Katman got a fresh load of shavings and proceeded to scare the crap out of me. Rolling in a freshly bedded stall is something they all do and he is no exception. This time however, he got something in his right eye. I whipped out my bottle of Vetracyn ophthalmic gel and put a generous glob in his eye. In return I got back about a pea sized chunk of gray nasty something that was obviously causing the issue.
The red part under the eyelid- this has recessed quite a bit but when it first happened that was sticking out under the eyelid and in plain sight on a much larger scale. The bottom eyelid was also swollen and puffy.
After getting the pea sized chunk of crap out it had to feel so much better. He wasn't done yet though because next came a healthy glob of some terramycin an ophthalmic antibiotic. For $20-$25 a tube it is definitely something good to have in your first aid kit! His other eye also got a healthy dose of gel and salve just in case. Fly mask went on for the night and I hoped for the best.
The left eye still showing a little bit of pink irritation on the inside bottom.
The next day there was a marked improvement- swelling was almost gone and the eyelid was almost back to normal. I also had a plan for a better way to flush the eyes.
I have some packets of saline solution for flushing sinuses, so I took a handful of these to the barn. A bottle of water from the tack room fridge and a small container from the $1 store, I mixed up a batch of saline. A small syringe and we were good to go. Kat was again very patient while I rinsed his eyes and flushed away anything and everything caught in there. Another glob of terramycin and put the mask on again to wait to see.
A few days later and much improved. Still a little pink but no more swelling and he's not rubbing his face on things. It doesn't look like he suffered any injury to his eye or vision so that's always good. The fly mask stays on now too since those pesky bugs have returned.
