Pink Eye

[gocanes719]

Does anyone have a good cure for pinkeye?  I have a heifer that has had it for a few days and my treatment isnt working. I have been putting puffer which is nitrofurazone in the eye once a day for 4 days.  It got a little better after day 1 but has not improved much since. 

 

[kanshow]

Call your vet. 

Have you given her any injectable antibiotics?  LA 200 or Penicillin or ??    That is something I would do.

There are some old treatments that involve injections in the eyelid and patching the eye.  As I recall they are somewhat effective but I'd certainly call your vet to find out what they suggest you do. 

We really haven't fought pinkeye (KNOCK ON WOOD) for several years ... we vaccinate, have a better fly control program, eye rim pigmentation selection, pasture rotation, etc.   

 

[gocanes719]

I can give her some penicillin.  I just got the heifer last week.  She is solid white.  I am holding on tho her and I don't own her.  Taking her to the vet isn't in my plans.

 

[kanshow]

Where are you keeping her?  I'd certainly put her somewhere out of the light.. that seems to help a great deal.  I have no idea why. 

 

[clifflem]

Is she anywhere there is grass that is seeded out?  We have problems here with cheat grass seeds getting in the eye and irritating it making it look like pinkeye.  Roll her eyelids back and look at it.  You can usually see the seed and pick it out of there.  The eye will get blue around the outside with this.  With pinkeye, it will get blue in the middle.

Best luck we have had with pinkeye is to give LA200 and glue a patch on the eye with backtag glue(like they use at a sale barn).  When the patch comes off on its own, they are usually over the pinkeye.

 

[KYsteer]

The long lasting tetracycline like LA-200 or Bio-Mycin with a patch is probably the most common treatment and a good one.  I also have given 1/2 cc of Nuflor in the conjuctiva (not sure about spelling) with a patch.  This seems to cure it the quickest and limits the scarring that can happen.  The best treatment that I have used over the years has been a good vaccination program and clipping fields.  Make sure if you use the vaccine it has the Ovis strain in it.  The Bovis is useless these days as a strain that came from the sheep and goats is the one running rampant at least in my part of the country.

 

[fluffer]

Hubby injects LA 200 right into the eye.  That is one thing I can not do.  But it seems to work.  Tried the patches once.  Didn't seem to make a difference. 

Also I think BVD can cause pinkeye.  You may want to have her checked and ask about what vacc she has had.  The vets on here would know more about that.  I think that is called winter pinkeye.

Good Luck
Fluffer

 

[kanshow]

We've injected 1 or 2 cc penicillin right into the eyelid and then patch, plus the LA 200 - that's our best treatment.   

Our pinkeye issues would usually be later in the summer when the native grasses are heading out and flies are more abundant.. 

 

[Jill]

We have vaccinated the past couple of years.  The past couple of years there seemed to be a lot of people around here had problems with it, more in the summer months.  We have always just used plain table salt, don't know if it works better or not, but it does clear it right up.

 

[CAB]

  We inject LA-200 and use 3 to 4 mls long acting pen. squirted without a needle on, in and around the eyeball and down in under the eyelid. It would help to put a patch over the  eye.
  Ouch Jill, makes my eyes water to think about salt in the eye, but hey, if it works.

 

[chambero]

If its not responding to typical treatment, you can go to a good vet supply store and buy an eye patch for them that you glue on.  Believe it or not, the patches will stay on and they do help them get well.  We had a heifer a few years ago that we didn't catch in time and we thought she had basically lost her eye (it had already gone milky).  Vet doctored it (I think with the same stuff you used already) and then put the patch on.  It fell off on its own after about a month and the eye was healed.  For your case a week or so out of light and dust would probably do it I bet.

 

[renegade]

we use to use some kind of ointment but it took for ever, was kinda spendy and hard to get in the eye.  I just learned about the salt thing not too long ago and it really works for anything getting in the eye or pink eye

 

[kanshow]

What does the salt do?   


Eye Patch - Just cut some patches from old jeans and use sale tag glue to stick them on. 

 

[DL]

Does anyone have a good cure for pinkeye?  I have a heifer that has had it for a few days and my treatment isnt working. I have been putting puffer which is nitrofurazone in the eye once a day for 4 days.  It got a little better after day 1 but has not improved much since. 

