Pink Eye

[forbes family farms]

What do you do for cattle with pink eye?

 

[nck21]

We give them a shot of penicillin in their eyelid and put powder in their eye and put a patch over their eye to keep the flies off of it. We had it really bad last year in a pasture but haven't had it this year.

 

[DLD]

We've had good luck with just squirting a couple of cc's of penicillin ans a cc of dex up under the eye lid, plus giving a full dose of LA 200 - might need to do this 2 or 3 days in a row, 'til the eye clears up.  I agree that the eye patch is essential, not just for flies but to keep the sun out and give it time to heal.  Be sure and spray (or pour) for flies when you treat them, too.

 

[HAFarm]

What do you do for cattle with pink eye?

Have had it bad this year.  Our vet suggested: Full dose of exceed sp? (by prescription only) or LA-200 may have to give LA-200 twice for bad cases a week or so apart.  Put in fly tags in entire herd. We also spray with fly spray mixed with diesel fuel weekly to control.  He suggested that putting penicillin into eye is only effective if done 4-6 times a day because is leaves the eye so quickly. 
Good luck, it has been tough to deal with for us.  We have had registered Angus for 30 years and have only had one case, this year we have had 30 cases at least. 

 

[Show Heifer]

Probably jinx myself  but haven't had pinkeye in over 20 years. BUT.... I vaccinate, pour, fly tag, have dust bags out and feed fly control mineral.  I do this in May at beginning of fly season, then again in late July.
Maybe not cheap, but I don't have any one eyed or blind cattle either. Heck, next year, I might get hit pretty hard, but so far what I have been doing works for me...
(Also, my cows are pretty isoloated from neighboring herds.)

I have helped with other herds and they use the pen G in eye, sprays, patches, a variety of antibiotics. Seems like it takes 14 days to clear up if treated, and two weeks if not.  What seems to work on one farm, doesn't work on another.
There are hundreds of varietys of viruses that causes pinkeye, so each farm probably has their own "mix" of cause viruses. One farm I work with had their own vaccine made. They cultured the eyes of cows and the lab isolated 21 different pink eye viruses.  One was from a sheep pinkeye virus, of which they do not have sheep.... Problem with having your own vaccine is that it takes about 6 mos to complete the process, and what causes the pinkeye this year, might be a bit different than next year. 
Someone can probably find the correct number, but if I recall most pinkeye vaccines protect against the top 3-5 viruses?

 

[DL]

Pink eye
1. fly control, fly control, fly control
2. seeds in pasture are a real issue - clip if possible
3. Nuflor works well for pink eye - it is extra label; LA 200 will also work -
4. sticking needles in they eyelid is relatively barbaric (yes I know everybody does it) and there is no evidence that it works (more than systemic treatment alone)
5. squirting things in the eye may or may not help but likely doesn't hurt, however the puffers are not to be used in cattle (read the label - it is not labeled for cattle and extra label use is not legal - don't shoot the messenger - I don't make the rules
6. covering the eye (out of sunlight) is good - piece of old blue jeans with k-mar glue to hold it on works well
7. FLY CONTROL

 

[LostFarmer]

Vaccinate, fly control, Nuflor and LA 200, and time out of the light.  I seem to get it out of one pasture an not others.  Not sure the reasons. 

 

[shorthorngirl2010]

We've had pink eye TERRIBLE this year, its spreading like wildfire between the cows/calves on grass and show calves: over a 3 day span last week, we doctored 25 head between prospect calves dams, prospect calves, show bulls, show heifers and fat steers. Thistle, marijuana, and any tall grass/weed I've been told is the main culprit.  From there, FLIES are your next enemy. We've gone ahead and mixed a 12.5% PERMETHERIN insecticide with water (6 tbsp permethrin: 1/2 gal water) and sprayed every pen, stall, alley, ect with it. Also have mixed it in with the kleen sheen/vinegar/double dip mix, that way the calves are fly free (to the best of my ability); have even started spraying it on a rag & rubbing the face, especially around the eyes making sure they get good control. One other 'suspect' one might pay attention to is hay, i.e. our brome hay. We just have a big round set up in the pen so the heifers/ bulls & prospect calves can eat what they wish at night, but those stems can be an obstruction to the eye & pass pink eye from one calf to the next. As for treatment, we administer 2cc NuFlor directly into the eye (no needle, just squirt from syringe), 5cc IM NuFlor, & 2cc IM pinkeye vacc. Also, we do patch the eye, just using old blue jean patches glued on with backtag glue. We have howeve,r gone to the extent of sewing eyes shut with a simple stitch (in the VERY bad cases). If the eye hasnt improved in 3-5 days, we will shoot them again with NuFlor. Hope this helps.. it's seemed to help aide a LITTLE in our battle...

 

[Jill]

Our best luck has been vaccination, treatment after the fact, you can use most any of what has been mentioned, but it is too late once they have it you are going to have blind spots.

 

[forbes family farms]

We used LA 200 that seemed to work and we have the vet coming to treat all the cattle around here on the farm.

