Seems every time Peppermint, the Saanen/Alpine, gets out in a good breeze she picks up "icky eye". This stuff is way beyond NFZ puffer. I have treated it a *few* times now with LA200, which clears it up nicely, but then a few weeks later it will recurr. One day eye is fine, next it is closed almost shut, all kinds of mucousy stuff, and if not treated promptly and adequately, the next day will be hazed over blueish. Help!!! I'm worried about her building up a resistance or allergy to this one drug that seems to help. Anyone have a different solution? Vetfriend thinks it is probably not pinkeye since the others don't get it, but something he calls 'debride' (?) picked up from the wind. Thanks for any kind answers.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), April 08, 2001

Answers

It sounds like pinkeye to me, because of the blueish part. I give my goats LA 200, 1cc per 20lbs, every other day. A couple years ago, a few of mine got pinkeye, and it cleared it right up and never came back. I don't know anything else that would turn the eye blueish like that. All my goats did not get pinkeye, just like 4 out of 30, so maybe it's just her. Maybe someone else knows something I don't about blueish eyes.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 08, 2001.

I would be interested to see what people will have to say about this. I have a young kid out in the barn now, that is practically blind in one eye. It has all kinds of discharge around it, and the eye is bluish/whitish kind of hazy looking. Grosses you out just to look at it. And she is the only solid black doe kid I have had this year!! I had another doe with the same thing last year, I was ready to put her down because she was also very thin and limping on one leg. The combination of ailments was horrible to behold. Then her eye got better and she could see again, the limp went away, and she began to put on weight gradually. She is still around and one of my favorites.

-- Rebekah Leaf (daniel1@itss.net), April 08, 2001.

I doubt it is pinkeye. I would however guess that you have a mycoplasm or chlymidia infection, this is harbored in the does system, and yes LA200 (use Biomyacin it has a non sting carrier, and you can use it subq) both tetracyclines, will work on this. Using it in the eye will get rid of it as long as you use it, but since you have not got rid of it systemically it will come back, also for it to work you would have to be using it every 2 hours (Goat Medicine), where an eye ointment like terremyacin can be used 2 or 3 times a day. The only times I have used Biomyacin was once for Sore Mouth and was used 12 cc for 5 days on a 150 pound doe. For Metritis (infection of the uterus after kidding) we used 4.5cc per 100 pounds and gave the shots every 48 hours for 3 times. You can tell pinkeye from other eye injuries, except inverted eyelid, because the goat will intially have a wet face from tearing. Remember that goats do not get the cattle, Moraxella bovis, so do not use this vaccine. Goat medicine says to use Tylosin (Tylan 200) at 200mg/goat/day. That is just 1cc per goat per day. Remember not to use any steriods, either as injections or in eye ointments with does with blue or white ulcers in their eyes. It can cause permanant blindness. So terremyacin eye ointment, 2 or 3 times a day, unless you are truly obsessed and can do the every 2 hours of Tetracycline eye drops. An Tylan 200 given 1cc per day, and since this is Goat Medicines dosage and not the dosage that I would use, I would give the shots IM. If the same babies from the same does have the same eye conditions, you may want to use colostrum from another doe on them. You may also want to have the does vagina checked for chlymidia (especially if she has aborted at any time). Really look into this to see if any of your kids with these ongoing problems are related in anyway. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 08, 2001.

I have never owned a goat, but the goat woman down the road says: use cheap red wine to flush the eyes to prevent "soapy eyes"; her words, not mine.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), April 09, 2001.

Thanks to all for your kind responses. I went ahead and gave her the LA200 last night, and will continue it for a bit longer this time. I will look into the Tylan200 for future use. Thanks again, mary

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), April 09, 2001.

I had one goat have that happen to her, a huge black spider had bitter her. I found the spider under her collar. The vet said it would take time to clear up, but put some neosporin opthamologic (sp) ointment in it.You can get that at a dog groomers shop. It cleared it up very nicely. Another goat had that happen, she got real weak (she was a much smaller goat)with it. I put her in a pen by herself, gave her prescribes pcn shot..can't remember how much..but later saw the same type of black spider crawl out of the hay. I put the ointment in her eye and she was fine.I thought both goats were going blnd! But they recovered.

Cindy

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), April 09, 2001.

Mary, have you checked to be sure she doesn't have a piece of hay or a sliver inbedded in her eye? Does she keep it closed and does she blink, especially if you touch her eye? It sure seems strange that it clears up on drug and then returns with lots of puss, etc. The reason I ask this is because my border collie had a sore between her toes I couldn't heal and couldn't find any sign that would cause the puss, etc. Finally took her to vet, she had a thorn about 3/4" long driven into the soft part between her toes. Vet said she couldn't find it at first then it popped to the surface when she poked around in the area. Since then I look for a sliver or thorn if I've got a sore spot. The wind would probably irritate the spot and make it worse.

Just a thought and probably not the answer, some of these dilemma's drive a person crazy trying to figure out what's wrong.

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), April 09, 2001.

Just a note. If you use terrimyicin, hold the tube sideways, not straight forward. If they move, you can poke them in the eye. If you hold it sideways, you can run a line of medicine in the eye as you move the tube back. (it keeps coming out even after you stop squeezing)

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), April 09, 2001.

You would not want to use the applicator of any kind of medicine directly on any animal or human. If this eye problem is infective and not just something benign, you will have infected the whole tip and the meds. Same thing with eyedroppers used for childrens meds, use them once and clean them, never double dipping, from one kids mouth and back into the container. This is the reason our vaccination instructions say to throw away after opening, most folks reuse meds, than put it back into the fridge, growing all sorts of things in the bottom the vial. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001.