Bovine farmers/vet help required eye Infection

Killer26

Hi everyone,

I have a cow with an eye infection & have no idea what is causing it, I have called a vet for the animal & he injected the eyelid with penicilin, the infection apeared aprox 6 months ago & the eye has closed since then & may have caused blindness but i'm not quite sure. Reciently while checking the cows eyelid i pressed on the eye which caused the upper lid to ruptur & is now seeping blood & puss, i've checked numerous websites & haven't come across anything like this before. Has anyone any idea what could be the cause of this infection the cow is 10 years old & currently has a calf (born 2 weeks ago) ive injected her with penstrep for the past 5 days but the cow dosent seem to have responded to this treatment. has anyone any ideas on what else i can do? I can post pictures if required? any help would be greatly apriciated! Vet has no idea what treatment to give either which isn't a great help.....Anyone.......

pictures attached below!

ps the name killer26 was a name automaticly given to me i apologise

Dave.

Indubitable

I have heard that in severe cases of pinkeye "wound like" ulcers may appear on the eyelid. Pictures may help.

snowman707

by any chance has the cow a white head or is there a large area of white hair surrounding the eye socket?

it could be a cancerous tumour, sounds a little late for surgery

put stockholm tar around the eye to keep away flies and it is best to consider getting the cow into the factory, you will need to wait for the withdrawal period of any antibiotics to end.

Indubitable

snowman707 wrote: »

by any chance has the cow a white head or is there a large area of white hair surrounding the eye socket?

it could be a cancerous tumour, sounds a little late for surgery

put stockholm tar around the eye to keep away flies and it is best to consider getting the cow into the factory, you will need to wait for the withdrawal period of any antibiotics to end.

why didn't i think of that.....
that sounds closer to the symptoms you described

vanderbadger

that thing cows get from silage can develope to the extent you mention, I believe its very painful for the animal and in some cases can lead to loss of condition. about 5 of my cows got it this winter, i got them all fairly early though and 3 shots of engemycin over a period of a few days along with a tube into the eye cleared it up, if the eye was gone kinda white or pale then its probably the same thing, anyway its a nasty thing, the odd injection is no good, you need to give her a good course of antibiotics, vet should have done a bit better for you
http://v2.mlc.org.uk/downloads/pdfs/nadis-Silage-Eye-in-Cattle.pdf

pakalasa

URL]http://v2.mlc.org.uk/downloads/pdfs/nadis-Silage-Eye-in-Cattle.pdf[/URL

Some good info on that site. 'Silage eye' same as 'pink eye', I guess.
I always keep an eye out (no pun intended) for the frist signs, which is usually the eye starting to weep and the eye lid closing a little. A tube of 'Opticlox' sorts it out.

OP - could your cow have got a prod of a thorn. Do you have blackthorn on the farm?

LostCovey

pakalasa wrote: »

URL]http://v2.mlc.org.uk/downloads/pdfs/nadis-Silage-Eye-in-Cattle.pdf[/URL

Some good info on that site. 'Silage eye' same as 'pink eye', I guess.

No, they are two totally different entities.

For a start, 'Pink eye' is caused by Moraxella bovis, 'silage eye' is caused by Listeria monocytogenes, and there are a lot of other differences.

I doubt whether this is a sensible way to deal with what sounds like a serious problem, taking advice from anonymous people (like me) on the web who may or may not have a clue about what your cow has.

Maybe get the vet back, or get another vet to examine her?

LostCovey

djmc

I would put antibotics in the eye and on the wound rather than injecting her
I have used mastitis tubes rubed into the eye for infections before with good results

Killer26

Thanks for your replys........factory is the way its heading but my bigest concern @ present is the calf the cow is required to rear the calf for two or 3 months & i wouldn't like to see her in pain. pink eye i understand to be an infection on the eyeball itself but this infection is above the eye in the under the lid itself........ulcer of some kind mabe??

whelan1

ouch .. we use the opticlox tubes on the eyes

snowman707

Killer26 wrote: »

Thanks for your replys........factory is the way its heading but my bigest concern @ present is the calf the cow is required to rear the calf for two or 3 months & i wouldn't like to see her in pain. pink eye i understand to be an infection on the eyeball itself but this infection is above the eye in the under the lid itself........ulcer of some kind mabe??

isnt as bad as i expected, still stick to my original theory .. malignant tumour,
may be a candidate for surgery

LostCovey

Killer26 wrote: »

Thanks for your replys........factory is the way its heading but my bigest concern @ present is the calf the cow is required to rear the calf for two or 3 months & i wouldn't like to see her in pain. pink eye i understand to be an infection on the eyeball itself but this infection is above the eye in the under the lid itself........ulcer of some kind mabe??

Is that eye ruptured?

Whether or not, that cow needs veterinary attention ASAP. Why delay?

LostCovey

Killer26

LostCovey wrote: »

Is that eye ruptured?

Whether or not, that cow needs veterinary attention ASAP. Why delay?

LostCovey

If you read from the top you will see "any help would be greatly apriciated! Vet has no idea what treatment to give either which isn't a great help.....Anyone......." A Vet has been called 3 times for this cow & no treatment to date has any effect the lid above the eye has ruptured but only reciently has it become bad! The eye was dry but she allowed me to rub the eye a few days back which i'm afraid to say actually caused it to pore puss & blood at the time obviously relieving pressure from the area. problem at the min is she is in pain with the eye & now won't allow you anywhere near the area. but again my question was do you have any ideas on what other treatment i can use or have you seen this before?

Indubitable

Was it the same vet each time? If so, perhaps a second opinion would be a good idea

LostCovey

Killer26 wrote: »

If you read from the top you will see "any help would be greatly apriciated! Vet has no idea what treatment to give either which isn't a great help.....Anyone......." A Vet has been called 3 times for this cow & no treatment to date has any effect the lid above the eye has ruptured but only reciently has it become bad! The eye was dry but she allowed me to rub the eye a few days back which i'm afraid to say actually caused it to pore puss & blood at the time obviously relieving pressure from the area. problem at the min is she is in pain with the eye & now won't allow you anywhere near the area. but again my question was do you have any ideas on what other treatment i can use or have you seen this before?

I did read it from the top, and I just don't see what help an online forum can be for a condition that has been going on for six months, now requires urgent veterinary attention, and may need surgery.

I can't open her eye, but it looks like it may have ruptured. The fact that something as important and basic as that can't be established suggests this is not an appropriate way to seek advice and treatment for that poor suffering animal.

LostCovey

convert

Probably best to get a second opinion from another vet and see what they say.

LostCovey

Killer26 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have a cow with an eye infection & have no idea what is causing it, I have called a vet for the animal & he injected the eyelid with penicilin, the infection apeared aprox 6 months ago & the eye has closed since then & may have caused blindness but i'm not quite sure. Reciently while checking the cows eyelid i pressed on the eye which caused the upper lid to ruptur & is now seeping blood & puss, i've checked numerous websites & haven't come across anything like this before. Has anyone any idea what could be the cause of this infection the cow is 10 years old & currently has a calf (born 2 weeks ago) ive injected her with penstrep for the past 5 days but the cow dosent seem to have responded to this treatment. has anyone any ideas on what else i can do? I can post pictures if required? any help would be greatly apriciated! Vet has no idea what treatment to give either which isn't a great help.....Anyone.......

pictures attached below!

ps the name killer26 was a name automaticly given to me i apologise

Dave.

Hi Killer26,

Any update - how is your cow?

LostCovey