 

[shorthorngirl2010]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

 

[goodnight]

I like either excede, penicillin, an eye patch with a puffer, and re-treat in 6-7 days. Draxxin works better than excenel, but it is expensive.

Prevention is a multi-pronged approach. Clip pastures, control flies, and vaccinate as late as possible. We vaccinated on 6/12 this year. I like Piliguard Pinkeye vaccine the best, btw. 

 

[DL]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

LA 200 and other tetracycline products are very irritating - in fact none of the tetracyclines are used in humans parentally (IV, sub Q or IM) except as a last resort for specific infections because of how irritating they are - tetracyclines have also been used to cause sclerosis of the pleural membranes (the coverings of the lungs) in patients with tumors that caused pleural effusion (fluid btwn the pleural spaces compressing the lungs) - as a group they are irritating

I (personally) would not use anything in the eye that is not made for the eye - you can get combo steroid antibiotic eye ointments that would feel a whole lot better in your eye than some of the stuff people put in calves eyes - compounds made to be given in the muscle have preservatives in them that are very irritating to the eye - just what an infected eye needs -

goodnight - the puffers are not approved for use in cattle - I believe that they are a nitrofuran product and extra label use is prohibited (don't shoot the messenger - I don't make the rules) http://www.avma.org/reference/amduca/extralabel_brochure.pdf

 

[DLD]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

Not sure if that's what you meant, but I (and I'm almost positive DL) didn't mean use those things in the eye - use them in the regular as directed by the label method (im or sub q in the neck).  I have used the puffers in the past, could never tell they did much good anyway (seem to be great on kittens though...).  The pen/dex eyewash once a day for three or so days seems to work much better - I can understand that it doesn't stay in there long, but for us it really seems to help.

The only pasture that we seem to have pinkeye problems in joins a neighbors pasture that runs alot of stockers.  Though they have an excellent health program, it seems that we'll see some pinkeye there, then one or more of ours will inevitably follow...

 

[DL]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

Not sure if that's what you meant, but I (and I'm almost positive DL) didn't mean use those things in the eye - use them in the regular as directed by the label method (im or sub q in the neck). 

thanks DLD that is exactly what I meant - in regards to that question we were discussing long ago - I have heard nothing

 

[CAB]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

PPL aren't putting the LA 200/Nuflor in the eye itself. They are injecting it according to the label. We do use pen. administered with a syringe without the needle on. Put a little in the eye socket at a time and kind of work it in with your finger tip. Patches are a great help also as mentioned by many above.

 

[DL]

It may seem like a stupid question.. but is LA too harsh for the eye?.. or is it just as harsh as NuFlor?..

PPL aren't putting the LA 200/Nuflor in the eye itself. They are injecting it according to the label. We do use pen. administered with a syringe without the needle on. Put a little in the eye socket at a time and kind of work it in with your finger tip. Patches are a great help also as mentioned by many above.

As for treatment, we administer 2cc NuFlor directly into the eye (no needle, just squirt from syringe), 5cc IM NuFlor, & 2cc IM pinkeye vacc. Also, we do patch the eye, just using old blue jean patches glued on with backtag glue. We have howeve,r gone to the extent of sewing eyes shut with a simple stitch (in the VERY bad cases). If the eye hasnt improved in 3-5 days, we will shoot them again with NuFlor. Hope this helps.. it's seemed to help aide a LITTLE in our battle...

Shorthorngirl 2010 is putting Nuflor in the eye (which of course is not according to label and it is a bad idea) and then giving 5 cc Nuflor IM- which means either these calves are less than 200 lbs OR they are being underdosed

 

[shorthorngirl2010]

No, I'm administering as Brent said. I'm not using a needle in the eye. They do not weigh 200#, I'm administering as the vet instructed me to, and YES I realize its underdosing.

 

[shorthorngirl2010]

*if I misunderstood your response I apologize, I can't go back & edit as I'm on the blackberry.

 

[DL]

No, I'm administering as Brent said. I'm not using a needle in the eye. They do not weigh 200#, I'm administering as the vet instructed me to, and YES I realize its underdosing.

No actually you are not administering it as Brent said - he was talking about using it according to label - the label for Nuflor is for sub q and IM use only and for 6 - SIX - ml per 100 lbs IM - there is nothing in the label about using it in the eye - with or with out a needle - not to mention how irritating the preservatives are when squirted in the eye - did the vet instruct you to squirt it in the eye? if so what withhold did he/she give you for this ELDU? Actually your 5 ml does IM is suitable ONLY for calves weighing less than 100 lbs (my mistake when I said 200) - it might be worthwhile to ask your vet what the heck he/she was thinking if he/she actually told you to do that

In regards to the dose - underdosing antibiotics is one of the major causes of bacterial resistance - if you know you are underdosing (some might call it pissing in the wind) why didn't you question him or her? The label dose is what is known to work - perhaps your problems and the fact "that it helps a little" are related to a combination of things including underdosing and putting irritating compounds in the eye. Doesn't anybody read the label on the drugs they are administering to animals they are raising for food?