i have a calf that i havent seen any problems with but i had him in today and noticed he has a white growth on his eye. it is small but hope he doesnt go blind was thinking about putting a pink eye patch on him but i have no idea what to do. i have seen a calf that was blind and had a huge white growth on his eye and it was glazed over and thats kinda what it looks like but its small and looks like i might be able to save it still but i need ideas.
calf with bad eye
- Thread starter smo
- Start date
Help Support Steer Planet:
Check to see if there is anything in it, then yes get a patch on him asap. Start on penicillin for a few days too. The eye can heal. Had one with the same thing. She was blind in it, but after patch and meds she still has a small cloudy spot but can see out of it again.
rackranch
Well-known member
If it were my calf I would consult a Vet...
CAB
Well-known member
Here's how we treat bad eyes. 5mls/100lbs LA200 or LA300 which ever you prefer, long acting pen squirt around eye lids and eye, usually 3 to mls will be enough), then take an old pair of blue jeans and cut to fit eye size and glue with back patch glue. By the time the calf gets the blue jean patch rubbed off the eye will be heeled.
CAB said:
LA200 and LA300 are both labeled to treat pinkeye, but the dosage is not the same. Use 4ml of LA200 or 3 of LA300 per 100 lbs body weight. Squirting the liquid directly into the eye is not labeled, but I also do that and I think it works. I usually use about 1-2 mL per eye...draw it up into the syringe, take the needle off, get close to the eye and squirt QUICKLY. His reaction won't be any worse than when I give myself eye drops! A patch does help keep out sunlight and it keeps grass and whatnot from irritating the eye, but it will heal either way. If you glue a patch on, put the glue around three sides and leave the bottom of the patch kinda hanging...that allows a little air flow and will help things along.
There's also a product called Vetricyn that can be squirted into the eyes, and one flavor is designed specifically for that. I don't know what all is in it, but it's pretty good stuff and seems very safe. I keep some on hand for general doctoring of whatever comes up. Another product that works is Nitrofurizone spray...it's a yellow, powdery aerosol that helps heal pink eye as well.
Signs of pinkeye and symptoms of IBR look exactly the same--watery eyes, abscess on the eye ball, and resulting scar tissue that might leave a mark or a cloudy look. If you treat it fairly early, they should regain sight if it every does get bad enough to impair vision. They often have a visible sign in the eye, but that won't really mean there are any lasting effects on their vision.
The Vetricyn pink eye treatment spray seems to be working well.
Be cautious with the nitrofurizone spray, as it is NOT labeled for food animal use.
With this sighting, you should keep a close eye on all your calves, as it might be the start of a virus or bacteria going around. If it is an injury, of course it will not spread, but just be observant on your other calves.
Be cautious with the nitrofurizone spray, as it is NOT labeled for food animal use.
With this sighting, you should keep a close eye on all your calves, as it might be the start of a virus or bacteria going around. If it is an injury, of course it will not spread, but just be observant on your other calves.
Yeah...I recently had a conversation with another cattleman who backgrounds several calves, and he was talking about an outbreak of IBR he had a few years ago. He thought they all had pink eye and was treating several calves a day. Since IBR is viral, the symptoms kinda have to run their coarse, and once he put them out on pasture instead of having them all grouped up in a lot the symptoms went away. This was during the winter time, and pinkeye should be a problem then, but IBR can happen any time of year. I would still treat the first calf and just be aware of how the symptoms might occur throughout the rest of the herd.
Vetericyn...pshaw.
Look at the MSDS for the V. Pinkeye spray - it's 99.8% WATER.
You could dilute 1ml of plain old(5%) laundry bleach in a gallon of water and get essentially the same chemical composition.
Won't hurt anything - and, actually, if you're frequently flushing that eye with it, it might be helpful - but there's nothing magical about it, and the minimal amount of sodium hypochlorite(bleach) and hypochlorous acid(what you get when you dissolve NaOCl in water) is probably not enough to really have any significant effect.
But, if you're willing to pay $30 for a quart of very dilute bleach water, well, you've got to believe that it works, right?
Look at the MSDS for the V. Pinkeye spray - it's 99.8% WATER.
