Dexter has Uvitus

[fimacg]

Yep the eye was worse again this morning so the vets have been out to have a look.

He has uvitus (sp?) so has been sedated, IV antibiotics and steriods, and three different sets of drops to put in roughly every hour tonight, until 10.30pm.

The vets will be back at 8am tomorrow morning to see if they can see what if any damage has been done to the back of the eye.

But for the next two weeks he has to stay in a darkened stable then if OK will be able to go out wearing a fly mask with a patch sown over that eye, worst case is blindness and eye removal...

It always happens to him! and how much is this going to cost me I wonder - my insurance company are going to love me... fortunately the only exlcusions on his policy are in relation to his wobblers...

[haffyfan]

oh no poor old Dexter (and you) fingers crossed for a full recovery

[duckles]

That is dreadful. Poor old Dexter. Any idea what caused it?

[dannyboy]

Oh no, thats awful!! My heart goes out to you hun. Poor old Dexter, he has been dealt a raw deal alright I'm interested to know what caused this too as I've never heard of it. Hopefully the treatments will help him. Big hugs. x

[Blonde Donkey]

Poor Dex, sounds really horrible for him.

[racaille]

Poor old Dexter! Still, it's not the end of the world - even the worst case scenario sounds awful but wouldn't be too horrendous, horses can cope quite easily with only one eye. I used to compete one who was blind in one eye and he was top notch!

But I hope that it won't come to that. In the meantime, hugs to you dishing out eyedrops and coping with him in for ages (which he won't like, will he?) and then the eyepatch ..... bet he'll be as handsome as Johnny Depp.....

[spotti]

My friends horse had that and had to go into horsey hospital to have surgery on his eye. At one point they were going to remove it, but then found a way to remove only the damaged bit and leave the rest intact. He now has pretty good vision, although he wears a special fly mask that makes him look like a big fly (solid mesh eye pieces) when he's out in the field...partly to stop the flies, but mostly so he doesn't catch his eye on anything.

M (my friend) does all sorts of pony club stuff with him - jumping, dressage, games - and he's fantastic at them all

Sorry to hear poor old Dexter is poorly I hope he feels better soon xxx

[solomon]

Poor chap, hope it calms down. I think it's spelt uveitis.

[fimacg]

thanks guys, with my boys when they need the vet they really need the vet!

[brigadier]

oh no- thats terrible news- hope youve got it in time!

[fleabitten]

That really sucks Fi, what awful news! Although like the others ive heard of horses who cope perfectly well blind or with one eye, so its not the end of the world, he should be still able to go about his daily activities ((hugs))

[zara]

Fi thats awful news, hope he's soon feeling better Zx

[kitcat]

Poor Dexter, I think one of my friends horses had something that sounds like this. She had to put loads of eye drops in and keep him in a dark stable to start with. He didn't loose the eye and she has adapted a fly mask so he doesn't get too much light into it. She even hacks him in it no problem. Hope Dexter is better soon though.

[scattymare]

Oh poor Dexter. And poor you having to administer those drops - cue major strops. Hope it's been caught in time and they can save the eye.

[fimacg]

I fear that it has not been caught it time (wishing I phoned the vets last week) at the moment he has little if any vision from that eye, what they don't know yet is whether the blindness is caused by the murk caused by the uevitus infection or if it is a detached retina.

There has been a definate improvement from yesterday but not enough for the vets to actually see what is going what is going on in the back of the eye, so best case temporary blindness which will eventually clear as the gunk settles to the bottom of the eye and most vision will be restored. Middle case detached retina which once the inflamation has gone down some parts will reattach and give some partial vision, worst case permanent blindness.

Vets back out tomorrow to have another look.

Moral of this story is - if they have a gunky eye and it doesn't improve within a day or two, do not do what I did and keep trying for a week, get the vet out...

[haffyfan]

Poor old you Fi, keeping everything crossed that it works out for Dexter, he's had more than his share of bad luck already.

I don't think it's much use to you because of the distance but one of our vets, (well he's one of the partners) who deals with jade mainly, is an eye specialist - he doesn't strictly do horses/the large animals leaving that to some of the others but gets eye referals from all over the country it seems and of course does do horses then.