Not to rain on anyones parade but the use of the nitrofurazone puffer in cattle is ILLEGAL - please see http://www.avma.org/reference/amduca/amduca1.asp

IF we are going to raise food we really ought to know the drugs that are illegal to use in cattle. (see below for list of prohibited drugs).

The most common treatments are either LA 200 (approved for use in cattle for pink eye) or Nuflor (extra label use)-

Fly control is important, as is pasture management in terms of long seedy things

A patch is also a good idea - old genes and k-mar glue work great

It is BRSV (not BVD) that can cause a condition similar to pinkeye, checking for vaccination status as suggested is a good idea

Although I know it is done I think the injection of things into the conjunctivae of cattle borders on barbaric. I would put table salt in the eye in the same category - just because we can doesn't mean we should

Drugs Prohibited for Extralabel Use in Food Animals (Current as of June 2003. Check for updates on the FDA Web site at www.fda.gov/cvm)

    * Chloramphenicol
    * Clenbuterol
    * Diethylstilbestrol (DES)
    * Dimetridazole
    * Ipronidazole
    * Other Nitroimidazoles
    * Furazolidone, Nitrofurazone, Other Nitrofurans
    * Sulfonamide drugs in lactating dairy cows (except approved use of sulfadimethoxine, sulfabromomethazine, and sulfaethoxypyridazine)
    * Fluoroquinolones
    * Glycopeptides (example: vancomycin)
    * Phenybutazone in female dairy cattle 20 months of age or older
    * Adamantane and neuraminidase inhibitor classes of drugs that are approved for treating or preventing influenza A are prohibited therapy in chickens, turkeys, and ducks (Effective: June 20, 2006)

 

[inthebarnagain]

We used to have bad pinkeye every year, then we started feeding Vitaferm mineral, it has higher amounts of A, D & E which are very important for the pinkeye prevention.  We haven't had a case since we have used it regularly, it takes a while to build  up in them.

 

[linnettejane]

we vaccinate for it....and never have it....

 

[Doc]

DL, I geuss every cattleman I know uses the puffer , including  a lot of vets. Every TSC & CO-OP I know of will tell you that is what to use. I don't see how putting it in the eye is going to contaminate the meat. My vet has put penicillin in the eyelid before. I think healing the eye as fast as possible is better than the animal suffering for awhile. I use the patches & have stitched the eye shut before, when the stitches rot out the eye is healed. I usually will puff the eye , then put a patch on & give a shot of LA200.

 

[DL]

DL, I geuss every cattleman I know uses the puffer , including  a lot of vets. Every TSC & CO-OP I know of will tell you that is what to use. I don't see how putting it in the eye is going to contaminate the meat. My vet has put penicillin in the eyelid before. I think healing the eye as fast as possible is better than the animal suffering for awhile. I use the patches & have stitched the eye shut before, when the stitches rot out the eye is healed. I usually will puff the eye , then put a patch on & give a shot of LA200.

Doc - don't shoot the messanger - I don't make the rules BUT the use of any  Furazolidone, Nitrofurazone, Other Nitrofurans which includes the nitrofurazone puffer is on the prohibited list - no extra label use - it is in the same category as clenbuterol and chloramphenicol. I think if you look at the puffers that are currently available they say something about use in dogs - but they do not say anything about cattle. The old ones say something about use in cattle.

Just because TSC and every co-op sells it doesn't make it right to use in cattle. Just because every cattleman you know uses the puffer doesn't make it right. And just because vets use it doesn't make it right either. There are drugs that are absolutely positively prohibited from extra label use and I don't think cattle producers should use them - period. There is nothing gray about this. This is (to me) a very different area than using for example Lutalyse for some purpose that isn't on the label (ie  using a drug approved for cattle in an extra label manner) -

IMHO everyone producing food should know the drugs that are prohibited from use in food animals and NOT use them - stepping over that line is bad for the industry

 

[Show Heifer]

Heard of a new vaccine that you give in the ear, one time....part of it dissolves immediately, the other part dissolves in 3 weeks and vaccinate the animals again at that time, with only one application. Kinda neat, if it really works.

My question: If this can be done with pinkeye vaccine, why can it not be done with other "repeat in 3 weeks" vaccines? ???

 

[Doc]

Hey DL, I wasn't mad or anything, just saying how it is in the real world. I geuss I will continue to speed on the interstate & use puffer on pinkeye. ;D