fly mask pretty much 24/7 to shield his eye from the sun and keep the flies out of it. 

Last time the vet was out she recommended that his eye just be removed since it would always give him problems and always be painful.  Unfortunately this would cost the owners at least $1,500.  They'll do it if they need to but we're trying to explore other options, too.

Has anyone else dealt with this?  Have any other ideas for us?  My daughter's 4-H leader suggested wiping his eye with tea.  I've been doing that since I have to wipe his eye twice a day anyway before putting in the medication.  However, nothing seems to be helping him.  His eye is still weepy and swollen and I know it's hurting him. 

BTW, He's a dark, almost black, QH - not an appy.  This eye is causing him problems with the other horses - I've had to remove him from the herd because they would come up on his blind side and make threatening gestures at him, he wouldn't see them and then he'd get bitten or kicked.  He was injured about a week ago pretty badly when he must have been kicked.  It took a chunk of flesh out of his upper leg on that left side so I've had to deal with wound care in addition to eye care.  I've put him in a small pasture area with our young heifer calf for company.

I'd like to know if anyone has other ideas of medications that may help his eye and also some ideas on making or buying him a fly mask with a better covering for his eye.  The vet gave me the drops to dilate the eye, too, but said to put duct tape over his fly mask to shield his eye from the sun when using those drops.  The duct tape didn't stick at all and so I'm reluctant to use those drops unless I have a better way to protect his eye.  Any ideas on that?  The fly mask, too, is beginning to rub him over both his eyes.  I don't want to leave it on long enough to rub sores on his face.

Thank you for any feedback you can give me!

Daily aspirin or MSM will help with the inflammation in the eye and a Guardian Mask blocks out 95% of the UV rays to make him more comfortable.  Owners that used the Guardian Mask say that it definately helped to reduce the discomfort and reduced the number of flare ups they saw.  One of the problems with Uveitis is that when the eye is painful they will rub it and then scratch the eye.  It would be wise to keep some dye strips on hand and dye the eye first before using any steroid ointment (dexamethazone).  If the eye is scratched and you use a steroid the scratch can turn into a melting ucler.  It's very very painful and in many cases the eye must be removed.

Unfortunately this is something I know a lot about.  Not because my horse has it but because he was misdiagnosed and has an entirely different problem that cannot be fixed without a cornea transplant.  So I spent a TON of money treating something that wasn't there  

Here's a few things that you can do to help make him comfortable and help reduce the number of flare ups:

-Keep him in a dark stall on a sunny day, or get him a Guardian Mask.  Remember in the winter the glare off the snow.  If he's out on a day like this he needs a mask on to shield his eye from the glare.  The people who developed the Guardian Mask have done a lot of research and their website is very informative and if you call then they are very helpful http://www.horsemask.com/Main.html

-Make sure his whiskers around his eye are not really long and poking him in the eye when his mask is on.  I would just pluck them out or cut them off.

-Always keep some paste Banamine on hand.  People have also reported that horses with uveitis commonly have flare ups after worming, vaccinations or a stressful event.  A dose of banamine a couple of hours before hand can help head off a flare up.

-Atropine is cheap and dialates the eye and will help with the pain.  When they are having a flare up the pupil constricts making the eye more painful.  (just re-read your post and see that you're already doing this!)

Consulting with an equine opthalmologist (one that deals strictly with horses not small animals) will be worth the money and will give the owners more of an idea what their options are.

Good luck...Uveitis sucks for both horse and human!

eta: here's a thread from COTH about the Guardian Mask and UVeitis. You can also do a search there on Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU) and will find tons of info and owners experiences. http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201670&highlight=uveitis

Ditto getting a second opinion because I would want to know WHY the horse has uveitis;  "because" isn't good enough.

http://www.equestrianandhorse.com/care/worming/neck-threadworm.html

Where it says in part:

I have read way too much lately of vets wanting to take eyes out -- is this new "thing" like tonsillectomies for people used to be the "in" thing?

I have read where eye surgery has been done successfully to remove the Onchocera microfiliae (a/k/a neck threadworms caused by the biting midge flies) and the eye was saved.

IMHO, I would not let that vet remove the eye. If I am spending $1,500 on eye surgery, I am taking the horse for a second opinion and going to a university to get that opinion:)

I really ditto investing in a Guardian Mask.

Even though aspirin is not as invasive as Bute it can still cause ulcers.  I think for a daily regimen I would use MSM.

Is there a really passive horse that he could have for a friend and keep them separated from the rest of the herd?

Being in a boarding situation heightens the problems and BIG Kudos to you for going above and beyond.

Also, does the horse come in at night?  If so, I would change fly masks and put a clean one on him for in the stall.  That way when he lays down he won't get anything in it.  My 24 yr old has an ugly case of hock/ankle arthritis; even though he's on meds sometimes he lays down the wrong way and struggles to get up.  He got shavings in his eye twice.  I washed that eye for three days straight getting all the stuff out and, after the second time, I decided he'd wear a "beauty mask" to bed every night.  That was three years ago and his eyes are still in tact and pretty as ever:)

Hope this helps some:)

If the eye is constantly causing the horse pain and has become hard to control, then yes...it's in the horses' best interest to remove the eye.  Horses adapt very well with limited vision.  I know of one owner who trail rides her blind appy mare.  It's not the end of the world if the eye has to be removed.  You can't think of asthetics when the horse is in constant pain.  He can still lead a long health life with only one eye. 

They have found that neck thread worms can cause eye problems and symptoms similar to ERU, but they still don't know what exactly "causes" it. 

You can also have the horse tested for Lepto (leptospirosis).  It can get into the eye and is hard to treat, but could be a possibilty.  This is one of the tests they ran on Boy when I took him to Virginia Tech.  I'm trying to remember how much the test was and thinking it was not that expensive.    http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/00-065.htm