You could dilute 1ml of plain old(5%) laundry bleach in a gallon of water and get essentially the same chemical composition.
Won't hurt anything - and, actually, if you're frequently flushing that eye with it, it might be helpful - but there's nothing magical about it, and the minimal amount of sodium hypochlorite(bleach) and hypochlorous acid(what you get when you dissolve NaOCl in water) is probably not enough to really have any significant effect.
But, if you're willing to pay $30 for a quart of very dilute bleach water, well, you've got to believe that it works, right?
CAB
Well-known member
LuckyP, what is choice of treatment for a cloudy eye, ie. pink eye?Lucky_P said:
Rocky Hill Simmental
Well-known member
We had a pinkeye outbreak last summer/fall in our herd and we did what a lot of people posted on here. Vetricyn eye wash in the eye, LA200, pinkeye vaccination, and we glued an eye patch on them with that kind of glue they use for numbers at sale barns. By the time the patch fell off their eye, it was healed and you could never tell they had it. One of the calves I treated last year is one of my show heifers for this year and there's nothing wrong looking about her. Also, if you haven't vaccinated for pinkeye yet, vaccinate when treating them. My old boss told me a vet told him to do that and I guess it worked. 
If you have any other animals you can prevent it in them by giving them Aureomycin 4G and the pinkeye vaccination. That's what I did last year to make sure none of my current show heifers got it.
We never vaccinated for pinkeye before we started getting it but now we give it to everything. Treating pinkeye is expensive! Good luck. Hope it's just pinkeye and not something worse.
If you have any other animals you can prevent it in them by giving them Aureomycin 4G and the pinkeye vaccination. That's what I did last year to make sure none of my current show heifers got it.
We never vaccinated for pinkeye before we started getting it but now we give it to everything. Treating pinkeye is expensive! Good luck. Hope it's just pinkeye and not something worse.
Lucky_P said:
Most drugs, sprays, chemicals are only .2-3% "active ingrediant. But it is that small percent that makes it work.
Look at glycophosphate (round-up).. Look at all garden sprays/powders.
Heck, vaccines are only .5-1% active ingredient, the rest is carrier (inert) ingredients.
If you are paying $30 for vetercyin spray you need to shop around.
I agree with pinkeye vaccine, but it needs to be given in advance of the season/problem time in order to get the immunity response. It also does no good if it is IBR.
btdt,
I don't know where you get your 'numbers' - made up from thin air?
But, even taking your claims of 0.2-3% 'active ingredient, the V snake-oil falls far short.
Normal saline is 0.9% NaCl in an aqueous(water) solution.
V.pinkeye spray contains 0.009% hypochlorous acid(what you get when you mix chlorine bleach with water), 0.025% NaCl, 0.13% NaP04; the rest is 'electrolyzed water' - wow! they passed an electric current through the water! That's GOT to make it MAGICAL!!!
Sorry, I did get my numbers wrong - that's 30 bucks for a PINT of V pinkeye spray that's nothing more than an extremely dilute solution of salt and chlorine bleach. You could probably pee in a spray bottle and spray that in the animal's eye with equal - if not better - results.
Y'all go right on ahead and buy vetericyn, but you're being duped.
As a veterinarian, I'm ashamed that they have VETERI- in the name.
I don't know where you get your 'numbers' - made up from thin air?
But, even taking your claims of 0.2-3% 'active ingredient, the V snake-oil falls far short.
Normal saline is 0.9% NaCl in an aqueous(water) solution.
V.pinkeye spray contains 0.009% hypochlorous acid(what you get when you mix chlorine bleach with water), 0.025% NaCl, 0.13% NaP04; the rest is 'electrolyzed water' - wow! they passed an electric current through the water! That's GOT to make it MAGICAL!!!
Sorry, I did get my numbers wrong - that's 30 bucks for a PINT of V pinkeye spray that's nothing more than an extremely dilute solution of salt and chlorine bleach. You could probably pee in a spray bottle and spray that in the animal's eye with equal - if not better - results.
Y'all go right on ahead and buy vetericyn, but you're being duped.
As a veterinarian, I'm ashamed that they have VETERI- in the name.
