Heifers eyeball gone white

[Royd Wood]

Any help or advice please
Heifer was fine yesterday but today one eye is streaming and the eyeball is completly white. Poss poked it on a branch

Any idea anyone as to whats happened and will it stay like that - she seems fine and not distressed

 

[aggieterpkatie]

It could be an ulcer or pink eye. You can use a terramycin eye ointment or give LA-200 and see if that clears it up.

 

[Royd Wood]

Thanks Aggie but its not pink eye as she was fine yesterday with crystal clear eyes but today its streaming and the whole eyeball is totally white - quite scary
Will try and get a pic

 

[Bossroo]

Check for a foxtail ( grass seed head) under the eyelid ! You probably may only see one or two tiny brown tips ( unless it has already migrated behind or into the eye), grab with your fingers and pull it out.

 

[jhm47]

I'd still guess pinkeye. Tis the season.

 

[Royd Wood]

Sorry Aggie - you were right
Rounded her up this afternoon and had it confirmed as Pink eye - She is isolated from the others but what a mess, never seen anything like it
Just hope it doesent show up on my others with the flies being bad this year.

JHM - yes tis the season

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Good luck treating her! Sounds like you were able to catch it pretty early.

 

[jhm47]

You're pretty lucky that you don't have several hundred head to treat, like some ranchers west of here. The flies are terrible this year, and the hot, humid weather is making things worse.

Keep the calf in the shade as much as possible and treat with antibiotics. Fly control is crucial in protecting the other eye, and the eyes of the rest of the cattle. There are vaccines available, but they only protect against several strains of the problem. They are cheaper than losing several head of cattle to blindness. Good luck, and remember, even if the calf gets a "pimple" on the eye, they usually do clear up eventually and regain some of the sight in the affected eye.

 

[raykour]

Little late on this, but I just treated 40 head for pinkeye
All got:
LA-200
NFZ puffer
Eye patch
lots of sympathy from me

The pink eye was non discriminatory between colors (chars vs. black) EVERY cow got it in the right eye. Now isn't the bizarre.

I can't say the treatment did any good. About half the cows were recovered by the time the patch fell off (about a week) or had a light grey spot in the middle which was the resolving ulcer. The other half had glaring red ulcers when the patch fell off and were still tearing and looking miserable. I re-treated a couple, but then just let it go. In the end, I figured I would keep any steers who still had a spot and feed them myself. WE are coming to the end here and most of the ones that ulcerated have white spots in the middle of the eye, but they seem to be disappating. I have sold several privately for market price. I was just honest about the problem and that it wasn't going to affect how fat a steer would get at private home on grass and grain and still had eager buyers.

The worst thing I can say for my experience with the pinkeye this year is I just felt bad for the poor cows that had it. I think now if I have another outbreak, I will just patch all the eyes. I think that seems to take away alot of the discomfort. For the side effects of the LA (I don't need bumps on my steer calves at market) and the amount it took to treat mother cows, it just wasn't worth it.

 

[Royd Wood]

Well that pinkeye took best part of 6 weeks to clear up and thankfully none of the herd caught it off her.

Question for future ref - would she always be prone to pink eye or is it just unlucky who gets it not that it matteres with this heifer as she's not going into the breeding herd

Raykour - it was in her left eye here