Without actually seeing the eye, I'm always remiss to make treatment recommendations - is it 'typical' pinkeye - infection with one of the Moraxella species of bacteria, is there a viral (IBR) component, chlamydia/mycoplasma, or is it the result of an injury? Just so many variables.
For routine pinkeye, treatment with systemic tetracycline (LA 200, etc.) is my preferred treatment - if you dose properly, you're constantly 'bathing' the eye with therapeutic levels of the antimicrobial, since drug levels in the tears are comparable to those in blood. We are, however, seeing more and more bacterial isolates - particularly some of the M. ovis and M.bovoculi strains, that are not susceptible to oxytetracycline.
Anything you squirt in the eye - whether it's V.pinkeye spray, nitrofurazone powder, mastititis treatment, penicillin or LA-200 will be washed away by normal tearing in less than 10 minutes - and even faster in those heavily tearing infected eyes.
I did subconjunctival penicillin injections, back in the Dark Ages, but never really felt like they helped much, and in truth, once the puncture sealed over and the drug stopped leaking out, any benefit was probably over.
A pinkeye patch can do wonders in conjunction with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. For animals that were in danger of having the eye rupture - or were not likely to be caught again, I used to either sew the third eyelid to the upper lid or sew the lids shut - with absorbable sutures that would break down in 7-10 days - but for most cases with the cattle most folks here at SP are dealing with - 'cause you can get your hands on 'em - I'd opt for the patch.
The Vetericyn stuff is a pet peeve of mine - Does no harm - and certainly, flushing a wound or infected eye multiple times a day will, in most cases, have a positive effect - but there is nothing about its makeup that makes it worth what folks are paying for it, or any reason to think that it's more effective than irrigating with saline.
But, you say, it disinfects! Does it? We don't usually use bleachon wounds - they always taught us not to put anything in a wound that YOU wouldn't put in your own eye - but we routinely use diluted chlorine bleach at a 1:20 dilution for cleaining/disinfecting equipment & surfaces - that's about 200 times more concentrated than what's in the commercial pinkeye spray. Just seems like fairy dust to me - but perception is reality for so many folks.
For routine pinkeye, treatment with systemic tetracycline (LA 200, etc.) is my preferred treatment - if you dose properly, you're constantly 'bathing' the eye with therapeutic levels of the antimicrobial, since drug levels in the tears are comparable to those in blood. We are, however, seeing more and more bacterial isolates - particularly some of the M. ovis and M.bovoculi strains, that are not susceptible to oxytetracycline.
Anything you squirt in the eye - whether it's V.pinkeye spray, nitrofurazone powder, mastititis treatment, penicillin or LA-200 will be washed away by normal tearing in less than 10 minutes - and even faster in those heavily tearing infected eyes.
I did subconjunctival penicillin injections, back in the Dark Ages, but never really felt like they helped much, and in truth, once the puncture sealed over and the drug stopped leaking out, any benefit was probably over.
A pinkeye patch can do wonders in conjunction with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. For animals that were in danger of having the eye rupture - or were not likely to be caught again, I used to either sew the third eyelid to the upper lid or sew the lids shut - with absorbable sutures that would break down in 7-10 days - but for most cases with the cattle most folks here at SP are dealing with - 'cause you can get your hands on 'em - I'd opt for the patch.
The Vetericyn stuff is a pet peeve of mine - Does no harm - and certainly, flushing a wound or infected eye multiple times a day will, in most cases, have a positive effect - but there is nothing about its makeup that makes it worth what folks are paying for it, or any reason to think that it's more effective than irrigating with saline.
But, you say, it disinfects! Does it? We don't usually use bleachon wounds - they always taught us not to put anything in a wound that YOU wouldn't put in your own eye - but we routinely use diluted chlorine bleach at a 1:20 dilution for cleaining/disinfecting equipment & surfaces - that's about 200 times more concentrated than what's in the commercial pinkeye spray. Just seems like fairy dust to me - but perception is reality for so many folks.
CAB
Well-known member
Thanks Lucky P.
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Looking for info on the Grand Champion bull from the 1971 Buckeye Expo
- Latest: wannabcowguy
